“I appreciate your hard work. I‘ll buy you guys a coffee another day.” Nicole turned off the computer and
left.
“Glad to know you have got him. We won‘t see you out.” Edwin and Preston fell asleep at their
computer desks after Nicole left.
Once out of Preston‘s company, Nicole looked at the time; it was 1.00 am. Going back to the campus
and home was out of the question , so she could only go to Jared‘s place.
It was a sunny and breezy morning the next day.
Jared stretched out and headed downstairs. Just as he came to the staircase landing, he vaguely saw
someone lying on the couch in the living room. Jared was stunned, wondering who had broken into his
house early in the morning without triggering the security alarm.
He reached for a club, sneaked toward the living room, and came behind the couch. Jared held the
club in one hand and pulled the throw pillow the person was sleeping on.
Nicole was sleeping, but when she sensed someone approaching, she became alert and ready to
strike at any time, just waiting for the attacker to pull her throw pillow, and she would quickly subdue the
person.
As Jared pulled the throw pillow away, and before he could strike with the club in his hand, he was
kicked to the floor.
Nicole heard the familiar voice and got up. “Jared?” She hurried up to help him.
Jared heard Nicole‘s voice and looked over with a painful expression. “Nicole?”
Nicole helped him to sit down on the couch. “Why did you sneak up on me like a thief in the early
morning?”
“How do you still have the nerve to ask me this question? Why didn‘t you inform me you had come? I
thought it was an uninvited guest.”
“You really hit me hard; my hand is still numb.” Jared glanced at his hand, which was still shivering,
wondering how much force Nicole had used.
“You can‘t blame me; you could have dodged.”
“I didn‘t tell you because I didn‘t want to disturb your rest, so I thought I would just sleep on the couch,”
Nicole explained. When she came to Jared‘s place, she was not so sleepy, so she looked through the
material in the living room for a while. When she finally felt tired, she did not bother to go upstairs but
fell asleep on the couch.
Jared keenly captured some key information.
“So you must have arrived here late, right? Otherwise, you should have returned to the campus or your
home.”
Nicole did not expect Jared to see through her so quickly, so she might as well be honest with him.
“Yes, it was already 1.00 am when I arrived last night. I had nowhere else to go, so I came to you.”
“Then you go to sleep first. I will make breakfast.” Jared looked at her and felt sorry for her.
Nicole looked at Jared in amazement.
“You don‘t even ask me where I was last night?”
“No hurry. I will wait until you get enough sleep.” Jared gave her a look and went to make breakfast.
Nicole lay down on the couch and continued to sleep. This time, she slept soundly until she woke up
naturally.
“What time is it? Why are you still here?” Nicole opened her eyes and saw Jared sitting beside her.
“Get up and get something to eat.” Jared brought breakfast to her when he saw she looked refreshed
after a good sleep.
Nicole was starving. She tucked in at once. Upon finishing breakfast, she looked at Jared. “Don‘t you
have to go to work today?”
“It doesn‘t matter.” Jared looked at her dotingly. It was now late morning. He had postponed the
morning meeting to the afternoon. So it looked like he would have to stay back tonight.
“Can you tell me now why you came back so late?” Jared finally asked the question.
“I‘m helping Preston on a job. I guess I‘ll still be busy for the next few days.” Nicole explained briefly.
Had it not been for Jared, she would not have bothered to explain.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda