Harold looked at his assistant, his expression grave. "I need you to do something for me."


    "What is it?" the assistant asked, his eyes wide with confusion.


    "Go back to Australis and get a strand of my father''s hair."


    Harold traced the scar on his chest, thinking back over the years. His father would often stare at him in a daze, as if looking through him at someone else. His mother''s eyes always held a deep sadness. And then there was his wife, Lorelei...


    The thought of her made his mind falter, aplex emotion shing in his eyes before disappearing.


    "Get his hair?" The request seemed bizarre, but the assistant nodded. He''d long thought that Harold and his father, Faulkner Houston, looked nothing alike. Oh no. Could Dr. Houston be the product of his mother''s affair? That would exin Faulkner''s terrible attitude towards him.


    ...


    Two dayster, the assistant rushed back to Era City with a hair plucked from Faulkner''s head.


    "How is everyone at home?" Harold asked calmly as he ced both hair samples into the analysis machine. "Is my mother''s health alright?"


    "Your parents are both fine," the assistant replied respectfully. He nced at Harold''s stoic face and added, "And your wife is doing well, too."


    Harold looked up sharply. "Who asked about her?"


    The assistant fell silent. Weren''t they talking about family? As his wife, wasn''t she family? He knew their marriage was forced and loveless, destined to end in divorce. That''s why he had been hopeful when Dr. Houston seemed interested in Ms. Payne. But it seemed he was just a little toote.


    "Dr. Houston," the assistant said, changing the subject, "what will you do if it turns out you and Faulkner aren''t rted?"


    "We''ll see when the resultse in," Harold replied, his gaze distant as he looked out the window. Regardless of the oue, his mother had always been kind to him, providing him with a good life and a fine education. He just wanted to know the whole truth.


    "One more thing," Harold added after a moment. "Run a detailed background check on Juniper."


    The more time he spent with her, the stronger the feeling of familiarity became.


    ...


    With less than two weeks until the exams, every student was cramming, memorizing textbooks even while they ate.


    Recently, J had started joining Juniper for lunch, using the time to ask questions about topics she didn''t understand. Juniper agreed. While everyone else was studying frantically, she didn''t need to While they were memorizing, she had nothing to do. Even Qadir was too Busy studying to hang out with her. So, she weed J''spany. It was a good way to pass the time; otherwise, she''d just sleep, and her neck was getting sore.


    "Wow," J eximed, looking at Juniper, who was casually sketcking while sucking on a lollipop. "Juniper, your way of solving problems is so unique!" She understood the Concepts in just a few moments


    "What was your score on thest physics quiz?" Juniper asked.


    "Ny-one," J replied with a bright smile, holding up ten fingers. "I improved by ten points!"


    Her teacher had said she''d be lucky to maintain an eighty. After Juniper''s tutoring, she felt she could do even better.


    "I''m going to get a perfect score too," J dered, pumping her little fist. "And if I don''t, I''ll just dere it again!"


    Juniper chuckled, amused by her spirit.


    "You''re smiling, Juniper," J said, tugging on her arm. "You look so pretty when you smile. You should do it more often."