Chapter 324: Rumors and Silence

Sierra first checked on Dora in the next room. Once she confirmed the little girl was asleep, she came back out.

“How did it go? Did Dora do okay today?” she asked.

Johnathan shook his head. “She didn’t say a single word all day.”

It wasn’t that Dora was difficult—on the contrary, she was too easy. She never cried or made a fuss. Johnathan had been busy with work and left Dora in the lounge. Honestly, he forgot about her until lunchtime, when his assistant reminded him. When he went to check on her, she was still sitting exactly where he’d left her, quietly playing with something in her hands. She hadn’t even said she was hungry.

That was when Johnathan realized just how serious the situation was. He made time in the afternoon to check on her several more times, even tried talking to her, but she didn’t respond. Not to him, not to anyone.

It wasn’t until he mentioned Sierra that she finally reacted. He’d taken Dora to pick Sierra up that night, but Sierra never answered her phone. He’d asked security and found out she’d been in the lab all day. They waited outside until nine, but in the end, he had to take Dora home himself.

That night had been total chaos. He’d never taken care of a kid before—especially not a little girl. And Dora had emotional issues on top of everything else. In short, it was a disaster.

He rubbed his temples. “I scheduled a child psychologist to come to the office tomorrow. Maybe it’ll help.”

Sierra hadn’t realized Dora’s condition was that severe. After thinking for a moment, she asked, “What about letting her stay with Quinn?”

A child needed to be with someone familiar. Sierra figured that Dora might do better with Quinn—after all, she was her mother. The two of them had been separated for so long. Maybe this was the perfect opportunity for them to rebuild their bond.

She thought she was being considerate, but Johnathan rejected the idea immediately.

“Quinn’s a patient herself. How’s she supposed to take care of a child?”

“….Alright. You figure it out, then.” Sierra got up and went into the bathroom, not bringing up Dora again.

Over the next few days, Sierra and Johnathan barely saw each other. Not because she was avoiding him—she was just overwhelmed. Her theory was brand new, and Autumn and the others were still trying to wrap their heads around it. It conflicted with a lot of existing models, and every day they spent hours discussing and verifying the data. Most days, they barely had time to eat, just scarfing down some bread and water between tests. Johnathan wasn’t doing much better, splitting his time between the company, the hospital, and looking after a child.

Before Sierra realized it, a whole week had passed, and she and Johnathan hadn’t had a real conversation. Everyone had been stretched thin. On Sunday, Professor Martin finally gave them a half-day off.

Sierra was exhausted too. The high-intensity schedule was wearing them all down. But since she finally had a break, she thought maybe she could spend some quality time with Johnathan—and check in on Dora, too.

Just as she was thinking about that, Autumn suddenly let out a loud, “Oh my God!”

“What’s wrong?” Sierra instinctively turned to her.

Autumn was staring at her phone, clearly panicked. “It’s… nothing.”

She quickly tried to turn her screen off, but Sierra narrowed her eyes. “What is it really?”

After hesitating for a second, Autumn handed over her phone. She’d been scrolling through the campus forum to relax and had stumbled on a post that was blowing up. The title read, “Ran Into Mr. Yaeger!”

The post included several blurry, candid photos—Johnathan with a woman and a child at an amusement park. The poster claimed she’d gone to the park with her friends and had unexpectedly spotted Johnathan there. She hadn’t dared to go say hi, so she just took a few photos from afar—not of their faces, just from behind or at an angle. The caption said they looked like a happy little family. Mr. Yaeger was being super gentle with both the woman and the child.

The comments section was blowing up.

“Wait… do Mr. Yaeger and Sierra already have a kid?” “That’s not Sierra though!” “Damn, you’re right. That woman’s got curly hair. Sierra’s hair is straight.” “What’s going on? Did they break up or something?”

Someone even posted a screenshot of that old forum thread where Johnathan had publicly confessed to Sierra.

“Guess that aged poorly.” “Maybe it’s just a relative’s kid?” “Come on. Look at that picture—Mr. Yaeger’s eyes are practically dripping with love.”

The more comments Sierra read, the more intense and chaotic they became. Even Autumn was getting anxious just scrolling through them. She glanced at Sierra, who didn’t seem to be reacting much at all—but for some reason, Autumn felt a wave of panic rise in her chest.

She blurted out, “People on here are always saying random crap! We know Mr. Yaeger isn’t the type to mess around.”