Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

"No need, I've got other plans." replied Silver.

Nola didn't press further, signaling the driver to move on.

Roseanne was also waiting for her ride outside the hotel, responding warmly to every greeting she received.

Knowing she had someone picking her up, Nola didn't arrange for a driver. Owen, true to his word, arrived in just ten minutes, even two minutes early.

A drizzle began, and through the car's windshield, Owen caught a glimpse of her in the distance.

Through the veil of rain, Roseanne, clad in a sleek evening gown, appeared as if she had stepped out of a scene from an old Hollywood film, stunningly out of this world.

Owen was momentarily transfixed, then snapped back to reality and parked by the curb.

He got out, opened an umbrella, escorted her to the car, and carefully opened the door for her, shielding her head from the car's roof to prevent any bumps.

"Thank you."

Once settled, Roseanne looked up at him with a smile, "I'm imposing on you again, Mr. Reynolds."

She had intended to take a cab home to avoid troubling Owen, but the weather had other plans. The sky had been clear until moments ago when it suddenly started to rain, making it impossible to hail a cab. Across from the hotel's entrance, Silver was standing in a small gazebo, waiting for a valet to bring her car around. She inadvertently saw Roseanne getting into a black sedan, dressed in her gown. From a distance, she couldn't make out the man's face, but the umbrella he held bore the "RR" logo.

A Rolls-Royce's custom umbrella.

Silver frowned and then scoffed. It seemed like every attractive and graceful girl was out to snag a rich guy these days.

She had thought this young woman was different from the rest, but evidently...

She puzzled over what these men saw in such arrangements.

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In the car, the so-called sugar daddy, Owen, sneezed.

He had been slightly cold but felt much better after taking some medicine. Why was he sneezing again?

Upon entering the car, Roseanne noticed a new charm hanging from the rearview mirror, a small wooden figure tied with a knot, with two emerald beads added at the end.

She recognized it instantly as a souvenir from her trip to Maldives, a pleasant surprise: "How did you think to hang this here?"

Owen, seeing her in a gown for the first time, was so struck by her beauty that he dared not look too long, focusing instead on the road ahead.

"This wooden figure is made from agarwood, known for its calming properties. There's Arabic inscribed on the back, meaning 'safe travels,' so I thought it fitting to hangot here, kind of thematic?"

Roseanne touched the charm, feeling it sway, and indeed saw the unfamiliar script on the back.

"So it's Arabic, I hadn't paid much attention before..."

"Yeah."

"You know Arabic?"

"A bit."

"How do you say this?" Roseanne traced the engraved words on the wooden figure.

Owen uttered the foreign sounds, and Roseanne repeated after him, slightly mispronouncing it the first time but getting it smoothly the second.

"Is that how it's pronounced?"

Owen nodded: "Yeah. Pretty accurate."

Roseanne was curious: "When did you learn Arabic?"

"About six years ago? I came across a book by a physicist from the UAE, and the original was in Arabic. The translation didn't quite capture it all, so learned Arabic for half a year to read it."

Roseanne was silently impressed. To learn a whole language for a book?

...

Roseanne had a data analysis to complete that evening. After some discussion, they decided to grab a quick meal at a nearby diner, then headed back to the lab together.

As night fell, the sprawling lab was quiet except for the two of them.