Because she didn't sleep well all night, Paige couldn't help but yawn repeatedly during the day.
At this moment, she understood why Raj had looked so overworked.
Listening to intensive lectures during the day consumed tremendous energy, and sleeping on the hard floor at night made restful sleep impossible. After three consecutive days of this, even the toughest person would be reduced to exhausted dregs.
And he hadn't said a word of complaint, until he suddenly sprained his back and could no longer hide it.
This kind of forbearance, this strength, this consideration for her wellbeing was truly worthy of respect, and Paige was deeply moved.
"Are you okay? I watched you drink five cups of coffee today." Seeing her drinking coffee frequently throughout the lectures, Raj asked with concern, "If you're really that sleepy, why don't you go back to the hotel and rest? I'll attend the rest of the lectures and give you the handouts and my notes afterward."
"No, I can still hold on." Paige waved her hand dismissively.
"Okay then." Raj nodded, though his expression showed continued worry. "But if you can't do it, don't force yourself. Energy is limited, but knowledge is unlimited."
"I understand." Paige nodded.
The day passed in a blur of technical presentations, and when they returned to rest that evening, Raj stopped Paige when she moved to sleep on the floor again.
"Don't sleep on the floor tonight. You didn't sleep well last night, and you yawned constantly during the day." He persuaded gently, "I came up with an idea—see if it works. Let's pile our clothes in the middle of the bed to form a wall. You sleep on that side, I'll sleep on this side. What do you think?"
Paige hesitated for a moment, considering the proposal, then nodded.
After getting along these past days, she had come to know that Raj was a humble, polite, gentle and considerate gentleman. He had never taken advantage of difficult situations or given her any reason to doubt his intentions.
So she was willing to trust him.
The two of them then carefully placed their clothes in the center of the bed, stacking jackets, sweaters, and other garments to form a low makeshift wall, and they each settled on opposite sides.
Although there was a barrier separating them, the sound of breathing was still clearly audible because they were so close.
This made Paige unavoidably a little apprehensive.
She wasn't used to being in such close proximity to men, always fearful they might be inappropriate with her.
This was the psychological shadow left behind from being harassed when she was younger.
Although she genuinely trusted Raj in her heart, she still couldn't completely restrain her subconscious fear.
In comparison, Raj seemed wonderfully uncomplicated and slept soundly.
Although beauty lay close at hand at this moment—so near he could embrace her with a simple reach across the clothes barrier, like tempting fruit within easy grasp—he knew in his heart that Paige still hadn't fully accepted him romantically. If he were greedy and pushed for success too quickly, it would definitely frighten Paige away. All the goodwill painstakingly accumulated through his considerate actions would evaporate instantly. Paige was unlikely to give him a second chance if he violated her trust.
And anyway, he didn't believe in forcing himself on a woman who wasn't interested in him.
So he simply dismissed any inappropriate thoughts, and settled into sleep soon after lying down.
Because he had listened to complex lectures for the entire day, his head felt heavy and his mental energy was thoroughly exhausted, so now he fell asleep easily the moment his head touched the pillow.
Hearing Raj's deep and steady breathing, Paige knew he was fast asleep.
Seeing that he was so straightforward and free of ulterior motives, she couldn't help smiling in the darkness, and then she finally relaxed enough to fall asleep herself.
They slept peacefully until dawn.
After waking early, Paige saw that Raj was still sleeping soundly on the other side of the clothes wall. The barrier remained completely undisturbed, and she had not been bothered in any way throughout the night.
This made her breathe a sigh of relief, and her trust in Raj deepened considerably.
Today was the last day for the delegation, and in the afternoon, they would board a plane back to the United States.
Before leaving, they would each receive a copy of the original data and software from the ALICE experiment for their own analysis and research.
This was the most significant benefit that delegation members could enjoy.
In comparison, other experts and scholars who hadn't attended in person could only begin research after CERN uploaded the data to their network servers.
This was the most significant benefit that delegation members could enjoy.
Although CERN published a large amount of experimental information publicly, the data available to ordinary researchers had already been screened, processed, and organized. The original experimental data was naturally much more valuable.
With these materials, researchers could conduct their own analyses, verify existing theories, search for overlooked phenomena, and perhaps even discover something that the original research team had missed.
Therefore, after the final lecture ended, almost everyone in the delegation became noticeably more energetic despite several exhausting days of continuous study.
The staff distributed encrypted hard drives containing the relevant experimental data, along with copies of the specialized analysis software and documentation explaining the structure of the datasets.
Raj carefully checked the contents before putting the hard drive into his bag.
"Is everything there?" Paige asked.
"Everything we're supposed to receive." Raj nodded. "Collision records, detector information, processed event samples, calibration data, simulation packages... enough information to keep us busy for months."
"Months?" Paige repeated in surprise.
"Possibly years, depending on what we're looking for." Raj smiled. "The Large Hadron Collider produces an absurd amount of information. Finding something interesting in it is like trying to find a particular grain of sand on a beach."
"Then how do you know which grain of sand you're looking for?"
"That's the difficult part." Raj laughed. "Usually you don't."
Paige couldn't help smiling.
After spending these days attending lectures together, she had gradually discovered that Raj was somewhat different outside Caltech.
At work, he usually appeared serious and focused whenever discussing research. Although he was patient when explaining things to her, there was still an obvious distinction between professor and assistant.
But here, perhaps because they were both students in a sense, listening to other experts and learning unfamiliar things together, that distinction had become much less obvious.
Occasionally, when a lecturer presented something particularly complicated, Raj would quietly lean toward her and whisper, "Did you understand that?"
When Paige shook her head, Raj would immediately look relieved.
"Good. I thought I was getting stupid."
The first time he'd said this, Paige had almost believed him.
