When Evelyn stopped, Andrew, thinking she was a little tired, silently halted as well, starting to tilt his head up to stare at the numbered sign indicating the floor in the stairwell.
In a high-rise like this, even the floor numbers had a certain design and ingenuity to them. But nobody would just keep staring at one like that.
Seeing Andrew's expression that screamed, 'This number sign sure is a number sign,' Evelyn, who was by no means a naive little girl, instantly realized what was going on.
Having him this close to her, all this time... yeah, it was probably a little inappropriate.
Because she had never let a man get this close to her before, Evelyn had subconsciously ignored the implications. Now that she was belatedly aware of it, it seemed a bit too late to bring it up.
She really shouldn't have listened to what Astra Yao said yesterday. Something about how a star's agent wearing stylish clothes helps boost the star's popularity, and then she'd hauled out a huge pile of clothes for her to try on.
In the end, thanks to Astra Yao's persistence, even after rejecting several dresses on the grounds that they would hinder her movement, Evelyn couldn't win against her and had to dig out this old outfit she used to wear for missions.
It consisted of a suit jacket draped over her shoulders, a form-fitting sleeveless shirt underneath, and tight leather pants below the waist.
Back then, for the sake of mobility and combat, she had only considered the impact on her movements and not at all whether it would look awkward if a man got up close.
After all, on her previous missions, whenever she wore this outfit, anyone who got this close had ended up dead.
She really should have just worn her original work suit. Then a situation this awkward definitely wouldn't have happened.
But thinking back to Astra Yao's unwavering attitude when she insisted on the change of style... Evelyn sighed. The chances of changing back were probably slim to none.
The only consolation was that no matter how much Astra Yao praised or cajoled her afterward, she hadn't agreed to wear any of those little dresses the idol had picked out.
After a brief moment of awkwardness, Evelyn quickly returned to normal.
She wasn't a child, after all, and it wasn't like anything was actually exposed. More importantly, from what she had learned about Andrew online before, he wasn't the type of person she disliked.
In the stairwell, knowing that a normal person wouldn't have his kind of stamina, Andrew quietly waited for Evelyn, who was now breathing a little heavily, to fully recover.
His eyes darted around under his mask, watching Evelyn's every move with a hint of concern.
Fortunately, with the Vicious Claw Wyvern mask hiding his face, Evelyn, who was standing beside him, didn't notice that she herself was also being watched by Andrew.
Seeing Evelyn's suddenly conflicted expression, how could Andrew not notice that she had realized?
Although Evelyn didn't seem annoyed, a momentary silence fell between them, descending upon the pair.
Instantly, Andrew, who had no idea what Evelyn was thinking, felt that this wasn't good.
"This won't do. If I piss off the client, what happens to my commission fee?"
With this thought, Andrew immediately started searching for a topic of conversation.
'Discussing other things might be stepping on a landmine... but work stuff should be safe!'
'That's it, talking about work can't go wrong!'
Thinking this, Andrew, subconsciously grasping for any topic, blurted out: "Evelyn, what kind of work do you do?"
Yes, he was indeed talking about work. It was just that the question was so out of the blue that Evelyn subconsciously thought it was some kind of joke.
The moment the words left his mouth, Andrew knew he'd messed up and immediately tried to salvage the situation.
As inspiration struck, Andrew quickly corrected himself: "No, I mean, what did you do before this job?"
But with Andrew's correction, the air was no longer filled with silence, but with a heavy, solemn tension.
'What the hell?! It's just a question about work, how did I manage to step on a landmine?!!!'
For a moment, Andrew's mind went a little numb.
'Don't tell me her previous job was as a member of some secret organization, taking on assassination and espionage missions every day, and she came here to be a spy too, but was moved by the big star and became a real bodyguard, right?!'
Regardless of the emotional turmoil brewing in Andrew's mind, the Vicious Claw Wyvern mask completely concealed his facial expression.
Not knowing how to answer, yet not wanting to tell a lie full of holes, Evelyn could only pretend to state calmly: "I just did some work similar to security, that's all."
Her vague words were clearly a brush-off. Could there really be something problematic about her previous profession?
But in this situation, even someone with the lowest emotional intelligence could see that this was absolutely not the time to press further.
Unable to think of a good idea, Andrew, in his haste, didn't think it through and chose to steer the conversation toward Astra Yao.
Although Evelyn had always been very aloof, as if she didn't care about anything, when the topic turned to Astra Yao, it was as if a robot had been wound up; she instantly came to life.
All sorts of praises came pouring out, but what surprised Andrew was: From Evelyn's every expression, it was clear she genuinely believed it all.
He just didn't understand why she always seemed to place her own status so incredibly low, as if she were looking up at a star.
It almost seemed less like she was an agent and more like she had been saved by her.
"So, when it comes to her love for music, here in New Eridu, I can say with certainty that no one can compare to her."
Before discussing Astra Yao, Evelyn had been mostly expressionless. It was only because he had Anby as a point of comparison that Andrew could still distinguish the subtle changes in her expression.
It wasn't so bad that Andrew thought she was expressionless like Anby.
But when discussing Astra Yao, those originally cold, violet eyes became incredibly bright, as if a precision robot had finally come alive and become a real person.
The contrast between her before and after was so great that even a complete stranger could see it.
To make this person, who seemed so cold at first glance, show such a huge contrast, made Andrew curious about this idol whom everyone described as perfect and dazzling.
And Andrew nodded in agreement with Evelyn's praise.
After learning that both siblings were big fans of Astra Yao, Andrew had also taken the time to listen to all the songs she had released so far on his phone.
Even as a transmigrator from a place like China, he had to admit that her songs were indeed excellent.
At the same time, although he didn't know what she was like in private, at least from how she presented herself to the public, she could indeed be described as pure.
____
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