Chapter 44: The Echo of a Heartbeat - Flirting and Anxiety
When a sudden power outage occurs, they go home to rest. After lunch, Xu Aida went for a nap without waiting for Liang Siyu to urge him.
Yesterday, she tried taking a 40-minute nap at noon for the first time, and her condition improved significantly in the afternoon. She no longer felt dizzy or lightheaded—of course, she wouldn't let her body suffer.
But when she woke up today, she stared at the 5:00 PM time on her phone and felt that she had suffered a huge loss.
"Why didn't you call me?" She was still preparing to analyze participant number 4's problem to see if she could modify the algorithm.
Liang Siyu sat on the single sofa by the window, raising an eyebrow with a smile: "Because I've already figured out where the problem lies with participant number 4."
She rolled over and jumped in front of him: "You know? Tell me now."
He patted his thigh and held up the iPad in his hand: "Come sit down and let's take a look at his questionnaire together."
She hesitated for a moment, then gently sat on his lap, leaning forward slightly to look at the screen.
"So eager to see the results? Aren't you going to say thank you first?"
As he spoke, he wrapped his arms around her waist, applying a little pressure to make her more comfortable against his embrace.
She felt a burning sensation on her back, which quickly spread to her cheeks. She felt a little soft-hearted, but also a little resentful: "How can you do this? Show me his questionnaire right now."
“Sweetheart, you always seem more interested in other people.” His voice was steady, but his breathing became heavier and deeper.
Just now, her hair brushed against his chin, as soft as the patter of spring rain.
The faint warmth emanating from his breath made her unable to sit still any longer, and she fell into his arms, feeling as if sparks were flying from her cervical spine to her tailbone.
Her toes curled involuntarily, rubbing against his khaki pants. The soft, twill fabric brought a slight tickle that spread upwards from the instep.
It's always the same; he always manages to make her heart flutter like wildfire.
"I'm interested in science." She tried to get back into work mode.
He laughed, then took a deep breath and stepped back slightly: "Okay, let's get down to business."
He placed the cold iPad on her lap, rested his chin on the top of her head, and drew on the screen with the stylus.
“Look, in his questionnaire, the medication section only lists the most common gabapentin.”
His arms were taut, as if he were hunting rather than writing.
She tried to gather her thoughts, avoiding looking at the beautiful muscle lines, and instead recalling the jagged waveform.
"It's unlikely. Maybe he just forgot to fill it in," she said, shaking her head.
“Yeah.” He kissed her shoulder hard, even through her pajamas, the kiss was still quite forceful.
“That’s what I thought too. So I had the liaison call him, but he said the doctor only prescribed this one medication. Do you believe that?”
This guy is just too much, but she didn't want to admit defeat. She grabbed his hand as he wrote, slightly out of breath, and a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
“It’s an over-the-counter drug. He’s taking an over-the-counter drug, not one prescribed by an orthopedic doctor,” she exclaimed urgently, afraid that she would completely succumb to temptation at any moment.
“Partly right, you’re such a smart girl.” He then kissed her behind the ear.
"It's a prescription drug, but not prescribed by an orthopedic doctor. He's been taking it for so long that he's forgotten it's a medication. So, the question is, what kind of drug is it?"
His breath brushed against her neck like a feather fan.
She flinched, then turned and said, "Ned! Stop keeping me in suspense!"
She instinctively pressed her hand to her chest, where it felt as if a group of people were tap dancing.
A hint of regret flashed in his eyes. He suppressed the heat in his throat and gently stroked her chest: "I'm sorry, I just wanted you to experience the joy of unraveling the mystery."
Feeling the heartbeat beneath his palm gradually calm down, he revealed the answer: "It's Adela, he has ADHD."
He leaned back slightly, creating some distance between himself and her, and explained how he discovered it.
In fact, the liaison officer was somewhat frustrated when he received a negative response on his first call.
