The school’s bulletin board was updated.
It was a display for outstanding students, featuring each person’s photo, basic information, and so trite inspirational quotes.
Mia Grant’s photo was on it for the first ti.
As soon as class ended, she slipped over to admire it for a long ti.
She loved this feeling of reaching the top.
So much so that it took her a while to notice the photo next to hers.
It was no surprise that Felix Sinclair was on the honor roll.
But, whether by coincidence or not, their pictures were placed right next to each other.
After looking for a bit, she was about to head back to class when she turned and saw Felix Sinclair.
He was standing behind her and seed to have been there for a while.
Seeing him, she couldn’t help but grin and show off, "Felix! Look, I’m up here too."
Afraid he might overlook a re mortal like her, she even stood on her tiptoes and pointed. "See! Right next to you!"
"Outstanding Student—Mia Grant~"
She was so happy she was practically dancing, not noticing the look in Felix Sinclair’s eyes at that mont.
She only heard him say, "Yeah, that’s impressive."
She chuckled, nudging his arm with her elbow. "Of course! I couldn’t have done it without Mr. Sinclair’s help!"
"So, tell what you want. I can grant you one teeny-tiny little wish~"
"There’s nothing I want." He didn’t use the opportunity to ask for anything.
"Aw, but I have to thank you. Or is there sothing you like? I can buy it for you?"
"..." This ti he hesitated. "You don’t need to buy it."
"I want to take sothing."
"What?"
He didn’t say.
The bell for class was about to ring, so Mia Grant didn’t have ti to wait for his answer. "Whatever you want, then."
Later, the honor roll was updated, and the old photos were taken down. She never gave it a second thought.
’Thinking back now, the ID photo Felix Sinclair kept hidden in his wallet must have been the one from the board back then.’
’So, after her photo was taken down, it wasn’t destroyed. He took it.’
Mia Grant snapped back to the present.
Mrs. Sinclair was holding her hand, speaking to her earnestly about Felix Sinclair.
Mia Grant listened patiently, but the more she heard, the more sothing felt off. She quickly spoke up.
"Mrs. Sinclair, I think you might have misunderstood sothing..."
’She had originally planned to let Felix Sinclair handle this matter.’
’But when she heard Mrs. Sinclair was already looking into a marital ho for them, she really couldn’t keep quiet any longer.’
"Felix Sinclair and I are actually..."
The words were on the tip of her tongue, but Mia Grant looked up and t Mrs. Sinclair’s gentle, loving gaze, and she suddenly froze.
’Her eyes didn’t hold the look of soone sizing up her son’s fiancée.’
’It was more like she was looking at her own daughter.’
’The reason she felt this way was because it was the sa look Mrs. Grant always gave Serena Grant.’
Mia Grant’s eyelashes trembled, her heart a tangle of complex emotions.
"I..."
"I know this engagent might seem very sudden. You’re still young, so there’s no need to rush."
"But, I’ve heard that you aren’t very happy living with the Grant family. So I was thinking, if the marriage is settled, you’ll have a new ho."
"From now on, you won’t have to go back to the Grant family’s ho if you don’t want to. The Sinclair family will be your ho. Everyone here, from top to bottom, likes you very much. We’ll all treat you as one of our own."
"You might not know this, but Felix wasn’t doing well a while ago. We elders had no idea why. Ian knew, but he refused to say."
"It was only just now that I realized it was because of you."
Mia Grant froze. "Then you should be telling to leave him."
Mrs. Sinclair smiled and shook her head. "I have no intention of playing the villain."
"I just want both of you to be happy and well."
"Before this, I’d also heard so gossip. But I still had a very good impression of you, even though we hadn’t formally t."
"Because I trust our Felix’s judgnt."
"He’s never been wrong about people."
"The person he likes must be the best."
"I am certain that you must, must be a very good and outstanding young woman."
"That’s why I didn’t pay any mind to the outside world or the Grant family... In short, I sincerely hope you can beco part of our family."
"Especially after eting you today, I’ve really grown to like you."
"You don’t have to refuse right away. Could you think it over?"
"Because I know you like Felix, too."
"..."
—
[Host, were you moved?]
In bed, Mia Grant lay with her head pillowed on her arm, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
Mrs. Sinclair’s words echoed in her ears, like Pandora’s box, tempting her to open it and release its evils.
"I don’t know."
[Host, don’t be tempted by these illusions! When you complete your mission, I’ll send you back to your original world, and you can reunite with your own mom and dad! Don’t be influenced by the Grants. Not all parents are so biased and selfish!]
"..."
Mia Grant suddenly let out a laugh.
She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no either.
[System has detected that your emotional value is decreasing.]
The system paused, then asked: [Host, you don’t want to return to your original world, do you?]
Mia Grant blinked, giving the sa answer: "I don’t know."
"There are so things I haven’t figured out myself yet."
[Wasn’t your original world good?]
"It was."
"Everything was fine. It was just... I wasn’t."
’In her original world, she was just a corporate drone from an unhappy ho, with no dreams and nothing special about her.’
’No family, no friends, no lover.’
’It seed like there was nothing worth fighting for with all her being.’
’From the very beginning, what she wanted wasn’t the chance to go back.’
’It was the prize money.’
’She needed money.’
"Alright, I’m going to sleep. We can talk about everything else tomorrow."
Mia Grant pulled the covers up and slowly turned onto her side. "I’ll consider it carefully."
The system silently deleted its warning. [Then... good night.]
Mia Grant chuckled. "Good night."
—
「Portia.」
「The Hughes Corp.」
Yates Donovan had already left.
Simon Adler saw him on his way out and knocked on the office door.
"Co in."
Simon Adler pushed the door open and went in. "Not done with work yet?"
It was already very late, and only the top floor of the Hughes Corp building was still lit.
Silas Grant hadn’t noticed the ti and only stopped when reminded.
The man took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his sore nose.
Simon Adler sat down across from him. "The work will never be finished. What’s the rush?"
"You don’t get it." Silas Grant put his glasses back on. "I have to deal with these nuisances as soon as possible."
Simon Adler tsked. "It just hit ."
"You want to deal with them quickly so you can go back and find her, right?"
"I really don’t get you..."
"If you don’t get it, then don’t waste my ti."
Silas Grant was in a bad mood and couldn’t be bothered to humor him, retorting bluntly, "I don’t have ti to answer your questions."
"Besides, your mind is already made up. No matter what I say, you still won’t understand."
"Instead of lecturing here, why don’t you go find a woman or a man and fall in love."
"When that happens, you’ll naturally get it."
"..." Simon Adler was left speechless.
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