Chapter 12

Niall didn't know how he even managed to drive himself back to the research institute. As he sat in his office, staring out the window in a daze, he keenly experienced what it was like to feel lost and adrift. What was wrong with him? It was just a marriage of convenience that had been canceled. It was just someone who always fluttered around him who'd disappeared. They were nothing but minor blips in his orderly, purposeful life. Yet, why did he feel like there was a void in his heart? A knock on the door startled him from his daze. Kendra entered the office. "Niall, I need to bring up that batch of raw process data from before for comparative analysis…" Niall came back to his senses and suppressed the inexplicable irritation that surged in his heart. Data… He recalled Jasmine mentioning that he had a backup copy of all important data. "I'll look for it," he said curtly. He stood up and walked over to the filing cabinets. As soon as he opened the cabinet doors, he was once