Independence

At that moment, she felt as if her then–muddled life had reconciled with her now enlightened self. She felt complete

She worked on it until dawn broke. Staring at her completed thesis, she decided to seize the moment and submitted it to “Science“.

It was one of the top three academic journals worldwide. It represented the highest achievement anyone had ever achieved in the investigation of natural science.

Miranda wasn’t confident that her thesis would be accepted. Various subjects, fields, and professional researchers existed across the world. Who was she to them? Still, she wanted to give it a try.

Before the sun rose, Miranda shut down her laptop and quickly took a nap.

At 8:00 am, she woke up on time. After washing up and having breakfast, she took her revision materials and headed for the library.

But just as she left the house, she bumped into Paul, who’d just returned. It was raining outside; the closed umbrella he held was dripping wet.

“Good morning. You… didn’t stay up the entire night, did you?”

“I did. We’re in a rush to collect data from the experiment.” Even though Paul had just returned from the lab, he had to hurry back again after picking up something.

“This is for you.” Miranda handed him a glass of warm milk. “It’ll keep you warm.”

There was a pause before Paul thanked her. “Thank you.”

“Remember to change out of your drenched clothes.” She pointed at his shoulder. Paul turned to look at it and realized it was wet.

“I’m leaving now.” Miranda smiled and went down.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

It wasn’t even 9:00 am, yet the library was already crowded. As she put her umbrella away, she heard a familiar voice right before she entered the library.

“Miranda!”

Tina had purposely come today to talk to the college’s higher–ups about the postgraduate program.

She’d just happened to pass the library when it had started raining, so she was stranded. She hadn’t expected to bump into someone she knew.

“Why have you come to the library? Is it another side hustle? You must’ve been short of money recently. Don’t worry, I told Hans and asked him to be more generous with you.

“So, you’d better stop your side hustles. It’s more important to take good care of Hans. I heard he had gastritis again yesterday. You-”

Before Tina could finish her sentence, someone interrupted, “Tina, who are you speaking to?”

A tall and elegant woman was walking toward them. As she neared, Miranda realized she wore the latest haute couture from Covetus‘ spring collection. No wrinkles could be seen on her well–cared–for face, and she held an exotic leather Kelly clutch from Hermès.

Evelyn walked to Tina and glanced at Miranda.

She was surprised. Wasn’t this Hansel’s so–called girlfriend? She sized Miranda up. A look of disgust crossed her already sour expression.

Miranda had left home in only a T–shirt and a pair of jeans. She hadn’t applied

any makeup, nor had she tidied up her hair. How embarrassing!

Evelyn glanced at the library behind her and then at the two books in

Miranda’s hands. Her gaze became thoughtful.

“What a coincidence, Ms. Sutton,” she said with an emphasis on “coincidence

In other words, she thought Miranda was so desperate to get on her good side that the latter had put on such a lame act of a chance encounter.

“You tried your best; I’ll give you that.” Evelyn sighed. “Still, an imposter will remain an imposter no matter how hard she tries to pretend to be the real

thing. Stop pulling these tricks in the future. I won’t fall for them.

“Since we ran into each other today, I should make myself clear. Hansel will never marry you. However, you’ve worked hard to look after him for the past few years. Your efforts won’t go unnoticed. After he gets married, you’ll still get to meet him.

“That aside, you should squash any wishful thoughts you have. You can only keep this relationship going if you know and act according to your place. Do you understand?”