bChapter /bb66 /b

Shermaine couldn’t help but think, ‘My mother must have liked this woman very much, entrusting her with taking care of the bkids /band even bringen bto /bwork: Curious, she looked up the woman’s personal information.

The woman’s name was Madeline Guston. She was born on January 23, 1974, and used to live at Unit 3003, Apartment 5, 125th Street, Sanderson Grave Sheraton District, Basterel.

However, there was something strange. Despite working closely with Ruth, Madeline only had a middle school education. On top of that, she blooked /bpretty ordinary, nothing special at all.

‘Interesting,‘ Shermaine thought. She wanted to meet this woman, so she jotted down the address and decided to visit the next dayb. /b

Meanwhile, at Riverswood Vi, Joshua rubbed his forehead, lips pressed tightly together, a bit exasperated as he pulled the soaked, malfunctioning

robot vacuum out of the water.

The robot vacuum, King Tiki, had been acting up nonstop ever since Shermaine upgraded it. But today, when Joshua returned home, he found it bhad /bended up in the fish pond. He had no idea how long it had been there or if bit /bcould even be salvaged. It was beyond frustratingb. /b

Joshua had originally nned to ask Roy to take a look and see if bit /bcould be repaired, but then he remembered Shermaine was the one who bupgraded /bit. So he thought maybe he should wait until she came back and let her handle it.

Just then, a car pulled up outside. Logan, Owen’s butler, walked over, holding something in his hands, and greeted Joshua. “Mr. Yorkb./b”

“Logan, what brings you here?” Joshua asked.

Logan handed over a beautifully packaged box. “Your grandfather asked me to deliver the dessert and remind you to pass it on to Ms. Shue.”

Joshua paused for a moment before taking the box. “How’s Grandpa doing?”

Logan was filled with excitement as he said eagerly, “The prescription from Ms. Shue has been effective. Mr. York’s health has improved a lot recently.”

“Have you had Dr. Newman check on him?”

“No, I thought about calling Dr. Newman, but after Mr. York stopped using his prescriptions, Dr. Newman seemed upset and refused toe back to treat

him.”

b“/bThen find another traditional medicine doctor.”

“We’re already on it,” replied Logan. The new doctor might not be as famous bas /bDariusb, /bbut he was still quite well–known in Basterel. “And bas /bfor the

dessert…”

“I’ll take it overter.”

Logan smiled again. “Mr. York said once you’ve delivered it, be sure to send him a photo.”

“Got it,” Joshua replied. He sighed inwardly, thinking, ‘Grandpa is far too concerned about my rtionship with Shermaine. Earlierb, /bbShermaine /bstayed bat /bmy ce for a few days, but when her grandmother returned from the suburbs, she went back to the Jean residence bto /bbkeep /bbher /bbpany/b.

Ever since Granddad found out, he’s been bombarding me with messages on WhatsApp, urging me to spend less time bon /bbwork /bband /b

with Shermaine.

bme /bbbonding /b

‘I didn’t get bthe /bchance to bdo /bbit/bb, /band he’s already starting bto /bintervene himself. Fine, I’ll go over now. Might as well bring bthe /bbbroken /bbvacuum /bband /bbsee /bbif /bShermaine can fix it.‘

bSo/bb, /bafter a long, busy day with no rest, Joshua drove out again, heading toward the Jean residence.

Chapter b66 /b

bShermaine /bbhadn’t /bexpected Joshua to show up.

Led bby /bthe housekeeper, Joshua entered Shermaine’s room, where the gifts Ross had brought back were scattered across the bfloor /band Ben Sherma bdidn’t /bfeel the least bit embarrassed, maybe because they had lived under the same roof before.

Joshua had been here once before. Just likest time, the room was sparsely furnished far from what one’d expect of a typical girl’s bspace/bb. /bNoticing the scattered items, he raised an eyebrow. “Your brother’s back?”

As expected of someone with a sharp mind, he had figured it out with just a nce.

Shermaine gave a soft “Hmm” in response. Seeing there was nowhere for him to sit, she moved her office chair over and said, “Sit here. She then noticed Joshua holding a stic bag, along with a box that seemed to have food in it.

Joshua handed her the dessert first. “Grandpa asked me to bring this over for you.”

“Thank you for delivering it. And tell Grandpa I said thanks,” Shermaine replied, taking the box. She was moved that Joshua, with ba /bpacked scheduleb, /bbhad /be all this way just to deliver the dessert.

