Asher furrowed his brow as he nced at his father’s cell phone <b>and </b><b>said</b>, “Dad, were you just on the line


    with that girl?”


    He just couldn’t wrap his head around it. That girl was just good at mixing remedies, wasn’t she? So howe, in his dad’s eyes, she had suddenly be a jack–of–all–trades? And now he even wanted to call her over to y doctor? This was just too far–fetched.


    “What girl? Haven’t I told you to address her as your mentor?” Niki retorted with exasperation.


    Asher shook his head, bemused. “What do you need her for? Can she really cure all ailments?” He believed Mirabe probably knew a thing or two about medicine, but… a teenage girl fixing what even his own father couldn’t? Yeah, right.


    Niki had long noticed his son’s bias against Mirabe. No matter how much he tried to convince him, Asher just wouldn’t buy it. The more he talked, the more impatient the boy got, so he simply said, “Whatever you’re thinking, keep it to yourself in front of Mirabe. Offend her, and you’ll live to regret it.”


    Asher scoffed dismissively, not wanting to discuss Mirabe any further, and nced at his watch. “My brother should be getting home soon. I’ll wait for him at the door,” When his brother arrived, Asher definitely needed to have a serious talk with him about Donald’s current muddled state to prevent him from being duped.


    Niki’s expression softened considerably, and he waved his hand. “Off you go.”


    –


    After dismissing his son, he gestured for the butler to also wait at the entrance, not for his eldest, but for Mirabe.


    Twenty minutester, Mirabe’s taxi pulled up in front of the Reeves family estate. She paid the fare and stepped out of the car.


    The butler, waiting at the entrance, approached her with a smile stered on his face and said politely. “Ms. Mirabe, wee.”


    “Thank you,” Mirabe nodded in acknowledgment.


    The butler, in his fifties, had been groomed by Niki himself and had met all sorts of people. Unlike Asher, he did not look down on others with arrogance or prejudice. He could tell that the young woman. before him must possess some remarkable skills; otherwise, Niki wouldn’t hold her in such high regard. Besides, just looking at her, there was aposed sharpness in her eyes that set her apart from the ordinary, seemingly innocuous but with an inscrutable underlying depth.


    The butlerposed himself, saying, “Mr. Niki is waiting for you inside. Please, follow me.”


    “Please lead the way,” she replied, her tone courteous yet detached.


    The butler nodded and gestured for Mirabe to walk ahead, treating her with the utmost respect. Leaning against the door, still waiting for his brother, Asher caught sight of the butler’s subservient demeanor, and his lips curled into a sneer. Even the butler had lost his marbles.


    As Mirabe approached, Asher, with his arms crossed, suddenly threw out ament, “Ms. Mirabe, don’t you have sses to attend?”


    The remark caused the butler walking behind Mirabe to stiffen slightly and cleared his throat with a


    cough.


    Before Mirabe even stepped foot inside, Asher was already making unweing remarks, which went against the family’s code of hospitality – especially <b>since </b>Ms. Mirabe was a guest invited by Niki himself.


    Mirabe paused for a moment, her cool demeanor unchanged as her gaze met Asher’s. With a calm and collected voice, she replied, “That’s the perks of being top of the ss.”


    “Cough, Ms. Mirabe, perhaps we should head inside, the butler interjected, fearing Asher might say something else out of line. He quickly stepped forward to lead the way.