"Uh...huh." Neville shook off his confusion.

For a moment there, he could have sworn he had heard—but no. He must have been imagining it.

"I’ll contact our secondary suppliers immediately. There might be compatible alternatives available from companies in the nearby systems."

Grayson’s voice was normal when he said "Good." So it must’ve been really his imagination.

Neville gathered his things and headed for the door, already mentally drafting the outreach messages he needed to send.

Just before he crossed the threshold, something made him glance back.

Grayson sat with his head tilted back, one hand massaging the tension knots at the base of his neck. The movement pulled his uniform shirt taut across his shoulders, highlighting its length.

Neville looked away quickly.

He seems stressed, he thought, making a mental note. Maybe I should prepare something to help him relax later.

.

.

.

Neville’s console pinged with a new message notification: It was an email.

Subject: G.M. - No Subject

He opened it and found no text on it, just an image attachment.

A colorful aquarium poster, featuring some kind of bioluminescent sea creatures native to the deeper regions of Xylos’s oceans. The facility’s name glowed in elegant script across the top: Azure Depths Aquarium - Grand Opening.

Neville stared at it.

Did Grayson just... send me an aquarium advertisement?

He looked up, and he could see Grayson seemingly engrossed in a holographic report.

That’s strange. Unable to make heads or tails, Neville shrugged and thought, maybe it was sent by accident. If anything, it might’ve been Bryan’s nonsensical draft, and Grayson had intended to delete it. But he made a mistake of pressing send instead of delete.

After nodding a couple of times, Neville deleted the email of his boss’s dark history. These things can happen occasionally, which is nothing to be embarrassed about.

He deleted it and returned to his work as if he didn’t see anything.

But Neville did not notice Grayson’s increasingly frequent glances toward his workstation over the next hour. Nor did he catch the way those eyes were narrowing with each passing minute that brought no response to his message.

Shelly murmured with barely concealed glee. [This is better than any drama I have ever seen! ( ˆ◡ˆ)ノ♡]

’What is?’

[Oh, it was nothing that host needs to worry about. Just keep being your oblivious self!]

Neville decided that he really needed to find the mute function for Shelly’s nonsense.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ PRESENT

It was already afternoon, and Grayson was still rethinking every plan that had led him to this day.

And he still had no idea how to ask Neville on a date smoothly.

The email had been a calculated risk. Low pressure, deniable, easily dismissed as a professional FYI if Neville hadn’t shown interest. The kind of move that would have worked perfectly in any tactical situation.

But due to its low risk, Neville had just read it without saying anything.

Grayson had watched it happen the moment Neville opened the message.

His face showed... nothing—just mild confusion, followed by a small shrug, followed by a return to work.

Six hours later, and still nothing.

Not a single question about it. Not even a polite inquiry about whether aquariums were something Grayson personally enjoyed.

This is ridiculous, he thought, staring at the supply chain analysis that he had been staring at for the past twenty minutes. How could this be more difficult than I thought?

But what could he do about it?

Neville’s oblivious expression as he continued to concentrate on his day of work was already rewarding enough to ease this frustration inside him.

Grayson’s fingers tapped an irritated rhythm against his desk.

The ’direct’ approach hadn’t worked. The ’subtle’ approach also failed spectacularly at that. He had tried weaving it into conversation, and Neville had simply moved on without asking again.

Was that really normal? Or was he simply that bad at this?

The door to his office slid open. Bryan entered with his usual pleasant expression, with another batch of memory chips in hand.

"Sir, the compiled reports from yesterday’s meeting." Bryan then glanced at Neville, who was completely immersed in his work, and continued, "Also, I heard there’s an event happening this weekend—quite the spectacle, actually."

Grayson’s gaze turned to Bryan with suspicion. Bryan’s expression remained perfectly neutral, but there was a knowing glint in his eyes that suggested ulterior motives.

Sensing the gazes on him, Neville’s head lifted slightly, and he looked at Bryan.

It seemed that that got Neville’s attention.

After secretly complimenting Bryan, Grayson seized the opportunity to add something in.

"I heard it was a meteor shower," he said, adding a casual interest to his tone. "The viewing conditions from the northern coast should be the best ones available."

Neville’s brow furrowed. "A meteor shower? Is that confirmed?"

"There have been reports and an influx of day off applications from the weekend team." He replied, trying to sound neutral. "It might be worth observing."

"Hmmm." Neville’s attention had already moved back to his quantum computer, fingers moving across the holographic interface, updating the shared schedule. "I’ll make a note in case we need to adjust any schedules that might be affected by the lack of staff. I’ll also send a note to Sir Seaton to double the security."

Bryan’s eyebrow twitched at the slightest crack in his professional mask.

Grayson also felt his jaw tighten.

Somehow, Neville had transformed a potentially romantic astronomical event into a scheduling disaster.

Unbelievable.

"The meteor shower," Bryan attempted again, his voice added a touch more emphasis, "is supposed to be quite beautiful. A rare opportunity for... personal enjoyment."

"That’s nice." Neville didn’t look up as he said that, and then he continued. "Sir, I’ve organized the proposals for the quarterly review by priority level. Should I prepare the summary briefs for this afternoon’s meeting, or would you prefer to review the raw documents first?"

And just like that, they were back to work.

Bryan shot Grayson a look that clearly communicated I tried.

Grayson responded with a subtle gesture that translated roughly to I know. It’s hopeless.