Not in Love

The narrative shifts to the previous evening. Eli Killgore arrives at a hotel bar, where he has arranged to meet a woman whom he met on a dating app that is designed specifically for casual encounters. He does not know her name, but he recognizes her immediately and is enthralled by her beauty. However, before he can reach her, another man angrily approaches her. Eli can tell that the woman is uncomfortable, so Eli scares him off. He assumes that the man is an ex-boyfriend. After the man, Vincent, leaves, the woman tells Eli that she no longer wants to sleep with him in the hotel room that he booked. Eli understands, and he offers to give the woman a ride home, as Vincent has not left the hotel and is lurking near the entrance. She asks him how she is supposed to know that he is not a dangerous person himself, so he lets her examine his wallet. She sees his ID, and when she learns that his last name is “Killgore,” she teasingly states that his name does not sound very safe to her. He is fascinated by her deadpan sense of humor. Eventually, she agrees to let Eli give her a ride home.

Eli asks the woman for her name again, but she refuses to say. He tells her that she can take a picture of his license and send it to a friend, along with his location, so that someone else will know where she is. As they walk to his car in the parking garage, Vincent emerges and tries to talk to the woman again. Eli tells her to go wait in his car while he tells Vincent to leave her alone. When he gets to the car, he gives her the passcode to unlock his phone so that she can put her address into his GPS. He is surprised when she recognizes that his passcode, 271828, is Euler’s number, a mathematical constant. She asks if he is a scientist, and he tells her that he once studied science but now has a boring money job. She tells him that she is an engineer and explains that the angry man is her brother. Their estranged father recently passed away, and they disagree on what to do with the cabin in Indiana that they have jointly inherited. She insists that Vincent is not a real threat but can be aggressive when he drinks. Eli is concerned for her safety.

Eli understands complicated sibling relationships because he has a challenging relationship with his younger sister, Maya. When she was born, their parents doted over her so much that he refused to even look at her.

When they are close to her apartment, the woman expresses regret that their evening was interrupted. Eli wishes desperately that they could plan to meet again, but he remembers that she specified “no repeats” on her profile on the dating app. They arrive at her apartment, and he walks her to the door. The woman kisses him on the cheek and then on the lips. He is so distracted by his intense attraction that it is not until she says goodnight and goes inside that he realizes that she has written her phone number and her name, Rue, on his hand.

The narrative returns to the present moment. Florence reassures her staff that their jobs are safe and introduces the four Harkness representatives, including Eli. Although Florence is calm and reassuring, Rue feels that her boss is putting on a brave face and intuits that there is more to the story than she is sharing. After the meeting, Rue and Tisha rush to Florence’s office, hoping to get a more honest rundown of the situation. They have known Florence for a long time; she is a mentor and close friend as well as their boss.

Florence admits that she is not sure what the Harkness Group wants. It seems unusual that the firm would send its four founders to spend extensive time interviewing staff members if they weren’t planning to become heavily involved in Kline’s work. Rue knows that it has been difficult for Florence to secure patents and maintain ownership of her work, and she feels protective of her boss.

Tisha recognizes Eli because Rue sent her a picture of his driver’s license the night before when he was driving Rue home. Rue does not believe that Eli was aware of her professional affiliations when they met last night, but Florence is visibly concerned to learn that Rue almost had a physical encounter with him. Rue promises to steer clear of Eli, but Florence says that he is scheduling meetings with all of the team leaders. Tisha encourages Rue to keep seeing him so that she can trade sex for information about Harkness’s plans for Kline.

The Harkness Group calls Rue in for an interview, and Eli is shocked to see her again. He asks the other people in the room to leave so that they can talk privately and tells her that he did not know that she worked for Kline when they met the night before. However, he believes that it wouldn’t be a conflict of interest for them to see each other again socially.

Rue tells him that she does not want to have anything to do with someone who is trying to steal the company. She is concerned for her own work and for Florence’s. Eli tells her that Harkness is not doing anything illegal; they just purchased a loan and want to make sure that their investment is sound. He wants to continue talking later in the hopes of winning back her trust, but she tells him that he should just get rid of her phone number.

