"Chung, screwdriver."

Chung was amazed. Wait, that was an understatement. He was blown away by the amount of dedication she had for her work.

"Chung. Screwdriver."

Yes, she did things so quickly, and she never gave up on what she was doing. What more could he respect? And that wasn't even mentioning how flawless and effortless she made it all seem.

"Chung. Screwdriver!"

Eve had finally taken off that white coat of hers, revealing exactly how her dress looked. It wasn't tight but loose instead, allowing her easy movement. The length of it was... er, shorter than he'd expected, but her stockings made up for the uncovered parts. The dress curved in at areas, revealing some of her figure yet not so much that she looked obscene. To him, she was rather... cute and petite.

Actually, he kind of felt bad for thinking such thoughts.

"... Chung Seiker, hand me the Screwdriver this instant, or I promise, and take me literally, I will impale you through the face with a spear!"

But man, he was awfully distracted by The Minister's talents and beauty— wait, did she just say impale him?! Chung flinched and quickly grabbed the tool from her toolbox before she could do any permanent damage to him. She snatched it from his shaking hands and returned to the electronic writing board in front, screwing the last things in. Even though he'd been caught wandering off in his head, he couldn't help but be distracted once again, this time fully on her work and nothing else. Eve was really committed to what she did. A tiny smile grew on his face when she turned to him again, this time with a perturbed air about her. "Chung, what is the matter with your face?"

"Eve, you're really cute when you're absorbed like this," he thoughtlessly told her.

... Did he really have the gall to announce such things to her? What a fool, believing he had the right to openly express himself. Such things made her pulse race, and she found that to be rather a big nuisance to her. Eve very much wanted to react harshly, but... but actually, this was a rather forward thing he said. Putting contrary thoughts into her mind, she was now somewhat confused as to how to respond— her best option may have been to answer in a typical way for.

Once seeing her blink about ten times and furrow her brows, Chung's face tinted pink, and he waved his hands frantically. What a wonderful thing for him to finally realize now what he told her! "N-No wait, that's not what I meant to—"

"Go find Oberon and assist him with whatever he is doing today." Punishment was in order. If he truly wanted to remark about others, he could speak to her Nasod instead. In no way would she tolerate such nonsense things said to her while she worked. "You may find him outside."

Chung sighed before walking out of her sight. Once he left, Eve's chest collapsed, finally breathing relief— dealing with him was rather tiresome. "I don't need him around saying such things to me." She mumbled into the air. Jeopardizing her position as The Minister of Mechanics was an unthinkable option— numerous would die to obtain such a rank and title—especially to weird things like emotions. She had already decided long ago that she'd stay far from a relationship of any form. Not that anything could exist within her, of course, but she was highly aware of the fact that Chung was greatly interested in her. There was no point in making him think he had such chances with a person like her— Eve didn't particularly care for him to much anyway, since all that mattered was the knowledge he held.

And so, the day played out normally. Eve finished her electronic board and was scribbling down notes about the ancient nasods, rocks, and whatnot. Thanks to her sound-amplifying cones on her ears, she could hear her blond assistant notably collapse onto the couch behind her. Now, Eve could continue her work with him.

"Wonderful, you and Oberon have returned—"

She couldn't continue with her sentence when she saw how beat and worn the boy was. Marks of dirt were across his face, his blue apron loose, and his hair was messy and unkempt. His blue hat had tumbled to the floor, revealing the bowl cut underneath. He was in absolutely no condition to work any more.

"... What task was Oberon performing today?"

"Well... Probably every possible task out there." Chung's head turned to look at her with a weary face, yet he smiled meekly. "Turns out, Oberon had one-hundred things to do today... literally."

One-hundred things to do? Had she really assigned such a puny task to Oberon? But besides that, had Chung really done so many things today? And upon that, it was blazing outside with high temperatures. Surely, Chung must have been exhausted. It would be rather unhealthy to push him pass that line. "I intended on having you assist me after assisting Oberon, but you are in no condition—"

"Huh..." glancing at the floor, Chung rubbed the back of his head, "sure, I'll help you in a second..." He wasn't particularly in the mood anymore, but Eve really needed him right now— it was the least he could do in regards to her research.

As Chung began to get onto his feet, Eve crossed her arms. "I did not say that. You may rest—" At that very moment, Ophelia came in with about three boxes piled up, filled to the brim with gears, bolts, and hinges. "Ophelia, leave those by my desk," Eve pointed to a corner of the desk that was open.

The pink Nasod walked normally towards the desk, but the way the boxes moved back and forth made it obvious that there was actually difficulty in the task. Ophelia, in her walk to the table, ended up hitting the corner of the coffee table by the couch. She stumbled, and the top box toppled to the marble floor.

"Here... let me help you Ophelia." Chung made his way from his spot to the Nasod and took the other two, bigger, boxes from her hands. Ophelia bent down and picked up the fallen box and spilled contents.

As those two made their way to the desk, Eve watched Chung with surprise hidden on her face. She never told Chung to do anything. Eve hadn't anticipated this to ever happen— a person, after working to no end, continuing to help. And one of those things he was helping was not even living by scientific definition. "His work ethic is... higher than I predicted."

Chung stopped in place as he passed her— Eve just said something, and he completely missed it. "Sorry, did you say something...?" He looked her in the eyes with the two boxes in hand.

And then she felt it with him looking right at her. The jumpy, overly energetic pulsing of her blood inside was happening. Again. "No, I said nothing. Continue on." Surely, this could not be happening. With an unnoticed blush, Eve shook her head. "I am most certainly not feeling that way. This emotion is no more than admiration and amusement towards his actions," she claimed almost as if she'd practiced it in front of a mirror. Despite her words, her stomach began turning inside at the thought of such an idea happening. Why was this suddenly happening?

So bothered by her wandering mind, she strode out the room with an unsettled state amongst her.