The Year She Stopped Being Crazy for Him novel Chapter 238

The table was draped in a pale beige cloth, with a slender glass vase holding white lisianthus sitting directly in the center.

Each setting was perfectly arranged with a pristine white porcelain plate, a bone dish, gleaming silverware, and a wine glass. A neatly folded napkin sat crisply to the side of the plate.

Delicate little desserts and a variety of sauces were placed in the middle.

Natalie wanted some mustard for her shrimp. As she reached out, her elbow accidentally brushed against Hassan's hand. She immediately shifted away.

The mustard was placed just out of her reach. Just as she was about to stand up to grab it, the hand next to hers let go of its knife, brushed past her arm, and effortlessly grabbed the dish, placing it right next to her plate.

That was exactly the kind of man he was. Whenever he actually wanted to, he could step down from his pedestal and take perfect, meticulous care of someone.

She had completely lost herself in that tender illusion once.

But now, she knew the truth. It was nothing but poison coated in sugar. One taste, and it left you wishing you were dead.

She didn't touch the mustard he had moved for her.

By the time she finished the shrimp on her plate, Hassan had already quietly placed a small dish of caviar right next to her hand.

He did it so seamlessly she didn't even notice, assuming it had been there the entire time.

Adler deliberately avoided talking about anything related to their research, terrified he might slip up and blow her cover. Instead, he kept asking about her “past” as a dancer.

After a few general questions, he asked about her motivation. “You mentioned you started dancing a few years later than most kids. It sounds like your parents didn't exactly plan for you to go down that route. So what made you choose it?”

His words instantly snagged her attention—specifically the words *parents* and *plan*.

It suddenly dawned on her that her mother had never actually mapped out a clear path for her. In fact, when she first displayed an undeniable genius for STEM as a child, her mother deliberately pushed her toward the humanities, practically forcing her to study things she struggled with.

Even when her teachers pointed out her extraordinary gift for science and suggested enrolling her in advanced programs, her mother never looked proud or excited. Instead, she had looked at her with deep, unsettling anxiety.

Back then, she just assumed it was because her mother worked in a demanding technical field and didn't want her daughter suffering through the same exhausting career.

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