The Double or more Life of the Fake Heiress (Mirabella)

"Is there a Math Department? How come I've never heard about it?" Patrick asked, genuinely surprised.

Blaze and Denny exchanged puzzled glances, clearly just as baffled.

Seeing their confusion, Robert looked at Patrick with equal astonishment. "You didn't hear? Didn't Dr. Elliot mention it?"

Patrick shook his head, staying quiet for a moment before speaking up, "The professor just told us to focus on prepping for the conference discussions."

Robert was taken aback. "Really? Something this important, and your professor didn't say a word?"

"Nope," Patrick replied sheepishly.

Truth be told, their professor was the kind who would occasionally throw challenging problems their way and then pretty much leave them to fend for themselves. He was so busy, he was rarely around.

He hadn't mentioned that students from the Math Department would be there not because he was trying to trip them up, but probably because it slipped his mind.

After all, out of all his students, only Mira seemed to catch his attention. The rest were mostly left to figure things out on their own.

When it came to opportunities like this, he was all about cranking up the difficulty level.

Robert took a moment to gather his thoughts and then cleared his throat, taking the fall. "My bad, I forgot to mention it to him."

Patrick and the others seemed used to such surprises and reluctantly assured him it was alright.

Robert gave them a few more pointers and then turned to Mirabella, lowering his voice a bit, "Oh, by the way, Mirabella, Dr. Elliot specifically asked me to tell you to keep an eye on your friends and make sure they don't embarrass themselves."

Mirabella's three friends were stunned. "Seriously?!"

Ouch, that stung.

Mirabella coughed, suspecting Robert was stirring up some trouble, firing up her friends' competitive spirit while dragging her into the mix as well.

It was obvious he didn't want her just sitting out.

The adult world, she thought, was way too complicated.

They didn't have to wait long before the airport staff announced boarding.

Once on the plane, Mirabella, not

Pane

much of a talker, didn't join in conversation. She just asked the flightattendant for an extra blanket and closed her eyes to catch some rest.

In reality, she'd only managed three to four hours of sleep the previous night, working on the DO Group's database project. She had a hunch she wouldn't have time to deal with it for a while, so she pulled an all-nighter to wrap up the remaining data.

Meanwhile, over at the Defense Bureau...

James had just wrapped up a meeting and was heading straight for the elevator

without stopping by his office.

Wyatt tagged along behind him. "James, heading out already?"

James hit the down button for the elevator. "Yeah."

"But the mayor of Blytheville is still waiting. Aren't you gonna meet him?" Wyatt asked casually.

The elevator chimed open, and James stepped inside, holding the door open with a long finger as he glanced at Wyatt. "I don't have the time right now."

Wyatt scratched his head. "He looks pretty anxious."

"If he wants to wait, let him wait," James replied, as cool and detached as always.noveldrama

Wyatt knew James had zero intention of seeing the mayor today, so he nodded, "Alright, I'll go and send him off."

"Okay." James withdrew his gaze and pressed the button for the parking garage.

As the elevator doors closed, Wyatt turned and left. On his way to the reception room, it suddenly hit him what day it was.