"Damn!" Nathalie Quinlan rarely cursed, but she did now as she threw off her quilt and got out of bed. Her dark eyes still had the irritability of a poor night’s sleep, and the corners were tinged with bloodshot lines, making her beautiful eyes uncomfortably dry.
"Bang, bang, bang..." The knocking outside continued.
After she got up, she didn’t imdiately go to open the door; instead, she sat on the bed for two minutes to collect herself before slowly getting up and suppressing the annoyance in her eyes.
She stood, slipped into her slippers, walked over, and opened the door.
"What do you want?"
Quite cold.
Not the coldness of formal politeness, but one laden with hostility, bleak and unapproachable.
When Phoebe Hoffman saw her co out, her eyes reddened as if she’d suffered a great grievance, suddenly bending over to bow in apology, "I’m sorry, Ms. Quinlan. I’m here to apologize for what I did before, and I hope you can forgive !"
Nathalie Quinlan: "?"
The girl’s eyes were cold and irritated. Though she didn’t understand what act she was trying to pull off so early in the morning, anyone dragged out of a sound sleep would not be in a good mood, and Nathalie Quinlan was no exception. She looked at the person bowing in apology before her with an impatient gaze, saying in annoyance, "You ca knocking on my door early in the morning just to tell this?"
Phoebe Hoffman stayed bent over, not standing up for a long ti, which was quite humiliating. Clenching her teeth, she said, "I’m sorry, Ms. Quinlan. I ca to apologize."
"..."
Nathalie Quinlan took a deep breath to push down the surge of hostility in her eyes. Sacrificing any pretense of politeness, she stepped aside and said coldly, "It’s not necessary."
As she spoke, she walked back inside, picked up a bottle of mineral water from her desk, twisted off the cap, and took a sip to quell the ire rising in her throat. She looked rather impatiently at Phoebe Hoffman, who had now stood up straight, and said, "Next ti you want to put on a show, choose a different ti. I don’t make it a habit of admiring Notre-Da de Paris first thing in the morning."
She had been busy with the programming for autonomous driving and preparing review materials for Class A, and hadn’t slept well for several nights.
The day before, she had only managed to catch a little sleep on the airplane.
After landing, she had gone straight to The Ninth Institute and had watched over Master Cadmus sleep for four hours. She had forcefully kept herself awake by playing gas for four hours.
Just when she was finally enjoying a good night’s sleep, she was rudely awakened early in the morning with a request for forgiveness...
Forgive what, she thought, wishing the insistent knocking would stop and spare her from having to get up to open the door.
Isn’t a good sleep more enjoyable?
"..." Phoebe Hoffman had co reluctantly, harboring a heart full of resentnt, and her eyes turned even redder with indignation upon hearing Nathalie’s words. Seeming deeply aggrieved, she pursed her lips and said, "Anyway, I sincerely apologized to you, Ms. Quinlan. I’ve said what I wanted to say, and I can’t force you to accept my apology, but I truly an it. Also, I’m sorry for disturbing your sleep."
By nine o clock, everyone at The Ninth Institute was usually up, except for Nathalie Quinlan, who it seed was planning to sleep until noon.
"I have things to do. I’m leaving now!"
Phoebe Hoffman felt increasingly bitter, bowed hurriedly to the girl leaning coldly by the desk, and then ran off without looking back.
Nathalie Quinlan watched her leave with a detached expression, slowly screwing the cap back onto the bottle of mineral water.
Just then, Alfred Garland ca in with breakfast and greeted her, "Ms. Quinlan, you’re up?"
Nathalie Quinlan still had the grogginess of having just woken up, and she didn’t imdiately respond to him.
Seeing her like this, Alfred Garland asked cautiously, "Ms. Quinlan, did Phoebe Hoffman co by?"
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