Independence

“Is Miranda having a hard time finding a parking spot? I can go and help-”

Calvin suddenly saw Hansel’s thunderously black face, and the realization. finally dawned on him. “Oh! Hans, has Miranda… not returned yet?”

It was long past three hours.

Hansel spread his arms and shrugged. “Returned? You thought I was joking when I said I was breaking up with her?”

Then, he walked past Calvin and sat down on the couch.

Calvin couldn’t help scratching his head. Could it be that they were both finally serious about breaking up? However, a while later, he shook his head. and thought that he was just overthinking things.

Sure, Hansel could initiate the breakup anytime and mean it. But as for Miranda… Calvin was sure that anyone would agree to a breakup, with the only exception being Miranda. Everyone in their circle knew that

“Hans? Why are you alone?” Hansel’s friend, Zach Graham, asked, purposely adding fuel to the fire.

He crossed his arms over his chest, looking like he was about to laugh. “You bet that she’d be back in three hours, but it’s already been a full day.”

Hansel grinned. “So I lost. What’s the punishment?”

Zach raised an eyebrow. “Let’s change things up a bit. Drinking won’t be your punishment this time.”

“What do you

mean?”

“Instead, call Mimi and say in your softest and gentlest voice, ‘I’m sorry, I was wrong. I love you.‘

Everyone immediately erupted in laughter. Meanwhile, Calvin grabbed Hansel’s phone at once and dialed Miranda’s number.

After the initial beep, it said, “Sorry, the person you are calling is not available

Wait, did that mean he’d been blocked?

Hansel was stunned. The grins on everyone else’s faces also dropped as they started exchanging glances.

Calvin hung up immediately and returned the phone to Hansel as he tried to explain things. “Well, maybe there’s a connection error. After all, Miranda wouldn’t block Hansel’s number, not unless pigs starting flying.

He trailed off, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

Zach fell into thought. “I think Miranda’s serious this time.”

Hansel scoffed. “Of course the breakup was real! Did you think it was fake? Also, I’m not going to play this game ever again. If any of you bring Miranda’s name up again, don’t blame me for shutting you out of my life.

Zach narrowed his eyes. A while later, he finally said, “Sure, as long as you don’t regret it afterward.”

Hansel’s lips twitched upward. He didn’t think much about it. He never regretted anything he did in his life.

Sensing the tension rising in the room, another one of Hansel’s friends, Sam Cooper, decided to smooth things over and said, “Aw, come one, let’s not get too serious here. We’re all friends, aren’t we?”

Early the next morning, Winter came back from her usual morning run at about 7:00 am and immediately smelled the scent of heavenly food coming.

from the kitchen.

Miranda brought out a pot of cream soup from the kitchen. She was wearing a dress with a houndstooth pattern on it that showed off her slim, long legs. She didn’t have a drop of makeup on her face, but she still looked as beautiful.

as ever.

“Hurry up and take a shower before having breakfast.”

Winter was surprised. “Did you change your heYou look good with

your straight black hair done up in a ponytail. Where are you going, dressed so

nierly? Are you going back to Hansel? or is he coming to pick you up?”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“Can’t you just think better of met

“If he’s here to plk you up, of course I can’t think any better of you,” Winter replied, walking over to the dining table/she realized that Miranda had prepared food fit for a king

“Ge and shower! Miranda exclaimed, slapping Winter’s hands away. “You’re filthy”

“You’re playing favorites! Why don’t you slap Hansel away when he also uses his hands?”

“I’ll slap him next time if I get the chance.

“I’ll never believe you.

After coming out of the shower, Winter realized that Miranda had left with an insulated food container.

“Ha! She made breakfast for me, but she still took some for that bastard. Silly girl,” Winter grumbled to herself.

Chris, how are you feeling today?”

Christine was going through the thesis in her hands in her single ward at Westerton Hospital when she heard the familiar voice.

She set the documents aside and adjusted her glasses as she looked at her colleague. “Matt? What are you doing here?”

“Wait, don’t move,” Matthew Sanchez said, hurriedly pushing a pillow behind Christine’s back. “Your wound hasn’t fully healed yet.”

“It’s just a tiny procedure for appendicitis. The doctor just kept me here because he said I was recovering too slowly due to my old age. Oh, by the way, has the college approved of our Master’s student slots for this year?”

“It’s been approved. You got three slots, and I got four.”

