Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

At 7:30 AM, Roseanne arrived at the lab.

The others hadn't shown up yet when suddenly, there was some noise coming from the lounge.

Accompanied by footsteps, Owen emerged from inside.

Their eyes met, and both paused, taken aback.

Owen thought back to his hasty exit the day before, feeling slightly awkward.

Roseanne remembered her pretend sleep and the scene she had caught a glimpse of...

She also felt uncomfortable.

"Morning," the man broke the silence.

Roseanne nodded slightly, "Morning."

After that, she quickly moved to her workbench and started to busy herself with her tasks, even forgetting to put her lunch in the fridge.

Owen mentioned, "I'm heading to the break room. I can put that in the fridge for you."

Roseanne replied with a brief, "Thanks, Professor."

When lunchtime came, Roseanne left the lab.

As soon as she stepped outside, she saw Corley, hands in his pockets, standing not too far away.

The man wore his shirt in a carelessly stylish manner, the top buttons undone, paired with dress pants. It didn't look bad at all; in fact, it had a certain easy charm.

"Sorry, have you been waiting long?"

Corley responded, "Just got here a bit ago."

Roseanne asked, "What's up with Mr. Olson?"

Pulling out a document, the man handed it over, "This is the final exam Mr. Olson set for his class. He couldn't be bothered to do it himself, asked me to work through it and come up with an answer key for his grad students to use for grading." That old man, not willing to lift a finger!

Everything's getting dumped on him!

But that wasn't the worst part-

"I finished the questions and the answer key. When I gave it to him, he actually said he wasn't confident in it and wanted you to check it over to make sure it's correct!"

He was clearly mooching off Roseanne this time.

Hans Olson wondered, "What's the problem with her checking?"

He was too clever by half!

Corley retorted, "Can't you check it yourself?"

After a moment, Hans conceded,

realizing that Madeleine Payne had mentioned the girl was busy with experiments and papers and probably didn't have the time

He was about to agree when Corley, apparently having a change of heart, suddenly insisted, "You're absolutely right Having Roseanne check it is the best option."

Then, seizing the opportunity, he added, "You're so busy, I'll take it to her myself."

Hans objected, "No need to hand it over in person. We have the electronic version; just email it to her, right?"

"That won't do."

"Why not?"

"Online communication can't compare to a face-to-face discussion."

"But..." What do they need to discuss?

Corley concluded, "That settles it! I'll personally deliver it to her tomorrow."

After saying that, he picked up the documents and left cheerfully.

Hans was left puzzled, "What's with him today? So agreeable?"

Normally, any slight doubt about his ability could turn him sullen, yet now he was willingly letting someone check his work? Something was off! Very off!

After hearing the explanation, Roseanne couldn't help but twitch at the corner of her mouth.

Mooching off her for questions was one thing, but now answers too? Classic Mr. Olson.

Not letting any opportunity for a freebie pass by.

She glanced at her watch, opened the document bag, "Is your version of the answers in here?" "Yes."

"Then I'll look at it now. Should take about... fifteen minutes?"

"Sounds good. There's a gazebo over there; let's head that way to avoid the sun. It's quite harsh."

Roseanne curiously asked, "Men worry about the sun too?"

Corley nodded, "Yep."Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

However, the truth was, in the two minutes they stood there, Roseanne looked up at the sky at least five times, frowning more often than not. All these little actions didn't escape Corley's discreet observation.

Owen, after finishing his lunch at the

cafeteria, was walking back when he suddenly stopped, his gaze drawn towards the gazebo across the way... . FindNovel

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