Semua Bab Dead at Heart: Bab 781 - Bab 790

The call was from a department head at the military base."Ariel, there's an urgent business trip. It's important, and we need our best senior engineer to lead the team. You'd be flying out tomorrow. Can you make it?"Ariel slapped away the hand tracing her earlobe.Jayson seemed obsessed with everything about her. When she pushed him away, he only grew more dissatisfied. He wrapped an arm around her neck to pull her even closer."Business trip? Where to? What exactly will I be doing?" Ariel asked.She had no other choice but to press an elbow to his shoulder to keep some distance."To Bellador. We've got a strategic partnership with them, but their tech setup's been giving us a lot of trouble. The higher-ups want you to go as our lead engineer to handle some of the technical issues and work closely with their team on-site," the department head replied.When Ariel heard the name of the country, she knew it had always maintained close ties with Croinia. The two had frequent excha

Ariel watched as Jayson neatly packed her clothes into separate bags."I've separated the lighter and thicker clothes. You catch colds easily, so I've packed different kinds of medicine in the kit. The ones you need to take daily are in this clear box." He lifted the case to show her before placing it in the suitcase.Every time he added something, he looked up at her and explained it carefully.Ariel just watched him quietly. Her chest swelled with a mix of emotions—mostly a calming warmth.Jayson did think things through better than she did, paying attention to details she would have missed.While he was packing, Ariel texted Janice to ask if she was free to go on the trip with her.Janice replied almost instantly, "Sure! I'll treat it like a vacation. I'll feel better being there with you."Remembering that Janice had gone with Wade to celebrate her birthday, Ariel asked, "How's the birthday celebration going?"It took a while before Janice replied, "Not bad."Seeing that,

Ariel raised an eyebrow. "They don't know I was sick or about the surgery. This mission is really important. I can't refuse."She needed to cooperate with the government when necessary.Janice knew that Ariel's sense of responsibility was far too strong.After helping Ariel settle, Janice looked at the man's jacket lying on her bed. It was the one Wade had tossed to her earlier.On the way over, she had felt the sun was too strong. Wade had given her his jacket to shield her from it.After some thought, Janice said, "I'll go return his jacket. You should take a nap."Before Ariel could even respond, Janice had already dashed off.Watching Janice's retreating figure, Ariel could tell that she was brimming with anticipation. After all, she had admired Wade since childhood. That feeling still lingered.The accommodation for Wade and the others wasn't far from their place.When Janice arrived with the jacket, she was in a good mood. Wade giving her the jacket earlier had made her

Wade saw it this time. Frowning, he stepped forward and took her hand. "Why so careless?"Though his tone was mildly reproachful, his movements were quick. He pulled out disinfectant and a bandage from his bag and carefully cleaned the small cut on Janice's arm. His brow remained tightly furrowed.Janice looked at his expression and suddenly felt a pang of sadness. She bit her lip and asked, "Wade, if Alicia weren't your sister, would you still want to marry me?"Wade paused, his expression cooling slightly. "What are you thinking? I don't want to explain this repeatedly. Hypothetical situations aren't worth overthinking."He finished applying the bandage and let go of her hand.His displeasure was clear, though the reason was something Janice couldn't guess.She understood that Wade was essentially telling her not to make a fuss over nothing.Looking down at the bandage on her hand, Janice nodded quietly. "I'll let you get back to your work."She quickly walked away.When she

Ariel thought about it. "You're coming? No need to go through all that trouble. We could just meet in Nacsall. This place isn't safe. Coming alone without protection isn't a good idea."Most dangers were obvious on the surface."No worries, I can handle it. I'll coordinate protection on that side." Jayson knew what Ariel was concerned about, but it was just a minor matter.He actually missed Ariel, even though she had just left.Perhaps because their relationship had only just taken a step forward, he still felt a hint of uncertainty.Noticing his insistence, Ariel considered the timing and judged it wouldn't be too problematic.Besides, she could take time off from work here, which made her look forward even more to the upcoming trip to Nacsall. She felt energized all over."Alright," she replied, then returned her focus to the laptop.Jayson didn't hang up. He just watched her focus silently. Even when they said nothing, his heart felt full.He caught every small expression—