Seeing this, James disyed remarkable patience as he bent down to tuck her in. As he withdrew his hand, the next moment, it was caught by Mirabe, who pressed it against her chest, whispering, "...Don''t leave."


    The murmured voice, like that of an abandoned child, instinctively made one''s heart ache.


    James''s fingers tightened slightly. Although he didn''t catch her exact words, he could guess their meaning.


    He sighed softly and sat back down by the bed, then looked up at Marian and said, "I''ll wait until she falls asleep before I leave."


    Marian nodded in understanding and soon left the room with discretion.


    Suddenly, it was just the two of them left in the room.


    James shifted his gaze back to Mirabe, noticing her furrowed brows. He gently smoothed out the tension between her eyebrows with his other hand until her breathing became even and her expression rxed. Only then did he retract his hand.


    **


    The next morning, Mirabe woke up early.


    Staring at the ceiling, her mind was nk for a moment.


    Not until the memories of the previous night returned did Mirabe blink and ponder. Although she wasn''t quite sure how she got home, nothing exceedingly improper seemed to have happened in her recollection.


    Mirabe let out a heavy sigh, though she had to admit her tolerance for alcohol was indeed pitiful.


    Rubbing her temples, Mirabe got out of bed, grabbed a set of clean clothes, and headed for the bathroom.


    After freshening up, she went downstairs.


    Marian was in the kitchen making oatmeal. Seeing Mirabe up, she poured her a cup of hot tea, "Ms. Mirabe, you''re awake. Do you feel unwell anywhere?"


    Mirabe thanked her while holding the cup, "I''m fine, thank you for your effortsst night."


    Marian shook her head with a smile, rifying, "It wasn''t me. Your friend was the one taking care of you; I didn''t do much."


    Hearing this, Mirabe fell silent for a few seconds before asking, "I didn''t go on a drunken rampagest night, did I?"


    "There was none of that," Marian replied.


    Mirabe breathed a sigh of relief.


    However, Marian soon added, "But you were holding onto your friend''s hand all night, and he didn''t leave until after 1 a.m."


    A twitch appeared at the corner of Mirabe''s lips. She had held onto James''s hand without letting go?


    Marian must have been mistaken!


    She couldn''t have done such a thing!


    Mirabe walked away with an impassive face, holding her cup of tea, refusing to acknowledge such an embarrassing behavior.


    At that moment, her phone rang from her pocket.


    The sudden sound made Mirabe''s temples throb reflexively. After a few


    seconds, she slowly took out her phone.


    Seeing it was a call from Zane, her tension eased as she answered the call.


    "Mirabe, your paper was quite


    impressive I''ve already submitted it to the SSC, and we should hear back about the review in about five days. But I think it stands a great chance of being epted," Zane''s cheerful voice came through.


    Good thing she hadn''t believed his nonsense about not knowing how to write papers. The one she sent him yesterday was indeed brilliantly written, on par with those published in SSCI journals.


    With her eyshes lowered, still caught up in Marian''s words, Mirabe


    responded to Zane without much emotion, "That''s great."


    Zane''s mouth twitched, choosing to ignore Mirabe''sck of


    enthusiasm as he continued, "Oh, and I forgot to mentionst time, the patent for the system you worked on has been approved. You should receive the patent certificate in a few months."