Independence

Miranda had obviously just woken up. She was wearing pajamas with cartoon bears on them, and the corners of her eyes were still reddish.

She yawned slowly, her reactions slower than usual.

“Did I wake you up?” Paul thought that he might have disturbed her since the old building had poor sound insulation. Footsteps in the hallway could often be heard even if the door closed.

Miranda rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “No, I was already planning to get up anyway. It’s already 6.30 am.”

She was going to accompany Winter’s mother shopping in the afternoon, so she had to get up early to read papers and look for references.

Paul instinctively lowered his voice when he saw that Miranda still looked half–asleep. “It’s still early, you can sleep in a little longer.”

He was about to say more when he noticed Miranda looking at him intently. Taken aback, Paul asked, Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do you have a cold?” Miranda asked back.

Oh! Paul gave her a wry smile. “You noticed that?”

“Your voice sounds a little hoarse. Do you have a fever?”Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.

Paul touched his forehead. “I don’t know… I can’t tell. Probably not.”

Miranda sighed helplessly. “Dr. Jefferson, how could you say that? Is that something a rigorous researcher of science should say?”

Paul chuckled. “I don’t have a thermometer at home…“1

“I have one. You go back home, and I’ll bring it to you in a bit.”

“Alright.”

Miranda turned and went back into her home. She found the thermometer in a drawer. After spraying it with alcohol, she wiped it with a disinfectant wipe before bringing it to Paul’s home.

He was already lying on the sofa.

Normally, Paul was a meticulous man, but now he had even forgotten to take off his slippers. Clearly, he was feeling really unwell.

Miranda quietly approached him and called out softly. Dr. Jefferson? Paul?”

She called him twice, but there was no response. Miranda felt worried and instinctively moved closer. “Dr.

Jefferson?”

Unexpectedly, Paul opened his eyes, and their gazes met.

Paul found himself staring at Miranda’s dainty face that was so close to his

Her eyes were filled with confusion and surprise. Her trembling eyelashes resembled butterflies that were about to take flight.

Each flutter of her eyelashes made his heart skip a beat.

Miranda sighed in relief and handed him the thermometer. “Dr. Jefferson, you should check your temperature. You scared me when you didn’t respond just now.”

“Alright.”

The temperature read 102.2 degrees. Paul was having a high fever.

“You can’t stay like this. You need to go to the hospital, Miranda urged.

Paul waved his hand. “I’ll be fine once I take some medicine.”

“Do o you have any medicine at home?”

“Well… No.”

Miranda sighed again. “I have some at home. I’ll go get it now. I also have some cold medicine that works better when taken with the fever medicine.”

“Thank you.

After making sure Paul took the medicine, Miranda went to wash the cup. When she came out of the kitchen, she saw that Paul was already fast asleep.

She gently covered his body with a blanket and left quietly.

Hansel’s indifference left Ingrid feeling discouraged. It seemed that no matter what she said or did, she was always wrong in his eyes.

Ingrid didn’t dare to provoke him again, but she couldn’t sit back and do nothing while his distaste for her grew. She couldn’t just allow Hansel to drift away from her.

After thinking it over, Ingrid decided to start with Evelyn. She noticed that Hansel still had a lot of respect for Evelyn. Her influence on Hansel was obvious from the fact that she could stay at the mansion.

at the mall before her,

The next day, Ingrid got wind of Evelyn’s schedule from Martha and arrived early at t successfully orchestrating a coincidental encounter.

Evelyn hadn’t been out shopping for a long time. The reason she went out that day was because a sales assistant had called two days ago to inform her that a new collection of bags and clothes had arrived. The sales assistant had invited her to come and take a look.

However, Evelyn hadn’t expected to run into Ingrid. Since they met, they naturally had to shop together.

Ingrid was quite perceptive and offered to pay for the bags that Evelyn fancied.