The Year She Stopped Being Crazy for Him novel Chapter 288

The driver quickly brought Adrian back.

He walked into the living room wearing his backpack.

Cecily approached him, led him to the sofa, and gently brushed a few strands of hair away from his forehead before asking softly, "Adrian, why did you set an alarm for 3:00 in the morning?"

He glanced at the clock on the coffee table, then looked up at Natalie.

Sitting next to Hassan, Natalie momentarily froze under his gaze.

It felt like he had instantly figured out she was the one who found the clock.

This kid was far too smart.

Her hand, resting by her thigh, suddenly clenched into a fist. As she shifted, she accidentally brushed against the hand next to hers.

Hassan lowered his eyes, looked at her, and gently covered her small, slender hand with his larger one, giving it a soft squeeze.

She pulled back, trying to slip her hand away.

He tightened his grip. His thumb slid over her ring finger—the spot where her wedding band used to be. But she no longer wore it; the space was bare.

"Adrian, can you tell me why?" Cecily asked.

Adrian picked up the clock, inspecting it from a few angles.

Then he looked at Cecily. "I wanted to see how many hours it takes for my bean sprouts to germinate."

Unzipping his backpack, he pulled out a small cardboard box and opened the ventilated lid.

Inside, resting on a damp paper towel, tiny white sprouts had begun poking out of the green beans.

"It's an experiment our teacher gave us," Adrian explained. "The textbook says they crack open after 24 hours, and after 48 hours, a tiny white sprout about 1 to 2 millimeters long will appear. At 3:30 AM last night, it was exactly 48 hours. So I set the alarm to wake up and see if they really sprouted."

Cecily stared at him, then let out a massive sigh of relief and rubbed his head. "So that's what it was. You need to make sure you sleep properly at night, understand?"

Adrian nodded.

Natalie stared at the sprouts in the container.

Lowering her eyelashes, she momentarily forgot that Hassan's hand was still covering hers. Subconsciously, she shifted her fingers, her fingertips tracing lightly across his palm.

Catching herself, she immediately withdrew her hand.

Hassan glanced down at her.

He curled his empty hand into a loose fist, then unclasped it, crossing both hands over his lap.

"We might as well install security cameras inside the house from now on," Cecily remarked.

The old manor was fully equipped with surveillance.

She just hadn't expected to need them here at Sycamore Quays, considering how relatively small it was.

Natalie stared at her own hands, her fingertips absentmindedly tracing the fabric of her pants.

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