I spoke first, breaking the tension. “If it hurts that badly, you should take her to a hospital. You wouldn’t want it to turn into something serious.”
My words surprised him—he wasn’t expecting me to be so calm, so understanding.
Vincent’s eyes softened as he reached for my hand. “I’ll take her to the nearby clinic and return for you. Wait for me at the entrance, okay?”
“Sure,” I replied lightly.
He looked at me for a moment as though searching for anger or reproach in my face. But I stayed composed, not giving anything away. Finally, he released my hand, scooped Zoe up in his arms and walked off.
I didn’t wait. I wasn’t going to play the fool this time.
***
As I was leaving, my phone buzzed with a call from a junior colleague at the lab.
“Miss Claire, we’ve got an abnormality in one of the experiments and no one can figure out what’s causing it. Could you come take a look?”
Without hesitation, I headed straight there.
Time flew as we worked through the problem and the sun was already rising when the wrong link was also found and repaired.
The younger researchers showered me with compliments. “Miss Claire, you’re a genius!”