When fate plays its hand

When the rainy season began, the weather turned unpredictable. Yesterday had been sunny, but it drizzled today.

Paul, who hadn’t brought an umbrella, arrived home drenched. He Immediately took a hot shower and changed into his loungewear.

While drying his hair, he noticed the bare mattress and froze. He had thrown out the bed. sheets and quilt covers that day and hadn’t gotten around to replacing them yet. So,

he novelbin

retrieved clean sheets and laid them out.

Paul remembered Miranda mentioning that Lionel had sent some braised beef and pickled to her. She even told him to drop by her home to pick them up.

Paul quickly dried his hair, changed out of his loungewear, and went to knock on the door across the hall. “Miranda? Are you home? Miranda?”

There was no response. He checked his watch and noticed it was already 9:00 pm. She should have returned from the lab by now.

For the next two hours, Paul’s mind kept wandering to the hallway even though he was at home. Every time he heard the slightest noise, he would stop whatever he was doing, get up, and check through the peephole. But it wasn’t her

At 1:00 am, Miranda still hadn’t returned home. He figured she wouldn’t be coming back that night.

Paul turned off the lights and returned to his bedroom. As he lay down, he felt an emptiness inside for some reason. At this point, he didn’t fully realize the seriousness of the situation.

The following morning, he got up early and headed to the lab as usual.

In the evening, he returned home, changed clothes, and went downstairs for his night run. From 8:00 to 10:00 pm, he ran up and down the alley several times but still didn’t see Miranda. So, he waited another hour.

During that time, Paul encountered a few neighbors.

“Hey, Paul. Are you out for your usual night run?” one of them asked.

“You’re in great shape. You should enter the marathon this year. I bet you’d win,” another said.

“You and Miranda are both avid runners in our block. Maybe I should get my son into it, too, to follow your example. By the way, I haven’t seen Miranda today. Where is she?”

Paul’s eyes flickered slightly. “She hasn’t returned home yet.”

“Yeah, she seems pretty busy lately. I haven’t seen her around much. She was free last week,

but you weren’t here…” one of his neighbors said.

“Me?” Paul looked surprised.

“Yeah, Miranda came looking for you a few times I even saw her carrying a big bag of stuff,” another replied.

Paul felt a sudden tightness in his chest. He didn’t linger and quickly headed upstairs. As he walked, he pulled out his phone and opened WhatsApp. “Miranda, are you home yet?”

Ten minutes passed, then half an hour. Time seemed to drag on, and still no reply.

An hour later, his phone finally buzzed with a response. “Dr. Jefferson, is everything alright?”

Paul replied, “Just out for a run. Do you have time?”

She texted. “I’ll be staying at the lab, so I won’t return home for the time being.”

The words sounded familiar to him. He had said the same thing to her once, and now she was throwing them back at him just like how he had spoken them. Like a boomerang, they hit him right where it hurt.

Paul stared at the screen for a long time before typing. “Okay. Take care and rest well. Good night.”

Miranda didn’t reply.

That night, he tossed and turned in bed before finally falling asleep at 2:00 am.

The following morning, Madison yawned as she climbed out of bed. After washing up, getting dressed, and having breakfast, she was ready for work. By the time she donned her lab coat and entered the lab, an hour had passed.

“Miranda… you… Why are you still at the lab bench?” She froze in her tracks, and her eyes widened in surpris

Miranda smiled at her. “Morning.”

“Don’t tell me you stayed up all night,” Madison said flatly.

Oh my god… She thought she was pushing herself hard enough–she went to bed at 10:00 pm and got up right when her 8:00 am alarm went off without hitting the snooze button. But apparently, someone was even more dedicated than her.

She thought, “Ugh, no way! Miranda is always this diligent.”