Chapter 682

Chapter 682:
The others were used to her high energy and casually greeted her back while staying focused on their work.
Once Sandra changed into her lab coat, she walked over and asked with a glint of curiosity, “Sylvia, who dropped you off this morning?” She had seen everything from across the street.
Stella paused, already used to Sandra being the lab’s unofficial gossip radar—never missing a beat.
“It was Mr. Schoenberg—the one who delivered our equipment last time,” she said casually.
Sandra’s eyes lit up. “He’s back in Choria?”
“Seems like he’s got other work here,” Stella said. “I’m not exactly sure.”
She remembered Rutherford had said he came for the birthday party, but now that the event was over, he hadn’t rushed to leave. He probably had more business in town. She didn’t flatter herself into thinking he’d stayed just for her.
While fiddling with her equipment, Sandra mumbled, “William and Mr. Schoenberg are both amazing… Sylvia, if you had to choose, who would you choose?”
Stella looked up. Sandra had asked this before—just playing around, trying to liven up the lab.
“I wouldn’t choose either of them,” Stella replied flatly.
Sandra blinked. “What? You don’t think they’re good enough?”
“It’s not that. They’re both great guys,” Stella said. “But that’s exactly why it’s not up to me to choose.”
She didn’t see the point in playing out hypotheticals that didn’t mean anything.
But Sandra wasn’t letting it go. “Still, if you had to pick one?” Clearly, lab work was too boring today.
Stella hesitated for a moment, then said, “Then I’d choose Rutherford.”
She didn’t put much thought into it. It was just… ever since she started suspecting the Briggs family might’ve had a hand in her adoptive parents’ death, she couldn’t bring herself to choose William anymore.
Sandra looked surprised. She’d always thought Sylvia leaned toward William—after all, they’d known each other way longer.
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Before she could ask anything else, Stella cut her off. “Alright, let’s get back to the experiment.”
Neither of them noticed the shadow that had silently passed by outside the lab door.
Back in his office, William sat down at his desk. All the way from the lab to here, not a single smile crossed his face. He hadn’t said a word to anyone.
The other researchers saw his expression and quickly steered clear.
Staring at his computer screen, William didn’t absorb a single line.
His head was spinning with Stella’s words. She picked Rutherford. Even after he’d known her for more than a year—long before Rutherford showed up—why would she give Rutherford a chance and not him?
William ran a hand through his hair, frustration building. For the first time, he had to admit—he really didn’t understand her.
He’d seen the emotion in her eyes. It wasn’t as simple as she made it sound.
But the words she spoke? Cold. Final.
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