By the third time, she had learned to roll her eyes.
After collecting the materials, the delegation members were informed that their originally scheduled afternoon flight had been changed because of a problem with the connecting arrangements.
Instead of leaving that afternoon, they would depart the following evening.
The university had already been contacted, and CERN would continue covering their accommodation for the additional night.
Hearing this announcement, several members of the delegation immediately began discussing how they would spend the unexpected free time.
Some planned to visit Geneva.
Others wanted to tour nearby towns.
A few professors simply intended to remain in their rooms and begin examining the experimental data immediately.
Paige naturally assumed Raj belonged to the third group.
"Looks like we'll have time to start organizing the data tonight," she said as they walked out of the conference room.
Raj stopped.
"Tonight?"
"Yes." Paige looked at him strangely. "We have the original data now."
"I know."
"And our flight isn't until tomorrow evening."
"I also know that."
"So we have almost an entire extra day."
Raj stared at her for several seconds.
"Paige, we're in Switzerland."
"Yes."
"We've been in Switzerland for several days."
"Yes."
"And what have we seen?"
Paige thought carefully.
"CERN."
"And?"
"The hotel."
"And?"
"The road between CERN and the hotel."
Raj nodded solemnly.
"Exactly. At this rate, when Leonard asks me what Switzerland looks like, I'll have to tell him it has excellent conference rooms."
Paige laughed despite herself.
"What about Howard?"
"Howard would be even worse. He'd probably mourn the opportunities I wasted meeting beautiful Swiss women."
"That does sound like Howard."
"Exactly."
"So what are you suggesting?"
Raj glanced at the bag containing the hard drive, then toward the windows.
"I'm suggesting that we behave like normal human beings for one day."
Paige raised an eyebrow.
"Are physicists capable of that?"
"Probably not, but science advances through experimentation."
She laughed again.
"Fine. What do normal human beings do in Switzerland?"
Raj immediately took out his phone.
"I have absolutely no idea."
Paige looked at him speechlessly.
"You just gave an entire speech about experiencing Switzerland."
"That doesn't mean I prepared an itinerary."
"So you have no plan."
"Planning is your job. You're my assistant."
"Tomorrow is technically our day off."
Raj paused.
"Excellent point."
He put his phone away.
"We'll improvise."
"That sounds dangerous."
"Paige, we work around equipment designed to smash particles together at nearly the speed of light. I think we can survive tourism."
"Those machines have safety procedures."
"So does tourism."
"What safety procedures?"
"Don't get robbed. Don't fall into a lake. Don't insult the Swiss."
Paige stared at him for several seconds before shaking her head.
"I can't believe you're a professor."
"Neither can my siblings."
The two returned to the hotel together.
After entering their room, Raj immediately placed the hard drive containing the ALICE data into the room safe.
Although he desperately wanted to examine it, he knew perfectly well what would happen once they started.
One interesting piece of data would lead to another, then another, and by the time either of them raised their heads, it would probably be three o'clock in the morning.
Paige apparently had the same temptation.
She stared at the safe.
"You're thinking about the data, aren't you?" Raj asked.
"No."
"You've been staring at the safe."
"I was thinking."
"About the data."
Paige remained silent.
Raj smiled triumphantly.
"I knew it."
"You're thinking about it too."
"Of course I am."
"Then why don't we look?"
"Because if we open that hard drive, we're not leaving this room tomorrow."
Paige couldn't deny this.
"Tomorrow," Raj said firmly. "We're taking most of one day off."
"And tonight?"
"Dinner. Real dinner."
"We eat dinner every night."
"Sandwiches from a conference table don't count."
"Fair."
That evening, after eating at a nearby restaurant, they returned to the hotel relatively early.
Raj picked up several brochures from the lobby before going upstairs.
Once inside, he sat at the small desk while Paige sat on the bed.
"Lake Geneva," Raj read. "Old Town. Museums. Chocolate shops."
"Chocolate shops?"
Raj looked up.
"Interested?"
"No."
"You answered very quickly."
"I was just asking."
Raj nodded solemnly and made a mark on the brochure.
"Chocolate shop."
"I said I wasn't interested."
"I know. This is for me."
Paige rolled her eyes.
"We should probably buy souvenirs too," Raj continued. "I should bring something back for Leonard and Leslie."
"What would you buy them?"
"Chocolate, probably."
"Buy Leonard something normal."
Raj laughed. "What does that mean?"
"It means don't buy him anything that requires an explanation."
"That's very restrictive."
"And Leslie..."
Paige thought for a moment.
"Get her dark chocolate."
"Why?"
"Because it's bitter."
Raj stared at her.
Paige maintained a perfectly serious expression.
Then the corner of her mouth twitched.
Raj burst out laughing.
"That was terrible."
"Was it inaccurate?"
"No, that's what makes it worse."
He made another mark on the brochure.
"Dark chocolate for Leslie."
"Don't tell her it was my idea."
"I'll tell her immediately."
"Raj!"
"Scientific integrity requires proper attribution."
Paige grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.
Raj barely managed to raise the brochure before the pillow struck him in the face.
For a moment, they both froze.
Paige suddenly realized that she had just thrown a pillow at her employer simply because she was playing with him.
Raj slowly lowered the brochure.
"Professor abuse," he said solemnly. "There are regulations against this."
Paige immediately relaxed.
"You started it."
"Fortunately, I'm merciful."
"How fortunate."
"Tomorrow, however, you owe me chocolate."
"No."
"Compensation for emotional suffering."
"Still no."
Raj shook his head sadly.
"This is why scientists need unions."
Paige smiled.
She had laughed more during this trip than she had expected.
Perhaps Switzerland wasn't turning out to be entirely about physics after all.
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