Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Chapter 786

Stoddard leaned back in his chair, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You can't fool me, Owen! You say you're not interested in Roseanne, but you're acting like a lovesick puppy. Caught you red-handed!"

Owen Reynolds just stared at his computer screen, saying nothing.

"Listen, buddy," Stoddard continued, "if you have doubts, the best thing to do is to just ask her straight up. Man up a little! You've mentioned yourself that Roseanne hates all that beating around the bush."

Owen seemed to be lost in thought.

"Don't hesitate any longer! Before you know it, she'll be someone else's girl. I bet you can't focus on work until you sort this out."

"Who says I can't focus on work?" Owen shot back.

"Ha! Then why's there a mistake in these simple calculations?" Stoddard pointed

to a glaring error on the screen. "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, my friend."

Owen glanced over, a flicker of embarrassment crossing his face. Stoddard gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You got this, bro!"

With that, he turned back to his own workspace.

"When did you figure it out?" Owen suddenly asked.

Stoddard paused, turning with a smirk. "The way you look at Roseanne, the special treatment you give her, even your tone is softer around her. If I didn't notice, I'd have to be blind."

sheepish grin. "Is

talking about?" Liz chimed in

up, shooting Stoddard a

Liz, Stoddard hid his hands behind his back, giving Owen an "OK" sign. "Got it, got it!

secretive, Mr. Stoddard? Some top-secret project I can't know

Stoddard, her

played along, "Well, since you've put it that way, it's all classified,

just Owen's feelings he could see clearly; Liz was

he walked by, carrying

Sammy. You've outdone

confused. "But we aren't rushing any experiments right now, and nobody's

and Owen Reynolds returned home

outside his apartment building, looking up at Roseanne's window. It was dark; she

appetite In the end, he settled for a cup of hot tea and retreated

his desk, Owen opened his laptop and stared at his unfinished paper,

he checked the time again. Another half hour passed,

stood to refill his teacup in the kitchen, his gaze drifted to the wall clock. The hands pointed

could she be

a

the balcony, spotting Corley's car pulling into the