After a moment''s hesitation, Mirabe shoved theptop into Meg''s arms with a grin. "You know what? You go first. I''m too nice to push anyone around."


    Meg just blinked, speechless.


    The others around them simply exchanged nces.


    Holding theptop, it took Meg a second to snap back to reality. She settled into a chair, fumbling a bit with Wade''s custom-built machine before she finally located the right software.


    To steer clear of any awkward vibes, Mirabe dragged a chair over and plopped herself down on Wade''s right, not a hint of hesitation in her demeanor.


    Zane, watching this unfold, just sighed and turned away, clearly not keen on witnessing Mirabe''s antics.


    With no armrests on her chair, Mirabe let her hands restzily on herp, tapping her index finger at a leisurely pace. She leaned her head slightly. "Hey... Wade, maybe you should hit up the doc for a check-up sometime."


    Wade''s temples were throbbing now. "I just did one a few months ago!"


    "Oh, well, why not another?" Mirabe replied, nodding like she was dead serious. Wade, not in the mood for a back-and-forth, waved her off. "Worry about yourself." Mirabe, seeing his reaction, let it be and leaned back, waiting for Meg to wrap things up.


    About twenty minutester, without even ncing at Meg''s screen, Mirabe casually remarked, "Wade''s the fairest guy around. Just hand over your results to him for the final check."


    Wade couldn''t help but think, You''re really good at delegating, aren''t you?


    Just as Meg finished creating a data chain from her simtion, Mirabe''s authoritative tone made her fingers twitch on the touchpad, almost wiping out her work.


    Taking a steadying breath, Meg stood up with theptop and walked over to Wade. She nodded politely and handed him theptop. "Wade, if you could please take a look at this."


    Wade lifted his gaze slightly, his expression serious, a stark contrast to theid- back vibe he had with Mirabe. He nodded and took theptop.


    Seeing this, Meg felt a pang of frustration. She nced over at Mirabe, who was idly ying with her fingers, head down, and felt a wave of unfairness wash over her.


    What does she have that makes Wade treat her differently?


    Not particrly polite or charming, yet everyone seemed to protect her like she was something precious.


    Zane did.


    Their department''s Linden did too.


    And now Wade as well.


    It was mind-boggling. Since the semester started, there wasn''t any buzz about her achieving anything noteworthy.


    Feeling the heat of Meg''s re, Mirabe lifted her head slightly, a casual smile ying on her lips, her eyes sparkling with mischief.


    Meg quickly looked away, making no effort to hide her dislike for Mirabe.


    Mirabe just shrugged, lowering her head again, clearly bored.


    Meanwhile, Wade had finishedparing the data on theptop. He saved the work without a word and handed theptop back to Mirabe.


    Wade was intrigued by Zane''s mention of Mirabe whipping up a 3D simtion in just a few minutes, so he leaned in to watch her work after giving her theptop.


    Two minutester, Wade was left bewildered as he watched...


    Besides feeling a little dizzy, he got nothing else out of it.


    Mirabe exported the data chain she generated, then seamlessly imported it into anotherparison tool. Theputer''s database flickered for a bit, and soon enough, a green "100% match" notification popped up.