The pathway to the Seaside Estate was filled with rainbow colored salt-pruned hedgerows and polished natural blue stones at every single step. Holographic signs floated at intervals along the trail.

Neville walked with Grayson, holding hands, hearing the distant crash of waves provided a rhythmic backdrop.

Sarah was chatting away just behind them and in front of Iris and Bryan. Iris and Bryan chatted with Sarah while openly holding hands, while Colonel Vane stayed a distance away from all of them.

"So," he said, turning to the group curiously as they walked, "where do you guys live?"

All of them looked at him in confusion as if to ask this question out of the blue.

"Like, normally. Outside of—" He gestured vaguely since he just really thought about it randomly. "—work."

Then Iris suddenly turned a shade of pink. Neville’s eyes widened as he saw this, his eyes filled with gossip, together with Sarah.

But Iris didn’t see this; she unconsciously whipped her head toward Bryan. Her eyes widened after she realized what she had done, blushing hard.

Bryan, naturally, did not miss the opportunity. He tucked one hand into his pocket, tilted his chin up, smug. As if he had been waiting his entire life for this exact moment.

Then, he said, "We live together."

The words dropped into the group like a stone into still water.

Neville’s hand flew to his mouth like Sarah at the same time. The two of them were mirroring each other.

"You—" Neville started.

"Live together?!" Sarah finished, her voice climbing an octave.

Iris looked like she wanted the polished stone to open up and swallow her whole.

Her no-nonsense expression crumbled into something resembling a teenager caught sneaking back through her bedroom window.

She squared her shoulders, cleared her throat, and said with admirable but ultimately doomed dignity:

"It’s practical. There’s very little free time after work, and his house is much closer to the headquarters than the employee dormitory. Commuting from the dorms would waste at least forty minutes each way. It was a logical decision. That’s all."

Neville and Sarah exchanged a look.

They both had a slow, knowing curve of the lips. Their eyebrows raised just enough to convey a polite disbelief without technically saying anything rude.

It was the kind of look that needed no words.

The kind of look that said: We do not believe a single word of that, and we are going to let you know it with our expression alone.

Iris saw that look and her eye twitched.

Her hand shot out and connected firmly with the back of Bryan’s head.

SLAP

The sound of the impact was sharp enough to create an echo in the open space.

"Ow—"

Bryan lurched forward with a hacking cough, making his smug grin crack apart.

"This is your fault," Iris hissed through clenched teeth.

Neville and Sarah watched the scene with a shared, sympathetic expression.

Poor beta.

They thought in unison, looking at Bryan, who was rubbing the back of his skull with a grimace. But by the looks of it, this was not the first time Iris’s palm had landed on the back of his head.

You did that to yourself, man.

Then Sarah, bless her bubbly heart, decided to throw her friend a lifeline. She cleared her throat dramatically. She drew the attention away from the increasingly murderous look Iris was directing at the still-coughing Bryan.

She brightly said, "By the way, I’m also living at the employee dorms! Just a few floors up from Neville, actually."

The deflection worked. Neville’s eyes went wide with surprise as he turned to her.

"Wait—really? Which floor? What room?"

"4713," Sarah said casually.

Neville blinked.

"Forty-seventh floor? That’s only three floors above me!" He looked almost offended. "How come I’ve never seen you? Not once? Not in the elevator, not even in the lobby!"

Sarah’s expression changed. The bubbly airhead mask slipped, replaced by something far more cunning. With a slow, Cheshire-cat grin that spread across her expression.

"Oh," she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial purr, "but I’ve seen you."

The temperature around Neville dropped by several degrees. Or at least, that was what it felt like. The blood drained from his face so fast.

"What," he said, his voice cracking, "did you see?"

Sarah leaned back on her heels, folding her arms behind her, and hummed.

"Hmm~ I wonder. Guess?"

Neville’s mind was already racing through every potentially embarrassing thing he had ever done in the corridors, the elevator, and the shared lobby of the dormitory building.

Had he talked to the system out loud? Had he walked around with his glasses off? But other than that, he couldn’t think of anything else.

Before he could spiral further, Iris leaned in, her earlier embarrassment evaporating. Her violet eyes gleamed with barely contained mischief.

"Oh," she said, with the careful enunciation of someone lighting a fuse, "is it that?"

Bryan, who quickly recovered, joined the formation.

He crossed his arms, nodded sagely, and added: "Ah. You mean that?"

"What is ’that’?!" Neville’s voice climbed higher.

He looked between the three of them, his eyes darting back and forth behind his glasses like a cornered animal.

"What are you all talking about? What is it?!"

The three of them simply smiled at him like cats who had cornered a particularly entertaining mouse.

Neville was in distress. His ears were red, his hands were clenched at his sides. He was about three seconds from grabbing Sarah by the shoulders and shaking answers out of her—when a warm, steady hand settled on his back.

"You have nothing to be guilty of."

Grayson’s calm voice cut through the teasing. His palm rested between Neville’s shoulder blades, solid and grounding. Neville felt the frantic buzzing in his head quiet almost instantly.

As the group passed through the arched entrance of the estate.

Grayson turned his gaze on the other three. His expression hadn’t changed, but something in his eyes changed, a warning not to go too far.

"Cut it out, guys. We’re here."

Sarah deflated like a balloon. She puffed out her cheeks and let out a dramatic "Tch! Killjoy!" complete with folded arms and an exaggerated pout.