Miranda arrived at the lab around 7:30 am. No one else was there yet. Suddenly, she heard a noise coming from the break room.
Along with the sound of footsteps, Paul emerged. They both froze when their eyes met.
Paul remembered how he had fled in haste the night before and felt a little uneasy.
On the other hand, Miranda recalled the guilt she felt at pretending to be asleep and the scene she accidentally witnessed. She also felt equally awkward.
“Morning,” Paul spoke first.
Miranda nodded. “Morning.”
With that, she quickly darted to her lab bench and started burying herself in work. She even forgot to put her lunch in the fridge.
Paul said, “I’m heading to the pantry. I’ll put it away for you.”
Miranda hesitated before speaking, “Thank you, Dr. Jefferson.”
During lunch break, Miranda left the lab. As soon as she stepped out of Solaris Hall, she noticed Sam standing nearby with his hands stuck in his pockets.
He was dressed casually in a shirt and slacks, with his collar slightly open. Instead of looking unkempt, his casual look had a certain charm to it.
“Sorry, did you wait long?” Miranda asked.
Sam replied, “I just got here.”
“What’s the matter with Dr. Sanchez?”
Sam took out a document and handed it to her. “This is the exam paper Dr. Sanchez prepared for his students’ final exam. He’s too lazy to do it himself, so he asked me to solve it and write the answer key. Then, he’ll hand the answers to his postgraduate students to mark the papers.”
That old man was determined to do as little work as possible. Matthew pushed all his work onto others!
That wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was…
“I did the paper and prepared the answer key. However, he said that he didn’t trust my answers when I handed it to him. He wanted you to give it a once over to ensure everything is correct!”
Matthew had taken those questions from Miranda last time. “What’s the problem with having her check the answer key?”
He thought he was being clever!
Sam grumbled, “Why can’t you check them yourself?”
Matthew thought it over. Indeed, he recalled hearing Christine say that Miranda was busy with her experiments and thesis recently. She probably didn’t have much time.
Matthew was about to agree when Sam remembered something and had a change of heart. He nodded seriously. “You’re absolutely right. It’s best that Miranda check the answer key.”
Then, he added, “Since you’re so busy, I’ll deliver the answer key to her personally.”
Matthew said, “There’s no need to hand it to her in person. You have the electronic copy. Can’t you just send it to her?”
“That won’t work.”
“Huh?”
“Communicating face-to-face is much better than chatting online.”
“But—” There wasn’t anything that needed to be communicated!
Sam cut him off, “It’s settled then! I’ll take the papers to her tomorrow.” Then, he happily left with the materials in hand.
Matthew was puzzled. Why was that brat so accommodating today?
Usually, Sam would be annoyed when Matthew revealed the slightest doubt in his abilities, yet he was offering to have his work checked by another person. Something wasn’t right!
Miranda’s lips twitched when she heard Sam’s explanation. It was bad enough that Matthew had swiped the exam questions from her before, but now he wanted to get her answers too?
It was just like Matthew not to miss a chance to take advantage of her.
Miranda glanced at the time on her watch and opened the paper file. “Do you have your answer key in here?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, I’ll take a look now. It’ll take about 15 minutes?”
“Great. There’s a gazebo over there. Let’s go sit in the shade; it’s quite sunny.”
Miranda asked curiously. “Are you afraid of the sun?”
Sam nodded. “Yes.”
In reality, he noticed that Miranda had looked up at the sky at least five times and frowned repeatedly during the two minutes they were standing there.
Sam’s keen observation captured every subconscious movement she made.
Paul had just finished his lunch and was walking back to Solaris Hall from the cafeteria. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and looked at the gazebo across the way…