When fate plays its hand
When fate plays its hand 1015

Chapter 1015

Chapter 1015

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Miranda had no idea what Paul and Christine discussed in the study, but she wasn’t just sitting around. During that time, she and Olivia prepared meat filling together and made nearly a hundred meatballs to freeze for later.

Olivia said, “Great! Dr. Young loves the filling you make, and these will be more than enough for her to enjoy for a while.”

Miranda replied, “Next time, let’s try using lettuce instead

“Great idea. I’ll make sure to get both the meat and lettuce ready,” Olivia said excitedly.

After they finished tidying up the kitchen, Paul and Christine came out of the study.

“It’s getting late, so I won’t keep you. You should head back now,” she said.

“Goodbye, Dr. Young.”

“Take care on the road, and drive safely,” Christine reminded them.

Paul and Miranda each drove their own cars, so they met in the garage.

After parking, she went straight to the trunk. “Dr. Jefferson come over here,” she called, and the trunk popped open.

He walked over to her.

Miranda explained the metal box’s origin to Paul. “Dr. Young said these are gifts from your ex–classmates. She’s kept them all these years, so now it’s time to return them to the rightful owners.”

He looked at the box thoughtfully before glancing at her. “Did you open it?”

“I only took a peek when Dr. Young opened it, but I didn’t touch anything inside. Why?”

“No reason.” Paul shook his head.

He stepped forward and picked up the box, which wasn’t heavy at all. It contained only a few gift boxes, mostly greeting cards and postcards packed in envelopes. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for all the gifts from his classmates to fit into such a small box.

They went up to the seventh floor and stopped in front of Paul’s apartment door. Since he was holding the box, it was inconvenient to unlock the door, so Miranda reached into his pocket to grab the keys.

“It’s open,” she said while slipping the key back into his pocket.

Just as Miranda was about to open her own door, Paul suddenly spoke up. “Mimi.”

“Hm?” She paused and turned to face him. “What’s up?”

“Do you want to… come over to my place…”

She shot him a quizzical glance.

Paul quickly clarified, “I just thought you might want to sit for a while and… maybe take a look at the stuff in the box with me. It’s nothing else, really. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

Miranda chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m good. But since these are gifts from someone else to you, I’ll pass. Good night.” She smiled, opened the door, and waved at him before heading inside.

Paul responded, “Good night.” He walked into his apartment with the box and looked a little downcast.

Chapter 1015

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Sitting on the couch, he opened the box, and the first thing he saw was a pink box wrapped in satin ribbon and tied into a bow. It was clear someone had put a lot of thought into decorating it. One side of the box had the name Emilia Quimby” written on it in black ink.

Paul couldn’t help but remember his earlier conversation with Christine.

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“Ugh, my bad! Earlier, when Miranda saw your graduation photo, she asked about Emilia. I didn’t know you two were together, so I ended up telling her some of those old rumors.”

He blinked in surprise. “Rumors?”

Christine looked shocked. “You didn’t know about them?”

Paul raised an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to? Do they involve me?”

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She went on to explain some of the “rumors” about him and Emilia. “It’s been so long that I don’t remember all the details, but they used to say you two were the perfect couple–handsome and smart, the best–looking pair at Bedford College, the ‘Smiths couple of the academic world.”

Paul stared in confusion. “Me and Emilia?” He was completely stunned. “No way! That’s absurd!”

• Christine replied, “I can’t believe you’ve never heard anything about it. I thought at least you’d caught wind of the rumors.”

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