But just as he was carefully recalling the experimental procedure, the boy's occasional leg shaking and wandering eyes suddenly reminded him.
He asked the liaison to call again to ask if the other person was taking any medication to enhance concentration. Sure enough, the other person immediately replied that they had taken Addera that day.
Xu Aida glared at him with dissatisfaction: "That's no excuse for you to tease me. Besides, why didn't you wake me up sooner? I still need to revise the algorithm."
“No need to change the algorithm, Ada, we can’t handle this drug effect right now.”
He cautioned, "Addera is a prescription drug, and like trazodone, the experiment needs to be redesigned and an ethical review application needs to be resubmitted before research can be conducted."
Her expression changed from annoyance to astonishment. Oh right, she had forgotten that this was also a prescription drug.
She stood frozen on the rooftop, like a sniper who had suddenly lost sight of his target.
“So, of course you can sleep all afternoon.” He kissed her cheek. “Obviously, you’ve had a good rest and your mind is clear right now.”
She pushed his arm away and jumped off the sofa: "You're so annoying, playing tricks on me when I'm not thinking straight."
He stood up as well: "You're welcome to tease me anytime, when I'm not sober."
She turned around angrily: "Don't even try!"
The same thing wasn't a joke to him at all; he thoroughly enjoyed it and found it very enjoyable.
"Okay, shall we go have afternoon tea?" He put his arm around her waist, but she suddenly stopped.
"Hmm?" He looked down at her.
“Ned, you’re wrong. I can change the algorithm. I’ll go right now.”
Her eyes gleamed, like a big cat spotting its prey. "I have some old, discarded data. An ordinary student recruited by the school was also taking Adderall."
At 10 p.m., Liang Siyu forcibly interrupted the big cat's hunt.
“Ned, I slept this afternoon, I can work.” She was still protesting in the elevator.
He pursed his lips: "I let you take a nap to make up for your previous energy debt, not to encourage you to continue staying up late and overdrawing your energy."
Her voice was a little softer: "Just give me ten more minutes, and I'll be able to finish writing that section."
“I’ve given you ten minutes to save the code.” He wouldn’t back down.
The elevator doors opened, and she reluctantly walked back to the bedroom, pulled up the covers, and turned her back to him.
He lay down silently, turned off the light, and touched her back, but she still wouldn't pay attention to him.
The next morning, when Xu Aida woke up, he was embarrassed to find that the "corner of the blanket" he had been holding onto was actually the hem of his pajamas.
She quickly let go, but his arm remained around her waist. Realizing she was awake, he moved his hand up and pressed against her back, stroking it back and forth.
A few damp butterflies landed on her shoulder. He pressed close, his warmth undeniable: "Don't go."
She gave it a push: "I didn't leave."
Didn't she obediently go downstairs with him last night?
"Don't avoid me." His kiss landed on her cheek.
She turned her head to the side: "Hey, get up, your stubble is so prickly."
Every night thereafter, Xu Aida would furiously type on his keyboard in his study, incredibly excited about the new algorithm.
However, she would turn off her phone and go back to her room to wash up around 10 o'clock. She didn't want to be nagged by Dr. Liang again.
On Saturday, after lunch, he couldn't help but suggest, "Ada, how about we go to the museum this afternoon? The Metropolitan Museum has set up some new exhibits."
She shook her head and refused: "I have to write algorithms."
“Don’t lie to me,” he said, taking her hand. “You’ve been avoiding me for a week, isn’t that enough? Let’s go out and get some exercise. It’s not good for your health to sit like this all the time.”
He had been patient for a week, and considering that she wouldn't renew her lease next semester and would move in with him permanently, it was understandable that he was feeling a bit conflicted.
She would hide in the study every night, while he would chat with Cohen about projects in the dining room or go back to the bedroom to revise his thesis.
Xu Aida's eyes widened. What was he saying?
"I am really writing algorithms, and I've just gotten a little bit started, but I'm still a long way off."
