Chapter 170: Chapter 171: A Good Night’s Sleep
After debugging the equipment, everyone returned to their rooms to rest.
Thea Lynch called Silas Cheney first, discussing work until Silas brought up personal matters.
"Did you call Sean yet?"
"When?" Thea was still tapping away at the keyboard, focused on the computer, not fully registering what Silas said.
Silas sighed, thinking she was dense. "Since you landed until now, you haven’t contacted Sean at all?"
"..." Upon hearing this, Thea’s hands paused.
When he heard the keyboard stop on the other end, Silas understood.
"When will you finish your work? Try to find time to call or at least send a message to Sean."
"You landed but didn’t think to inform him?"
"I posted it in the group," Thea replied weakly.
This time, since she was out for a work trip, her second brother and others kept asking.
Ian Preston had certainly been in touch too.
But responding to each one individually was bothersome, and she was busy at the time, so she just replied in the group, thinking everyone could see it.
She hadn’t thought much beyond that.
Silas felt at a loss by her response, raising his hand to rub his forehead.
Thea realized her approach might not have been the best and said, "I’ll wrap things up and give him a call."
"Alright, alright, then I’ll hang up, you get busy."
Silas didn’t disturb her further.
After hanging up, Thea typed a line of code on her computer, then picked up her phone and opened the chat window with Ian Preston, without hesitation, she tapped to dial.
"Hello."
Due to the time difference, Thea wasn’t sure if Ian would pick up.
But, unexpectedly, as soon as she put down the phone, Ian’s voice came through.
It was almost instant.
It seemed as if he had been waiting for this call.
Thea paused for a moment before speaking, "Sean, it’s me."
"I know."
After a brief silence, he asked, "Are you finished with your work?"
"..." Hearing this question, Thea felt a subtle undercurrent of sarcasm.
But upon reflection, Ian wasn’t that kind of person.
He had merely assumed she had just finished because she was replying now.
Thea: "Not yet."
Hearing her answer, Ian was slightly surprised, "Then why did you call me?"
"I’m not currently busy, it’s just a bit of miscellaneous work, it won’t take long."
"I was in a rush when I got off the plane, then after dinner I had to debug equipment, so I forgot to reply."
"No worries, I saw your message in the group," Ian replied.
After hearing that, Thea cleared her throat, "There were too many messages at the time. Thought it would be more convenient."
Ian chuckled, his laughter deep and pleasant, "I know."
"No need to explain, I never meant to blame you."
"I understand you’ll be very busy this time. Just let me know you arrived safely."
"Okay." Thea responded, "It’s still morning there, right? Sean, are you heading to the company?"
"On the way."
"Then..."
Before Thea could say anything, Ian said, "There’s still a way to go before I get to the company and some traffic. I should be able to keep you company until you finish your work, I’ll just read some documents in the meantime."
"You only have a bit left, right?"
"Yes, I can finish soon."
"Alright, focus on your work."
Thea understood his intention, put down her phone, "...Okay."
Just like long ago, when he worked and she studied, neither interrupted the other, yet they were there for each other.
With a calm mind, Thea looked at the screen, continuing to type code.
She deliberately softened her actions, fearing her noise might disturb him.
This gentleness also meant her pace slowed down.
Invisibly, this extended the time.
Neither spoke again.
Besides the sporadic sound of her keyboard, the only audible sound was the rustling of papers from his end.
Not sure how much time had passed, noticing the intermittent faint sound of her keyboard, Ian finally spoke.
"What time do you leave tomorrow?"
"Seven in the morning." Thea replied, "It was too late tonight, so I didn’t go to the exhibition. Going early tomorrow to set up, the exhibition officially starts at ten."
"When will you be back? Next Wednesday? There’s an event on Friday where you might need to join me."
"What kind of event?"
The man replied succinctly, "Industry-related."
Thea tapped the mouse tentatively, "Will our fourth brother be there too?"
"No."
"..." From his reply, Thea could roughly guess.
"If I recall correctly, last time you accompanied Sean as his date. Since you helped him, you can join me this time, right?"
Thea was speechless.
After pondering, she said, "Probably, but I’m not very sure."
"Currently scheduled to return Wednesday, but not sure if there’ll be any changes. The exhibition here lasts seven days, but might need time to pack equipment afterward."
Thea carefully calculated the time, "At most it’ll be delayed by a day or two, shouldn’t be too late. Fourth brother said he’d make time to come in the last days, if he does, I can return by Wednesday."
"If I return by Wednesday plus travel time, I can make it. If it’s delayed... might not work."
After she finished speaking, the phone suddenly went silent. Thea thought Ian misunderstood her as making excuses. Hesitating for a moment, she finally said:
"I’ll discuss it with the team tomorrow, should be fine."
After another few seconds, Thea heard Ian explain, "There was an incoming call just now."
Then he said, "As long as you can return, early or late doesn’t matter."
"It’s just that you don’t return."
"..." This was quite a statement.
Thea didn’t know how to reply.
"Well, that won’t happen."
"I’ll visit my uncle the day before I leave here, I won’t stay."
"I know." Ian was just joking with her, "Are you done?"
"Finished." Thea shut down her computer, "Should we leave it at that for today?"
It was already very late for her, she had to get up early tomorrow, and she struggled to sleep in new environments, so she had to go to bed now.
"Yes, goodnight."
Thea held the phone, softly responding, "Goodnight."
"Put the bracelet under your pillow and have a good sleep," he said.
Ian knew she often had dreams, whether good or bad, affecting her rest. So he never wished her sweet dreams, for her, a good sleep was already challenging enough.
Perhaps his words worked, or maybe it was the calming effect of the agarwood beads, Thea truly slept well that night.
So much so that when she woke up early the next morning, she felt a bit dazed.
She repeatedly checked the time, opened the sleep monitoring app, and finally confirmed she had a deep sleep last night.
Did not wake up during the night.
Thea carefully retrieved the bracelet from under the pillow, gently putting it back on her wrist.
