After changing into a decent attire, Evelyn rushed downstairs. But when she reached the last step of the stairs, she felt perturbed and slowed down her pace. In her mind, she was organizing words to say to Martin.

"Dr. Morgan."

Chief Finley?

Evelyn looked around in surprise.

"Are you able to work today?" Eric approached her and asked gently.

"Sure." Evelyn realized she was overthinking as she could not find Martin anywhere. After all, Martin did not even know where Theodore stayed.

She then replied to Eric with a smile, "I'll go to work after I have my breakfast."

"That's great."

Noticing the relief on Eric's face, Evelyn felt anxious. "Has something happened again?"

"Everything's fine so far," Eric explained promptly, "but Grace is sick, and Dr. Edward is on leave. So there's no forensic doctor in the police station now."

"I see. What happened to Professor Johnson? Is she alright?"

"Nothing serious, but the doctor has asked her to rest for at least a week. There's no breakthrough for the case in the forest yet, and we need a forensic doctor to examine some material evidence from time to time, so..."

"I understand. Let me get ready, and I'll go to work immediately." Evelyn dashed up the stairs.

"There's no need to rush. I'll wait for you while you have your breakfast."

Upon hearing that, Evelyn stopped her steps and waved her hands. "You don't have to wait for me. It'll be too troublesome for you. I'll go by myself later."

"It's fine." Eric smiled and sat in the living room.

"Chief Finley..."

"Go ahead and get ready."

Seeing his persistence, Evelyn knew that she would only be strained if she declined any further. So, she ran up the stairs to grab her bag and ran back down, panting heavily as she said, "Let's go."

Eric pointed at the dining room and said, "We're not in a rush anyway. I'll wait for you to finish your breakfast."

"I'll grab a sandwich from the stall in front of the workplace entrance."

"Is that fine for you?"

"Yup, sandwiches are my favorite breakfast."

She would probably choke if she made her leader wait while she had her breakfast.

"But..."

"Really, it's fine. Let's go." Evelyn turned away, and when she was about to leave, Zion came out from the dining room and stopped her with a smile.

"Evelyn, you're putting Eric in a difficult situation. He won't dare to bring you out before you eat your breakfast."

"Why?"

"Because Theodore cares for you, of course." Zion pouted his mouth in the direction of the dining room.

"He cares about me? He just wants to flirt with me." Although Evelyn was mocking him in her heart, she replied with a smile, "I didn't say that I'll skip my breakfast. I'll buy sandwiches at the workplace entrance. That stall makes delicious sandwiches."

Before she could make a move, Eric glanced at his watch and halted her. "Dr. Morgan, I need to talk to Zion for a while anyway, so you can have your breakfast at home."

He then waved at Zion, as though he really had something serious going on.

"Why don't you just tell Evelyn frankly that you are willing to wait for her and fetch her to work?" Zion rolled his eyes at Eric. He disliked the way Eric was hiding his intentions.

Evelyn widened her eyes at his words.

"Evelyn, don't misunderstand me." Zion realized that his words were misleading. He took a glance at the dining room and explained hastily with an awkward smile, "I mean, he has his own intentions to wait for you, so you don't have to be courteous to him. In fact. You can relax and let him wait."

"Zion!"

"This isn't something to be embarrassed about." Zion rolled his eyes at Eric again. He then turned to Evelyn and bantered, "He is doing it for the one and only..."

"How can you still talk with a mouthful of food?" Eric threw an annoyed glance at him.

"Graceful beauty. Graceful—do you understand?" Zion ignored his displeased glance and finished his sentence.

"You mean Professor Johns..."

"That's right. Shh... Let's keep it to ourselves." Zion looked at Eric from the corner of his eyes and smiled teasingly.

Evelyn gave an acknowledging look and gazed at Eric from head to toe once again. She was analyzing how well-matched he and Grace would be.

"Don't listen to his nonsense." Eric felt slightly unsettled.

"How was it nonsense? Tell me."

"Do you want me to beat you up?"

"If you dare to beat me, I'll tell the whole world that you are Grace's secret admirer!"

"Enough of your nonsense!"

...

Evelyn walked to the dining room while listening to their arguments. At the same time, she could not suppress her laughter as she amusingly gauged the development of the relationship between Eric and Grace.

At this moment, Garcia came straight to her and informed, "Young mistress, your breakfast is ready. I'll clean the room upstairs now."

"Oh, all right. Thank you, Auntie Garcia."

After seeing Garcia leave the dining room, Evelyn hummed a tune while she entered the dining room. Suddenly, she saw Theodore sitting in the dining room, enjoying his breakfast leisurely. The disgraceful scene in the morning reappeared in her mind, and she felt suffocated. The smile on her face vanished involuntarily at once.

What a pesky and annoying beast!

She would never want to share a space with him alone!

She then turned around and walked away.

"Eat your breakfast before leaving for work."

She pretended to be deaf and continued to leave.

"You can't go to work if you don't eat your breakfast!"

Listening to the threat in his voice, she turned around and stomped toward him angrily. She then shouted with frustration, "It's my freedom to have breakfast or not before going to work. Freedom, do you understand?"

"People will see through us if we don't put up a great performance. Do you want that to happen?"

"I..." Evelyn sat down unwillingly and grabbed the fork like it was Theodore's arm. She then rebutted huffily, "Nobody will see through us so easily! Do you think everyone is as shrewd as your grandpa? Besides, I don't think your grandpa is that shrewd."