After Eli’s interviews at Kline, he goes to see Hark, his friend and the co-founder of his business. Upon arriving at Hark’s house, he finds Hark, Sul, and Minami, all of whom are Harkness representatives who came to Kline with Eli that day. Sul and Minami are married, but Minami was previously in a relationship with Hark. All four are old friends.

Hark and Sul witnessed part of Eli’s interaction with Rue that day, and they immediately ask for more information. He explains that he met her the night before via a dating app and describes the run-in with Vincent that caused them to abandon their plans to sleep together. He realizes that he has never spent so much time thinking about a woman. Hark asks if his situation with Rue is going to be a distraction from their goals, and Eli insists that it won’t.

Hark believes that their first day at Kline went well. Eli reflects on the Harkness Group’s origins; he started the firm with his friends nine years ago, and Hark had to beg his father, with whom he has a bad relationship, for startup money. Eli had no money due to student loan debt and the necessity of caring for his younger sister, and Minami was suffering from depression. Hark believed that starting this group would allow them to take a form of revenge that the narrative leaves unexplained for the time being.

Now, they discuss their impressions of Kline. They think that Florence is worried about their involvement and that she might be hiding something. They are hoping to gain ownership of the biofuel tech that Florence now enjoys the credit for developing.

Minami researches Rue and tells the others that Rue earned her PhD in engineering from the University of Texas; Florence Kline mentored both Rue and Tisha before hiring them. Rue’s closeness to Florence will allow the Harkness Group to gain information, but Eli’s desire to have a real relationship with Rue might also backfire on all of them. Eli’s friends encourage Eli to drop by Rue’s lab to do some snooping. Eli is flustered by this suggestion because he has resolved to keep his distance from her.

He goes home and finds his sister, Maya, studying at the kitchen table. Eli bought this house six years earlier in the misguided belief that he and his then-girlfriend, McKenzie, would eventually get married and live there. However, their relationship fell apart, and Maya has been living with him ever since she decided to attend graduate school in Austin. Now, she asks how Hark is because she has a crush on him; this fact horrifies Eli because Hark is quite a bit older than she is. They tease each other a bit, then eat Chinese food and take care of their gigantic dog, Tiny.

Rue is planning to go to her lab early in the morning, and she is concerned about missing breakfast. She will not eat on the run because she experienced food insecurity as a child, so rushing to eat is now a trigger for her. She needs to sit down and eat her meals slowly and deliberately. However, on early lab days, that doesn’t always happen.

When she arrives at the lab, she finds Eli waiting for her. He asks about her work, and she explains her experiments to him as simply and quickly as possible. However, his questions indicate that he understands the more complex details of her work. She is testing a coating that can extend the shelf life of food. That day, she will monitor the effects of factors such as humidity over the course of many hours.

Jay, the lab tech who assists Rue, arrives late, saying that he needs to finish a report. Eli offers to help Rue so that Jay can finish his own work. Rue is not enthused about this idea but does not object, and she is surprised to learn that Eli is a competent assistant. While they work, he asks her about her research and about Kline in general. As is their habit, they each tell a story about their respective pasts that they are ashamed of and have never told anyone else. Rue asks him how long it has been since he has worked in a lab; he says he doesn’t remember, but she doesn’t believe him.

Rue drops the end of a pipette, and when they both crouch to pick it up, Eli grabs Rue’s hand and asks if she has been thinking about their physical chemistry. She admits that she has, but she is not sure if she likes him, and she definitely doesn’t like what he and his firm are doing at Kline. He reminds her that they can still explore their physical connection. She is tempted to give in, but she is also concerned about Florence’s well-being. This frustrates Eli. He is about to tell her something related to Florence when the door opens. Florence and Jay arrive and stare at Eli and Rue.

Later that night, Rue and Tisha are eating dinner at Florence’s house. Rue insists that nothing was happening between her and Eli at the lab, but Tisha does not believe her. Florence tells Rue that she can date whoever she wants, but Rue can tell that Florence does not like her connection with Eli. Tisha suggests that Rue sleep with Eli in order to get more information about Harkness.

After the incident at the lab and before dinner that night, Rue did some research on the members of the Harkness Group and found that one of the other co-founders, Minami, attended UT at some point: the same university at which Rue and Tisha were mentored by Florence. After Rue shares this information, Florence changes the subject and asks about Rue’s research. Then she and Tisha move on to other topics, and Rue tries to follow their example.