‘Nothing gets past him, huh?‘ I thought, stepping back to break the awkwardness. “You totally


    overstepped just now. Wayne’s technically my superior, and you went ahead and assigned him


    tasks?”


    “He just got here. If we don’t give him tasks, do you really want him giving them to us?” Hayden’s


    comeback left me speechless.


    As capable as Wayne might be, he wouldn’t really get what we were doing with the adjustments


    right now.


    “What, would you prefer working with him?” Hayden suddenly asked.


    “Of course not,” I said quickly, ncing at him–just in time to catch a quick smirk tugging at the


    corner of his mouth.


    Hayden and I kept working as usual, with Wayne keeping his distance. But then Demi came rushing


    over, wide–eyed. “Keira, what’s going on? Is Mr. Johnston’s brother here to, like, personally


    supervise us?”


    “Yep, and he’s specifically here to keep an eye on you. You’ll be working with him from now on,” I


    teased, watching Demi’s eyes go wide like saucers.


    “Don’t do this to me! I do not want to be partnered with him. You should be the one working with


    him. Even if you screw up, he wouldn’t dare yell at you,” Demi protested.


    “I disagree,” Hayden cut in again.


    Both Demi and I turned to look at him, but Hayden didn’t even nce our way. He was fully focused


    on his task, yet he still found time to repeat, “I disagree.”


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    His response caught both of us off guard.


    Demi shot me a look, and I had to bite my lip to keep fromughing.


    “Keira, you-”


    Demi started to say something else, but Hayden interrupted. “Ms. Kay, could youe up and


    check if there’s any deviation in the current output?”


    At his request, I quickly climbed onto the scissor lift. As it ascended, I caught a glimpse of Demi


    pouting.


    When the lift stopped, I moved closer to Hayden to see what he was working on. And when I saw


    the screen, I nearly choked.


    The disy read: [I insist on being your partner.]


    Was this seriously what he’d been working on?


    I turned to him, “Hayden…!”


    Hayden met my gaze with an expression that clearly said, ‘Go ahead, try saying yes to Demi.‘


    I couldn’t help butugh silently, shaking my head. The next moment, Hayden pressed a button,


    and the text vanished, reced by the regr test patterns. I stood next to him, watching as he


    skillfully navigated the control tablet.


    “You’re low–key slick, you know that?” I blurted out, unable to hold back.


    “Slick? What does that even mean?” he asked, looking at me with such a genuinely puzzled


    expression.


    With his whole soldier vibe, it almost made me second–guess whether I was reading him wrong.


    But thinking back on everything since we met, I realized he was way sharper than he let on. “Slick


    means ying dumb while being way smarter than everyone else.”


    “Me?” Hayden feigned shock. “Is that really how you see me?”


    “Isn’t it?” I shot back.


    Hayden didn’t respond right away, his eyes locking with mine for a few seconds before he turned


    back to the tablet. Then, out of nowhere, the lift started wobbling beneath us.


    Startled, I instinctively grabbed onto him as the lift swayed, making it feel like I might fall off at any


    second.


    I clung to Hayden. The next second, I heard him say, “What are you doing? It doesn’t look good if


    someone sees us like this.”


    I squeezed my eyes shut, holding on even tighter. “Why is it shaking? Fix it!”


    Unbeknownst to me, Hayden was already watching someone approach from below, He wrapped an


    arm around my waist, leaning in close to my ear. “Just stay still, and it’ll stop shaking.”


    L