"Could I see the methodology section?" Mike asked, his voice dropping into a register of quiet, focused intensity. "The actual section, not a summary or a citation."
"I need to see how you handled the data fragmentation and the language barriers firsthand."
"I want to make sure I'm building the right architecture before I lay any more concrete."
The air in the small office seemed to thin. Sabrina didn't answer immediately.
She leaned back in her chair, the leather creaking softly in the silence. Her gaze drifted to the laptop screen, then back to him, her expression unreadable.
"I would need to send it to you," she said finally, her voice measured. "It's contained within my thesis."
"I keep the raw chapters as separate documents."
"I don't normally share unpublished thesis chapters outside of formal academic channels."
"It's... unconventional."