He was so angry at such a lame excuse that he almost laughed. He bluntly called it out: "Just two samples, a minor modification for transfer learning, and you still haven't finished writing it after several days? How is that possible?"
She suddenly realized the problem: "You know the sample size is too small, so transfer learning is ineffective and prone to overfitting."
"I've come up with a brilliant new idea. If it works, it will be a major breakthrough. However, I have to keep it a secret for now."
She's been particularly focused lately because she's come up with the idea of training adversarial networks (GANs) to generate virtual data. If successful, they could train algorithms based on very little data.
But even within the computer science department, this approach was considered radical, so she devised a research plan that would kill two birds with one stone.
At the start of the semester, I first applied for funding from my supervisor for the "Adela Project" and collected electromyography data from university students taking the drug. This would not only enhance the scalability of the old algorithm but also serve as a way to validate GANs.
With solid results, convincing the supervisor is a piece of cake.
But how to convince Professor Brooke? Oh well, I'll leave that to my advisor, Professor Hart.
Her eyes sparkled, and her expression held a familiar hint of pride.
He felt a pang of guilt and picked her up in his arms. "I'm sorry, Ada, I was just overthinking things."
“I’m just afraid you’ll regret it… I understand about the apartment; it wasn’t an easy decision for you…”
He fully understood that it meant she had left behind a safe haven she could always return to, and boarded a small boat of adventure with him.
She still felt a little uncomfortable when the topic came up: "Don't mention it, I've already cancelled it anyway."
She's been deliberately avoiding thinking about it lately, lest she regret it later. To be honest, she can't rationally consider what it really means; the implications behind it frighten her, and she's somewhat afraid to admit it.
He held the back of her neck and insisted on looking into her eyes: "Babe, if one day you regret it, it will definitely be my fault."
She felt a warmth in her heart, yet also a subtle mix of emotions.
"Then, just like you were in the lab during the power outage, you can confidently shout, 'Shut up! Get out!' Understand?"
Of course, he hopes that such a moment will never come.
She chuckled: "What kind of melodramatic plots are you thinking about?"
Seeing her laugh, he felt relieved and continued joking, "Uh, a genius engineer scolding her boyfriend? A bad boy sleeping on the streets?"
She laughed so hard she almost choked.
He hadn't expected her to be so supportive. He sat down on the edge of the bed and kept patting her back: "Ada, calm down, stop laughing."
She stopped after a while, then looked up at me suspiciously: "What's wrong with you? Can't I even laugh?"
"You still have the Holter patch on, it wouldn't be good if it loosened or shifted." He held her shoulder. "Take a nap, we'll go for a walk in the Metropolitan this afternoon."
She rolled her eyes—an occupational hazard, annoying.
She lay down and snuggled into his arms.
Liang Siyu lowered his head, her small head nestled in his arms, a moment that usually brought him warmth and contentment. But now, he felt a strange weight; she had become heavy, pressing against his chest.
Six months ago in Seattle, she had a fight with him and then suffered from a persistent headache for several days—stress headaches caused by stress.
Not long after the start of the semester, she caught the flu and had a persistent cough that took more than two weeks to fully recover—long-term high cortisol levels lowered her immunity.
A few days ago, while discussing the apartment lease, she suddenly vomited and experienced acid reflux—vagus nerve dysfunction affecting her gastrointestinal tract.
CPTSD leads to a prolonged state of stress, excessive excitation of the sympathetic nervous system, and severe dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, resulting in this series of conditions.
Only now did he connect the dots and see the hidden venomous snake behind it all.
He instinctively touched her radial artery, then suddenly realized that he was being overly anxious. He should just wait two more weeks; the Holter test was the gold standard.
Time flies, and after a week of monitoring, they sent the Holter patch back to the testing center.
About ten days later, the Holter monitor report finally came back, and they saw the cardiologist again.
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