Unloved Unwanted Unstoppable (Seraphina and Dominic) novel Chapter 64

Seraphina took a deep breath, her fingers flying across the keyboard to type a single line: "Professor, I'm interested. What time this afternoon?"

A reply came through almost instantly: "3:00 PM, The Metropolis Culture Club, our usual spot."

Our usual spot.

Seraphina stared at those three words and let out a long exhale, feeling as though a boulder that had been crushing her chest for six years had finally begun to shift.

She looked down and opened an encrypted folder on her computer.

Inside were dozens of documents spanning from six years ago all the way to the present.

These were the research papers she had been secretly writing all these years.

They were entirely focused on power source and raw energy R&D.

Unlike jewelry design, she had zero ulterior motives in this field; it was driven purely by passion.

Back in college, she had assisted Professor Vane with his research and became instantly hooked.

The thrill of finding a breakthrough amidst countless failures gave her an immense sense of accomplishment.

But after she joined the Lockwood family, she never had the chance to touch any of it again.

Yet, she never gave up.

Late at night, after her daughter fell asleep, she would sit alone at her computer, typing word by word.

Whenever she hit a roadblock, she would pore over reference materials, often working until dawn broke. Then, she would shut her laptop and go make breakfast for Lily.

No one knew she was doing this.

It was the only sanctuary she had built for herself, an escape from her suffocating daily life.

And ever since her conversation with Chelsea, she had specifically researched the recent trajectories of Professor Vane's institute. She then updated and revised her original papers, integrating a multitude of fresh insights and modern data analytics.

She had planned to seek out her mentor when the time was right.

She just hadn't expected that day to come so soon.

Seraphina reviewed the papers from start to finish. After confirming everything was flawless, she transferred them to her tablet.

That afternoon, Seraphina grabbed her tablet sleeve and walked out of The Cole Group building.

The Metropolis Culture Club wasn't far from the office; it was only a twenty-minute cab ride.

The man seemed to sense something. He looked up, his gaze locking directly onto hers.

He froze for a second.

Then, his eyes lit up brilliantly, and he practically sprang up from the booth.

"Sera?"

Julian.

Her old college colleague.

They had been under the same mentor in university. He was three years ahead of her and had constantly looked out for her back in the day.

Before Seraphina could even speak, Julian had already rushed around the table.

He stood right in front of her, looking her up and down. His eyes were filled with absolute delight, mixed with a faint trace of heartache.

"You've lost weight," he noted. "You look a bit exhausted too. But... you're still as stunning as ever."

Seraphina's throat tightened, her eyes rimming with red.