“Three slots?” Christine asked, mumbling softly to herself.

“Why? Are you still only planning to take in two students this year?”

“Yeah. I’m getting old. I can only take two of them in.”

Matthew pulled his lips in a straight line. He knew that Christine was holding out that third slot for someone special, but she just didn’t want to acknowledge it.

“Dr. Youngoh? Dr. Sanchez, you’re here too?”

Solomon appeared at the door with two of his lowerclassmen and a basket of fruits and flowers. “We’re here to visit Dr. Young.”

While chatting, one of the students mentioned, “I heard that there’s a genius. in first year who got offered the combined Master’s and Doctorate program.”

For the past ten years, only three students had been offered this program in the Faculty of Bioinformatics at Bedford College.

“I also heard that she managed to win gold for both the Math Olympiad and the Computing Olympiad last year. That’s how she got accepted into our college!”

“Two gold medals? That’s just alright. I remember a senior who also used to be Dr. Young’s student. She won four gold medals for the Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Computing Olympiads. I think her name was Mi… Mi- something.”

“Okay, time’s up, chop chop!” Matthew suddenly said, interrupting the students. “You guys can go back now.”

“Oh, alright. We’ll be leaving now, Dr. Young.”

“Alright.”

After the students left, the student who’d spoken up earlier hung his head and asked, “Sol, did I say something wrong? Why did Dr. Young and Dr. Sanchez look kind of angry?”

Solomon didn’t know either. He was also puzzled.

Meanwhile, back in the room, Matthew said, “They didn’t mean to bring it up. Don’t think too much about it.”

BONUS

Christine waved her hand at him. However, she couldn’t stop her lips from trembling or her eyes from brimming with tears. Eventually, she couldn’t stand it anymore and let the tears trickle down her face.

“She was such a prodigee with so much potential… She shouldn’t have! But why… why didn’t she cherish her talent?

Matthew tried comforting her. “Don’t get all worked up-”

“Matt, do you know what she told me the last time we met? She said she was giving everything up for love! Ha! Love? She doesn’t even know how much she hurt me…”

Miranda stood outside the door, clutching the insulated container in her hands. She couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down her face either.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Young,” she thought.

Ultimately, Miranda didn’t manage to work up the courage to go in.

Instead, she left the container of food at the nurses‘ station and said, “This is ” for Dr. Christine Young. Please help me give it to her. Thank you.”

“But you haven’t registered yet–hey! Why are you running away?”

Miranda ran all the way down to the hospital exit and took in mouthfuls of the fresh air outside. However, she still wasn’t able to get rid of the guilt wracking her from the inside.

“Miranda?”

A tall young woman with long hair and exquisite makeup strutted toward Miranda in her high heels, wearing a suit dress and holding a Lady Dior bag in her hands. She looked like a classy intellectual.

She was Tina Johnson, Hansel’s younger sister.

“Oh, it really is you! What are you doing here at the hospital–instead of at home?” Tina asked, looking at the building Miranda had just walked out of.

Luckily, it was just the regular wards and not the gynecologist section. Tina felt relieved on her mother’s behalf.

5/6

+15 BONUS

After all, if Miranda got pregnant and was therefore forced to marry Hansel, Tina and Hansel’s mother, Evelyn Stewart, would probably die of a heart attack.

“Tina,” Miranda greeted, forcing a smile on her face.

“Why are your eyes so red? Did you cry?” Miranda didn’t answer her. “Did you get into an argument with Hans again?”

“No.”

Tina then just assumed that Miranda didn’t want to admit it. She felt rather sorry for the latter. Actually, Tina quite liked Miranda. She was a pretty young lady and had a nice personality.

However, that wasn’t enough for her to marry into the Johnson family, especially since Evelyn was very strict about her future daughter–in–law’s education.

Only the best women who’d graduated with top honors from Ivy Club colleges were worthy enough to marry into the family.

“It must be tiring for you to be with Hans. He’s got a terrible temper. Just hold on, okay?”

Miranda replied, “Actually, we’ve br-”

“I’ve got something to attend to for now, so we’ll save the chat for next time, alright?”

After that, Tina glanced at the time and hurried into the hospital building.

She was there to visit Christine. She’d heard that Christine liked students who knew how to behave, so she’d even dressed up nicely before coming to see her.

This was going to determine if she’d ever get the chance of being offered the combined Master’s and Doctorate program, after all.