After what happened in the morning, she pondered for a long time. The more she thought of it, the stranger she felt.

She and Theodore were a 'real' married couple. Doing some 'intimate activities' was normal whether when it was at night or in the morning, and it wasn't something worthy to be kept as a secret. But they still had to throw their clothes messily on the floor. Wouldn't that seem more suspicious as if they were trying hard to conceal something?

He must have intentionally used his grandpa's room-rounding as an excuse to take advantage of her. She had noticed the lecherous look in his eyes.

Fortunately, she was able to grab a scalpel in her hand, or otherwise, she wouldn't dare to imagine what this beast, who wore the skin of a human, would do to her.

She reminded herself to always put her guards up around people once again.

"Evelyn Morgan."

"What?" Theodore seldom called her name in such a serious manner, but she could not help to respond gruffly.

Theodore paused for a while and said in a low voice, "What happened earlier was an accident."

Did he think that he could shirk from his responsibility by claiming that it was 'an accident'? Wasn't this apology too insincere?

Evelyn's face went sullen and glowered at him.

Theodore's mouth twitched, but he was rendered speechless.

It was rare that his apology went unappreciated by someone.

He would just forget it since she did not appreciate it.

He then finished the milk in his cup slowly and got up gracefully.

"Hey!" Evelyn, who was sitting on the outer side, blocked him. "Well, since you've said what happened today was just an accident, I'll trust you this time, but I hope that there won't be any accident like this in the future," she said softly.

"Otherwise, don't blame me if I chop you up!" she added in her heart.

Theodore, who had stopped his pace, replied to her with a low hum without even looking at her.

To be honest, he did not want anything like the accident to happen again either.

"And," Evelyn peeped outside and continued her sentence in a low voice, "if your grandfather makes up excuses to 'round rooms' in the morning next time, you don't have to scatter our underclothes all over the floor. After all, we are a 'real' married couple, so don't make it look like we are having extramarital affairs."

Once she reminded him of this, Theodore suddenly realized the mistakes he made this morning. His face sank at once.

Adding to his frustration, Evelyn continued, "The experience you gained outside will only make the situation worse if you use it here. If anything goes wrong, it will be all your fault, so don't blame me."

Ignoring her taunts, Theodore left the dining room.

Evelyn felt a faint pleasure for reproaching Theodore with confidence. Her mood shifted dramatically, and she enjoyed her breakfast.

After finishing her breakfast, she went to the living room. Theodore and Zion had left, so she got into Eric's car to go to work. After calling Grace on the phone to inquire, Evelyn started to take over her tasks and helped her to complete her unfinished tasks.

In the afternoon, after Evelyn finished her work, she spared some time to flip through the record file in the forensic lab regarding the homicide case in the Forest in West City once again and looked for Eric to get a better understanding of the situation. Later on, she returned to the forensic lab and jotted down the important points in her notebook, which she carried around with her. After that, Eric's voice interrupted her when she was about to analyze the case.

"Chief Finley? Are there any important details to add on?" Evelyn got up and welcomed him immediately.

"No, I didn't realize the time when I was talking to you just now. It's already four o'clock. I'll drive you back first."

"Did Grandpa's illness recur?" Evelyn felt anxious instantly.

Theodore informed her before that if his grandpa's illness recurred while she was working, Eric would fetch her home at once.

"No, Grandpa is well. There's nothing much to do in the forensic lab, so you don't have to stay here for the whole day. Therefore, I've made changes to your working hours. From today onward, you just need to work from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon every day. I will pick you up and drop you off."

"Ten to four?!" Evelyn responded swiftly. "Did Theodore ask you to change it?"

"Not really..."

Evelyn noticed his reluctance. She then said in a serious tone, "Chief Finley, I'm paid by the country to work, so I must comply with the rules and regulations of the workplace. Please don't offer me privileges. I don't want to tarnish your reputation in the workplace, and I don't want to affect my passion for the job."

"I understand what you mean, but Theodore... He has done me a huge favor by allowing you to work. You might not understand his temper, but he is a person who means what he says. If I don't fetch you back in time, he won't allow you to work again the next morning, and he might even blame me for that."

"Isn't it my freedom and right to work?" Evelyn was enraged, but looking at Eric's reluctant face, she did not have the heart to make things difficult for him. After some consideration, she compromised and said, "If there's nothing urgent in the forensic lab, I'll return home earlier. But I'll prioritize the work if there are urgent matters."

"All right." Eric was pleased. "There's nothing urgent now, so I'll drive you home."

"Fine." Evelyn went home with him unwillingly.

When she reached home, Theodore had not returned. To minimize the contact with Ethan and Charlotte, she headed straight to her room when she reached home until Theodore came back and called her down for dinner.

For the next couple of days, Theodore would come home at half-past six on time for dinner. After dinner, he went back to his room and got busy on his computer. He rarely communicated with Evelyn, let alone ask her about her work and working hours.

Evelyn was also at ease. She would take out her notebook and analyze the case when she had time.

At four o'clock today, Eric came to fetch her home as usual. She suddenly had an idea, so she told him that she wanted to visit her family. After Eric dropped her off at Ivy Hill Community where her parents stayed, she hailed a cab immediately and headed to another area.