The elderly lady was still in her study, glasses perched on her nose as she practiced calligraphy.

Jarrod glanced in, noting how energetic she looked. “Have you taken your medication?”

She paused, pen hovering over the paper, and peered at him. “On time, as always. What brings you back so early?”

He shrugged off his coat and leaned against the doorframe with an easy smile. “So I’m not needed around here? Should I start filing a request before visiting you next time?”

She gave a dismissive snort. “Don’t be cheeky.”

Jarrod grinned, undeterred. “Your birthday’s coming up. Have you and Elodie made any plans? It’s only once a year-you should take the chance to relax.”

He spoke unhurriedly, as if nothing could ruffle him. “Not yet.”

She set her pen down completely, folding her hands on the desk. “You’re both always so busy. Why not take a trip? Elodie’s always wanted to visit Switzerland, hasn’t she? You never did take her. It should be beautiful this time of year. And as you young people say, quite romantic.”

The snow season had passed, but cherry blossom time was just as charming.

Jarrod didn’t answer right away, gently reassuring her instead. “I can’t get away from work right now, so we’ll skip the trip. And please don’t call Elodie about it. We’ll make our own plans.”

She shot him a glare. “Busy, busy, busy! Since when is work more important than your wife?”

He only met her gaze quietly, the corners of his lips quirking upward.

She huffed in defeat, finally relenting. “Just… take better care of Elodie, will you? Promise me.”

Jarrod handed her a packet of wipes to clean the ink from her hands. “Alright. I hear you.”

The next day.

Elodie received an email: her paper had been officially accepted for publication.

Just as she’d expected. With a submission of that caliber, peer review had gone quickly.

But given the journal’s prestige, the editing process would be rigorous.

She’d have to adjust the formatting again.

It would be fast-tracked online before the print version.

After the internal meeting, Elodie mentioned the news to Esmeralda and Alexander.

Alexander was genuinely impressed. “That’s incredible. Your paper’s bound to make waves in the field. With that level of quality, the citations are going to skyrocket.”

A high citation count could speak for itself.

“I imagine they’ll speed up the publication process now,” Elodie mused. The swift review made her optimistic.

Esmeralda folded her arms. “Didn’t Sylvie just submit something in the same area? She really doesn’t know how to tone down the theatrics. to Publishing alongside you-she’s just asking for trouble.”

Especially since they worked in the same field, comparisons were inevitable-

strengths, weaknesses, everything.

Alexander nodded in agreement.

“Even if Sylvie’s a

once-in-a-generation genius, you’d

find a hundred thousand like her?

before you’d find another Elodie.

You’re the kind of person who

makes even prodigies feel

inadequate.”

Otherwise, his old man wouldn’t have been haunted by regret for all these years.

“Your NDA is almost up, right?” Alexander suddenly remembered.

Elodie did some quick mental math. “About two more months, give or take. Not long now.”

That seemed to finally put Alexander at ease. Once it expired, Elodie could truly reclaim her place—no more restrictions.

Later that afternoon.

Elodie had to head out for fieldwork at the industry drone indoor test site.

All the major companies were putting their models through real-world testing.

The place was enormous, and with VistaLink Technologies drawing a lot of attention lately, their booth had quite a presence. When Elodie arrived, she saw Galen and the others comparing data.

These events weren’t uncommon, but Elodie rarely attended. This time, after her trip to New York, she’d had some new ideas and wanted to see how they played out in practice-hoping to optimize the products with firsthand data.