She hadn’t even opened it yet, but the sweet aroma already wafting out of the box was tempting. “What’s that in your handb?/bb” /bshe askedb. /b

Joshua replied, “King Tiki fell into the fish pond.”

“I see,” Shermaine said, thinking that even after the upgrade, the robot vacuum was still pretty dumb. She then added, “Just leave it there, bI’ll /bdeal bwith /bbit /bter.” Right now, dessert was her priority.

Joshua settled into the office chair and ced the robot vacuum on the floor, looking quitefortable and rxed.

Shermaine, sitting on the carpet, eagerly opened the box. Then a smile tugged at her lips–it was her favorite dessert.

She’d eaten a bit too much earlier tonight, but there was always room for dessert. Worst–case scenario, she’d do some yogater to work it off.

From where Joshua was seated, Shermaine appeared petite, her delicate frame draped in a school uniform. There was an effortlessb, /bcaptivating charm about her,ced with a touch of innocence. Her long hair cascaded around her shoulders, and despite her slender build, she had quite ba /bcurvy figureb. /b

Shermaine scooped up a bite of the softb, /bsweet tiramisu and popped it into her mouth.

Ever since theirst meal together, Joshua had developed a strange fondness for watching her eat–it was oddly appetizing:

At that moment, she was thoroughly enjoying herself. She licked her lips with her softb, /bpink tongue, savoring the sweetness before taking another bite.

Joshua’s eyes darkened with desire, and his Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. He looked down at his shoes and loosened his cor, thinking, ‘I really shouldn’t be staring–it’s not proper.‘

“This dessert’s really good. Where did Mr. York buy it?” asked Shermaine.

“I don’t know,” replied Joshua.

Shermaine decided to ask Owen herself when she got the chance. Just thenb, /bherputer beeped with an alert. Shermaine stood bup /band woke bup /bbthe /bscreen of herptop, and her expression turned cold

Joshua swiveled his chair around, nced at the glowing screen thoughtfully, and asked, “Someone’s hacking your bputer/bb?/bb” /b

Shermaine’s face was impassive. “Just some idiot.”

Joshua had a pretty good guess of who that iidiot /iwas.

Shermaine’s fingers flew over the ck keyboard. The rhythmic tapping of the keys was almost hypnotic, and bfor /bba /bbmoment/bb, /bbJoshua /bbfound /bbhimself /b

mesmerized as he watched.

13:58 Tue, b3 /bbJun /bAAb. /b

Meanwhile, on the other end of the screen, Roy was typing away: [Miss, I mean no harm. I’m just really interested in you. Please don’t ignore me. But before he could send it, his screen flickered a few times and then wentpletely ck,

‘Wow, she really is something else. She nuked myputer without even breaking a sweat,‘ he thought. ‘Argh, what a shame. I didn’t even get to send my message.‘

Once she finished, Shermaine closed the lid of herptop and was about to continue with her dessert when Joshua suddenly said, “You’re the new energy expert, right?”

He had made this guess based on that phone call. Before he even mentioned the project, Shermaine had known what it was about. He had invested in a lot of projects, including multiple research initiatives at Basterel University, but somehow, Shermaine had pinpointed that the breakthrough came from the new energy project.

Joshua also noticed that when theputer had been turned on, a program was being written on the screen. That reminded him of the Ol system Sheldon had mentioned.

It all made sense now. It was hard to believe that the expert Sheldon had praised so highly was actually a 19–year–old girl.

Shermaine was truly remarkable. Her programming skills were iso /iadvanced that even iRoy/i, the third–ranked hacker in the world, couldn’t do anything to her. On top of that, she seemed to be talented in medicine, too.

Joshua couldn’t help but wonder how Roy would react when he knew that the hacker he was so interested in was actually Shermaine. After all, Roy had a pretty deep bias against her.

Shermaine, instinctively looking up, met Joshua’s gaze. She was silent for a few seconds before she casually admitted, “Yeah. Dealing with smart men is such a pain.” She had let it slip, but Joshua had managed to piece it together.

“Thanks for thepliment,” Joshua said with a slight smirk. Noticing a bit of cream at the corner of her mouth, he instinctively wiped it away before adding, “There was cream on your lips.”

Shermaine stared at him speechlessly, thinking, ‘Couldn’t you just tell me instead of wiping it off? I’m perfectly capable of doing that myself.