Aiden returned from the meeting room and immediately saw the massive charging pod.
His gaze lingered for a moment before he quickly looked away, saying nothing as he walked straight into his office.
Estelle was sitting on the sofa waiting for him. Before he could ask "Where did this come from?", she spoke first, "I've resigned. We have no connection now. Mr. Watson, why do we need to meet again?"
"The process takes two working days. To be precise, you're still an employee of Stella Technology until I approve your resignation." Aiden said, "As your direct supervisor, there's no issue with me asking you to meet in my office, is there?"
Estelle didn't answer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aiden put down one document and pick up another. Seeing that she remained seated, he came over and handed it to her.
"Take a look."
It was a share transfer document. Estelle frowned and asked, "What does this mean?"
"I promised him that if you ever left Stella Technology, I would give you five percent of the company's shares."
Estelle was taken aback. "When... how come I didn't know about this?"
"This was between him and me. Of course you wouldn't know."
Her fingertips unconsciously tightened, crumpling the thin document little by little.
Estelle stared at the E.G. at the end of the document—her initials. For half a minute, her mind went blank, unsure what to think, until Aiden spoke again and she snapped back to reality.
"Take it. These shares will ensure you live comfortably for the rest of your life."
Estelle looked up at him. "So, this is why you were trying so hard to keep me?"
Aiden smiled.
"If I just wanted to hold onto these shares, I could have kept this a secret." He said, "After all, I'm already a man without principles in your eyes, am I not?"
Estelle didn't respond. Aiden continued, "Okay... I wanted to ask you earlier, what's the deal with bringing this charging pod to my office?"
Estelle said, "Give me this robot."
"This is PWL from Team Ⅱ, it has nothing to do with your team," Aiden said. "And you're leaving anyway, the whole company has nothing to do with you now. Give me a reason why you want him."
"He's handsome."
"..."
Aiden was speechless for a moment.
"I know what you're thinking," he said. "You heard that he refuses commands and got excited, thinking that the code worked, right? Estelle... don't be foolish. Every THG has the code you wrote, but how long have they been on the market? Do they have their own thoughts? The same goes for this robot. He refuses commands because his heart-brain logic is malfunctioning, not because he has human-like self-awareness. Robots are always just robots."
Estelle shook her head. "I don't believe that."
"You certainly can ignore it. I have no right to interfere with your beliefs." Aiden said coolly, "But unfortunately, Manager Grey's views are too much at odds with the company's philosophy. Even if you hadn't resigned, I would have had to consider optimizing the position of Team Ⅰ's lead."
Aiden turned on his computer to confirm Estelle's resignation application. Estelle watched him from a distance, stubbornly repeating, "Give me this robot."
"Sure, it's just a useless defective product. If you want it, take it." Aiden operated the computer, not looking at her. "Oh, right, I forgot — yesterday Manager George reported that the reproductive bio-mimicry system of this robot has been installed. So it's not completely useless to you. Manager Grey, consider it your severance benefit from the company."
Estelle stared coldly at Aiden, clenching and releasing her fists once and again, then turned to open Aiden's wardrobe.
"Hey... What are you doing?"
"He doesn't have any clothes," Estelle answered. "Borrow some of yours for him to wear."
"My clothes are expensive. You want to dress a robot in them?"
She didn't answer but asked instead, "Which outfit is the most expensive?"
"…The one in the middle."
"That one then."
Aiden's face darkened as he watched Estelle take his suit and throw it out of the office door to Marco: "Put it on him."
Then she returned, picked up a pen, and signed the share transfer document: "I'll transfer the money for the suit later."
"No need."
Just as she signed and turned to leave, Aiden suddenly spoke up, "There's a question I've always wanted to ask you."
Estelle paused. Aiden asked, "During the years we were together, did you have ulterior motives? Did you really like me, or... were you just seeing shadow of him through me?"
Estelle stood facing away from him for a long time. After a while, she slowly began to speak:
"I chose to be with you because you once told me that you would always understand my thoughts and support my decisions. That's why we're parting ways now, simply because those promises weren't kept, nothing else matters. And as for him—"
She paused.
"You're overthinking it. There's no trace of him in you." Estelle said softly. "No one carries his shadow."
