Sign the Papers Mr. Langford novel Chapter 285

Sitting by the window, Daisy texted Julian.

'Arrived. Eating. Didn't fall. Didn't shatter. Didn't get bulldozed by Maya.'

Julian replied quickly: 'Good. I'll pick you up when you're done this afternoon?'

Daisy stared at the screen, hesitating.

She wanted to say no.

But as the rain lashed against the glass, her ankle was indeed feeling a bit heavy.

She wavered for a few seconds before replying: 'You can pick me up, but you're not allowed to stand guard downstairs half an hour early.'

He replied: 'Fifteen minutes.'

Daisy laughed out loud.

Wren happened to sit down next to her, sliding a warm drink her way.

"Your brother?"

"Yeah." Daisy placed her phone face down. "He's the kind of guy where two out of every three sentences sound like a doctor's orders."

Wren smiled faintly. "He's just worried about you."

"I know." Daisy poked at her food. "But sometimes, when you're worried about for too long, you forget that you can actually make your own decisions."

Wren's movements paused slightly.

The words seemed to strike a gentle chord within her.

Daisy quickly realized what she had said and looked a bit embarrassed. "I wasn't talking about you..."

"I know," Wren said. "But you're right."

Outside, the rain droned on.

The two ate in silence for a while.

Daisy suddenly asked, "Wren, how was Leo yesterday?"

Wren looked up.

Daisy lowered her voice to explain, "I heard a little about the Open House from Maya. She runs her mouth, but she doesn't gossip maliciously."

Wren didn't mind.

It was nearly impossible to keep something like that entirely secret within Stellaris; Phoebe and Maya both knew bits and pieces.

"He slept alright last night," she said. "But he kept that name tag under his pillow."

Daisy chewed on her fork, pausing for a few seconds before saying, "He's confirming that his choice was preserved."

Wren looked at her.

Daisy seemed a bit surprised by her own words.

"The Anti-Labeling Protocol," Phoebe said. "So many systems and families love doing exactly that. The second someone doesn't react the way they expected, they slap a 'non-compliant' label on them."

Wren remained silent.

She thought of Lawrence.

She thought of Eleanor.

She also thought of Willow's remark, *'The child was never like this before.'*

They always loved to translate other people's refusal into being ill-mannered, manipulated, ignorant, or uncooperative.

But refusal itself was a valid form of expression.

When the meeting wrapped up, Daisy was exhausted.

She sat on the sofa, her face paler than it had been that morning, but she was still looking down at the final logs.

Wren walked over. "Let's call it a day."

"I can keep going."

"Consultants have the right to clock out too."

Daisy looked up and smiled. "Can we code that into the system?"

"Absolutely," Wren said. "Rule number one: Patient Consultants reserve the right to refuse overtime."