Cullen's message popped up on the group chat. "I'm at a business luncheon. You guys carry on."

After that, his presence disappeared from the conversation, leaving the others to continue without him.

Marco glanced at his phone while sliding into the driver's seat of his car. Deciding that the discussion no longer warranted his attention, he typed a quick response: "Busy too. You guys chat."

With that, he closed the application and tossed his phone onto the passenger seat. The afternoon traffic demanded his full concentration anyway.

Seeing both Cullen and Marco abandon the conversation, Niall followed suit. "I'm going for lunch. Talk later," he wrote before putting away his phone.

Nate found himself alone in the chat, unable to keep the conversation going with no one responding.

After finishing her lunch, Veronica made her way to the R&D department for a scheduled meeting. As she entered the conference room, she noticed Lester was already seated among the team members.

Throughout the meeting, Veronica methodically identified issues with the current project and proposed elegant solutions with remarkable precision. While others took notes and engaged in the discussion, Lester remained quiet, his eyes following her movements across the room as she explained complex concepts with ease.

When the meeting concluded, Veronica gathered her materials and prepared to leave. She noticed Lester observing her with an intensity that momentarily caught her attention. Out of professional courtesy, she paused near his seat.

"It's your first day at the company. Are you adjusting well?" she asked, her tone neutral and formal.

"I'm adapting. Thanks for asking," Lester replied, his voice carrying none of the arrogance he had displayed during his interview.

Veronica acknowledged his response with a simple nod and departed without further comment, laptop in hand.

The following days found Veronica balancing her regular workload while negotiating copyright agreements with representatives from the AI journal. Despite her busy schedule, she kept close tabs on the R&D department's progress.

Friday afternoon arrived, and after examining the latest progress report from R&D, Veronica asked Ramona to summon Lester to her office.

Three minutes later, a knock on her door announced his arrival.

Once Lester was seated across from her desk, Veronica got straight to business. "Your algorithm does improve the efficiency and performance of the existing model to some extent, but it still doesn't meet my expectations."

She launched into a detailed analysis of the flaws she had identified in his work, her expertise evident in every observation.

Lester listened attentively, his demeanor respectful and focused.

In the days since joining DataPulse, he had interacted with Veronica several times. His current attitude was starkly different from the arrogant persona he had projected during his interview. Yet Veronica showed no reaction to this transformation, treating him with the same professional detachment she showed all her colleagues.

He recalled how on his first day, he had presented her with a bouquet of yellow roses as an apology for his behavior. Days had passed since then, and she had never once mentioned it. It was as if the flowers had never existed.

She displayed no curiosity about why he had felt compelled to apologize in the first place.

While Lester had sensed Veronica's capabilities during the interview, working alongside her had revealed depths to her expertise that he hadn't anticipated. Despite being considered a genius in AI development himself, he now felt like a novice in comparison. Her knowledge and innovative approaches exceeded even those of the top experts he had encountered in Bella.

But more importantly—

"Do you have any other questions?" Veronica's voice cut through his thoughts.

Lester pulled his gaze away, stood up, and replied simply, "No."

Veronica nodded without further comment, effectively dismissing him.

Back at his workstation, Lester had barely settled in when his phone rang. He answered without checking the caller ID.

"So, how's it going with that Murray chick? Who do you think she'd pick—you or that Reid guy?" the voice on the other end asked without preamble.

The question struck Lester as absurd. From what he could tell, in Veronica's eyes, he was merely another researcher in the R&D department, no different from anyone else.

"No progress," he replied flatly, his attention already returning to the data on his screen. "I'm hanging up."

The moment he ended the call, his phone lit up again—Niall calling. Lester glanced at the screen and decided not to answer, returning his focus to his work instead.

Across town, a young voice called out excitedly, "Mom!" Audrey spotted her mother waiting outside the school gates and ran into her arms.

Casey embraced her daughter warmly before turning her attention to the quiet girl standing nearby. "Sa," she said with a friendly smile.

Sabrina looked at Audrey, who was hugging her mother tightly, and nodded politely. "Mrs. Price."

Audrey glanced around the pickup area and asked, "Is your driver here yet?"

Sabrina scanned the line of cars but didn't see her family's vehicle. Instead, she observed many of her classmates being collected by their mothers, chatting happily as they walked hand in hand to waiting cars.

Being picked up by a driver had never bothered her before. She'd always thought that having her mother come to school wasn't "cool." Whether her mom showed up or not had seemed irrelevant.

But now...

Casey noticed Sabrina's downcast expression. "What's wrong? Why do you look upset?" she asked gently.

Before Sabrina could respond, her driver finally pulled up to the curb. With a quick wave to Audrey and Casey, she slipped into the backseat.

As the car pulled away, Sabrina gazed out the window at Audrey skipping happily beside her mother, their hands linked together.

She turned away from the sight and pulled out her phone, scrolling to Veronica's number. Her thumb hovered over the call button, but after a moment's hesitation, she selected Cullen's contact instead and pressed dial.