Chapter 503 - Research

~Military Research Institue~

In the R&D department of the research institute, the atmosphere was quite different than usual. One could see the commander of the Base looking a little excited. How could he not be excited? The more he listened to Raelle, the more he wanted to keep this woman right in this research institute. It couldn't be helped.

Before today, he always thought the things he heard about Raelle Xiang were mostly exaggerations but now that he stood beside her, he had to say that people really didn't do a good job in describing what an amazing person she was. Her thoughts and ideas were all clear and she spoke confidently. Every word of hers had a persuasive power that would make anyone immerse in the discussion.

It was just as Soren had mentioned once, it was truly a shame that she chose business as her priority. Otherwise, she would have really become a world-renowned scientist by now. 

Soren leaned close to Raelle's ear and whispered, "It seems Commander Sun wants to kidnap you and keep you here for good."

"I'm not that easy to kidnap," replied Raelle without any expression on her face. But she also knew Soren was right. It's not like she didn't see that intense gaze directed towards her. And Commander Sun's enthusiastic and excited appearance was something everyone could see already. 

Weren't they just discussing the project plan and the initial blueprints? Why was he getting so excited? What she shared was just some common knowledge, no?

If she had said that out loud, Soren would have actually felt like beating her. Because those words clearly sounded like a provocation!

An officer came behind Commander Sun and whispered something, the Commander nodded to indicate he understood before he turned to Raelle and Soren. "The person who will be supervising this project is already here. How about you both meet him before leaving?"

Both of them had no opinion regarding this, so Commander Sun brought them to another room. And then he introduced the person sitting inside to the both of them, "Meet Lieutenant Colonel Xiang Weimin! One of the nation's first-tier air force pilots with an estimate of 2346 hours of safety flight time. He has been honored with multiple medals during his service in the military. Not only that, but he had also participated in the research of..."

While Commander Sun continued to praise Xiang Weimin, the latter's eyes were stuck on Raelle. He wasn't expecting to see her here of all places. This had to be the least likely place he had expected to meet her. But then again, it seemed he was meeting her at places where he wasn't expecting her at all. 

Originally Xiang Weimin didn't plan to accept the offer of joining another research. He felt like he had done that enough. But these days he really had nothing else to do. If he wasn't injured, he would never have become a part of this research group. But every cloud has a silver lining. It seemed his sliver lining was her. 

From the beginning, his accident had been weaving a connection between her and him. He didn't realize it at first but now he felt like fate had orchestrated this accident just to bring her into his life. Whether it was how Hyson became the reason for him being alive or how Hyson turned out to be Raelle's best friend. And then now, Raelle was also a part of this research group he wouldn't have joined if he was fine.

Just like last time, Raelle wasn't fazed by Xiang Weimin's gaze at her. She was also not expecting to see him here but that wasn't enough to surprise her. She didn't think there was anything wrong with him being here and neither would that become a reason for her to back out of it either. That had never been her style of work.

After Commander Sun was done listing out Xiang Weimin's achievements, he introduced Raelle and Soren to him. Xiang Weimin greeted them politely and just like any other professional people, they sat down together to discuss important things. 

Soren was actually surprised to see how Xiang Weimin was able to keep up this discussion with Raelle without losing behind at all. It was no easy feat! He hadn't met that many people in life who could keep a conversation going with Raelle whose intelligence was above average. He was already impressed after he heard Xiang Weimin's introduction, but now he truly felt like admiring him. 

All of them spent 2 hours discussing their ideas and didn't even realize how long it had been. It was longer than Raelle had originally planned to stay out of office. She still had things to do and so did Soren. None of them had that much free time on hand.

"We'd be leaving now," said Soren to Commander Sun.

Commander Sun looked so happy right now that he couldn't hold back his happiness at all. "Mr. Ke and Miss Xiang, it truly was an experience to talk to you both capable people. No wonder you both are so successful in what you do."

"Commander Sun is overpraising us now," said Soren humbly. 

"Oh, but I am not," insisted Commander Sun. "You both deserve it."

Xiang Weimin hesitated for a long while before he rushed out after them. Since fate brought her to him, he really had to just face her now and stop hesitating so much. At the end of the day, she was his sister. And he just talked to her earlier even though it was all work talk. But still, they had a pleasant time talking and it made him realize that they had something common to talk about.

The last time he saw her, he was actually scared that he won't have anything to talk about with her and won't be able to bridge the distance between them. After all, he knew nothing business and she was quite a Queen in that field. Their interests were different for sure but they did have something to talk about.

Just as Raelle was leaving the building, he caught up to them and called out, "Raelle!"

Raelle turned around to look at him and responded, "Yes?"

"Can we talk?" he asked uncertainly.

"Sure," she agreed without any hesitation. 

In Raelle's mind, she had it coming. From the moment she saw Xiang Weimin, she knew he'd come to her. You didn't have to be a genius to know that he had something to say to her. He was doing a poor job at hiding his emotions. And that was actually not good considering his job.

Raelle turned to Soren who was frowning in confusion. He didn't think there was any interaction between Raelle and this Lieutenant Colonel but even he noticed the way Xiang Weimin looked at Raelle. However, he'd rather not be nosy about Raelle's matters. That never ended well.

"Soren, you can leave first," said Raelle to Soren.

"I can wait," answered Soren.

"Don't you have a meeting?" reminded Raelle. "Be a little more responsible at your work."

Soren gaped at her in disbelief. He was being nice here by saying he'd wait for her? How did he end up with the title of being irresponsible? He really just had to suffer through this, eh?

"Fine, I'm leaving then," said Soren. 

Raelle walked towards Xiang Weimin and asked, "You want to talk here?"

Xiang Weimin was stunned by her question for a minute before he shook his head. "Let's talk inside." Since he was gonna be a supervisor here, he was specially provided with his own office. He brought her there and ordered someone to bring some tea for them.

"Have a seat," said Xiang Weimin and also walked towards the chair opposite her to sit. He placed his crutches at the side and sat with a straight posture.

He might have missed small details the last time he met Raelle but he didn't miss it out this time. When he looked at Raelle, he could see that she sat with the same posture as him. Definitely, she was someone raised in a military family. How could she not be instilled with these traits?

Raelle's eyes inadvertently fell on the book placed on his desk. And for some reason, her eyes lingered on the book cover for a minute too long.

"You..." Xiang Weimin opened his mouth to say something but he didn't even know where to begin or what even to say to her? Should he introduce himself? Obviously, that was unnecessary since she already knew who he was. But he had never been the one to tell her that. So, he felt like saying it. "I'm Xiang Weimin." Raelle glanced at him and met his eyes as he continued, "I'm your elder brother."

It sounded awkward and very unnecessary as well. But Xiang Weimin didn't know how else to say it. He had never been good with words.. And Raelle's blank face actually made it worse for him to keep his calm and take it slowly.