When fate plays its hand

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Paul glanced at the clock on the wall and belatedly realized how inappropriate the hour was. His ears turned red almost instantly, but he maintained a serious expression.

“Not tonight, then. Let’s… go tomorrow night instead. How about that?”

“Sure,” Miranda agreed with a nod.

“Are you heading to the lab tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“What time are you leaving?”

“Around 8:00 am. Why, Dr. Jefferson?”

“We can go together. I’ll bring breakfast–those breakfast bagels and black coffee from the stall by the campus gate. I remember you said they were good.”

“Okay, that’d be great. Thanks, Dr. Jefferson!” Miranda didn’t refuse.

“Well… it’s getting late, so I’ll head home now.”

“Alright.” Miranda walked him to the door.

Paul turned back. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

For some reason, Miranda thought even the way he closed the door seemed unusually cheerful. After Paul left, Miranda went to bed and quickly fell asleep, drifting into a peaceful slumber.

Next door, Paul’s experience was the complete opposite. After returning home, he was so inexplicably excited that he couldn’t sleep at all.

Cousin? He was her cousin!

Every time he thought about it, his lips couldn’t help curling into a grin, no matter how hard he tried to stop.

By the time the clock struck 1:00 am, and he was still wide awake, he gave up trying to sleep entirely. He got up, turned on his computer, and worked on his paper.

It wasn’t until 3:00 am that he finally lay down, but by 6:00 am, he was wide awake again.

Then, at 7:30 am, Paul left to buy breakfast. And he knocked on Miranda’s door on time at 8:00 am sharp.

“Dr. Jefferson, good morning.”

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“Morning,” Paul replied while handing over the breakfast. “Here, eat while the bagel’s still hot.”

“Thank you.” Miranda accepted it and asked, “Are you leaving now?”

Paul nodded.

“Let’s go together, then?”

“Sure.”

By 9:00 am, Silas arrived at the lab. After donning his lab coat, he remembered Paul’s odd behavior the previous day and decided to offer him more advice.

Sure enough, as he entered the lab area, he spotted Paul standing at his workstation. He was throwing himself into work with an almost mechanical determination.

“Hey,” Silas walked over, “Paul, don’t take it too hard. Your health comes first.”

“I’m not,” Paul replied.

“Look at you. You confessed everything yesterday and are still pretending otherwise?”

Silas teased.

“I’m not pretending.”

“Then why-“Silas took a closer look and noticed Paul’s face.

Goodness, the guy was smiling so much it was almost blooming into a flower. “What’s going on? Wait… did you go back and confess last night?”

Paul hesitated before replying, “No…”

“Then why are you making that disgusting face?”

“It was just a misunderstanding.”

“Huh?”

Paul clarified, “Everything was explained. It was all a misunderstanding.”

“Alright, whatever makes you happy.”

“Once everyone arrives, let them know to meet in the conference room.”

Silas asked, “For what?”

“You’ll find out during the meeting.”

At 9:20 am, they all had gathered inside the conference room. Then, under everyone’s

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curious gaze, Paul pulled out a thick stack of documents.

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“What’s this?” Silas leaned in, flipping through a few pages. In the next second, his jaw practically hit the floor.

“This… this is…”

“Dr. Quinton, what’s going on? Don’t scare us like that!”

Silas turned a few more pages and realized the stack contained plans for 12 new research projects.

“Paul, don’t tell me you came up with all of this last night!”

Paul nodded, calm as ever. “The last project should be completed before the year ends. These are the upcoming research directions and proposed new topics. Take a look, discuss, and if there are no objections, let’s finalize them and begin implementation.”

The others immediately crowded around the stack.

Sandy gasped, “Am I hearing this right? Future research plans? Oh my God! The year just started!”

Bryan swallowed nervously. “Face it, Sandy. It’s real.”

He glanced at the thickness of the stack. Without even flipping through, he could tell…

“This many projects? Looks like we’ll have enough work to keep us busy for the next two or three years.”

Silas stood in stunned silence.

What on earth did Paul consume last night to come back so recharged?

Sure, his spirit had recovered, but now everyone else was going to pay the price!

Silas mentally cursed himself for offering advice earlier. He should’ve let Paul stay in his funk instead of unleashing this storm of workload on them.

By early February, good news arrived. The National Collegiate Life Sciences Competition was set to announce the winners on its official website!

Madison was eagerly anticipating the results, and she grabbed her laptop. At precisely 10: 00 am, she opened the site to check the list.

However, the influx of visitors caused the page to load painfully slowly, leaving them staring at a blank screen for what felt like forever.

Miranda and Sebastian joined her, leaning in to watch.

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Madison was brimming with confidence about their team’s project. “I have a good feeling -we’re definitely getting the grand prize!”

Miranda chuckled. “So confident, huh?”

Sebastian glanced at her and noted her calm demeanor. Despite her words, Miranda didn’t look the least bit unsure.

Madison grinned. “If we win the grand prize, let’s go out for a big celebratory meal. Deal?”

Sebastian smirked. “You just want an excuse to eat, don’t you?”

Madison was speechless. Sebastian truly didn’t have to expose her like that! She then huffed while rolling her eyes.

Just then, the webpage finally loaded.

Madison immediately clicked on the winners‘ list. “Wow, there are quite a few groups that won the grand prize nationwide. Let’s see where we are…”

She scanned the list twice, carefully reading every name from top to bottom, but couldn’t find their group listed.

What was even more shocking? Yasmine’s group was prominently featured as one of the grand prize winners.