Chapter 21

Cassian lifted his hands in surrender. "Hold it right there! Here, I'm just an ordinary geologist." He paused, then lowered his voice and continued with a hint of embarrassment, "Also, did I… slip up just now?" Jasmine stopped and looked at him, her eyes bright in the darkness of night. "Are you referring to your knowledge of Niall's abduction?" Cassian swallowed, then, as if he'd steeled his resolve, he replied, "Yes. I heard about you before you arrived. Rumors were that you were the youngest senior engineer at the main branch, yet you voluntarily applied to be transferred to the Northwestern branch. "I couldn't understand why, so I looked into it out of curiosity." Jasmine gently rubbed the calluses on her fingertips, the product of years of fieldwork. She recalled that she would always coincidentally run into Cassian whenever she was having a rough time. He would always have an extra canteen with him "just in case" or offer to help her carry equipment because he "just so hap