When fate plays its hand

Chapter 0787

Miranda blinked in confusion.

Paul chuckled. “Does it sound a little far–fetched? Just wait until you meet him. You’ll see for yourself.”

Ten minutes later, a tall figure appeared before them. “Hey, Paul!”

Miranda looked up, and even though she thought she was prepared, her eyes widened in

shock.

This wasn’t just unconventional. It was beyond anything she had expected!

The man standing in front of her didn’t look like an elderly professor at all. His casual outfit included a GAP hoodie, Levi’s jeans, and a Moncler down jacket slung over his arm. A baseball cap covered his graying hair, and dark sunglasses hid his slightly weathered eyes.

There was no way to gauge his age from his appearance.

No wonder Paul had described him as “young at heart and liked keeping up with the trends “. The man was the epitome of fashion–forward!

“Owen, it’s great to see you again.” Paul stood up, smiling as he shook Owen’s hands before turning to Miranda, who also stood up.

“This is my friend, Miranda. And this, Miranda, is Dr. Owen Hendricks.”

Miranda quickly greeted him. “Hello, Dr. Hendricks.”

“Hi there, young lady! Sit down, sit down! No need to be so formal. I’m not one of those stuffy old academics who demands respect. Let’s just enjoy our coffee and have a chat like friends.”

During the conversation, Miranda learned that Owen was from Sackville, which explained his impressive height.

She quickly moved to the point. “Dr. Hendricks, here’s the situation. Recently, two classmates and I formed a team to participate in this year’s National Collegiate Life Sciences Competition. The results were announced yesterday, and, to our dismay, we didn’t win

any awards.

“Now, I’d like to retrieve our submitted project report. However, I’ve, tried contacting both the college and the organizers, and I haven’t received any response.

“I understand you’ve served as a judge for competitions like this before, so I wanted to ask -would requesting our project report after the fact be considered a reasonable request?”

Owen raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You don’t need to apply for that. According to the rules, all project reports are returned to their respective teams after the evaluation is

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Chapter 0787

completed. My students who participated this year have already received their reports. Why haven’t you?”

Miranda was stunned. “They’re supposed to return them? But… we truly haven’t received anything.”

Owen’s tone was firm. “That’s impossible. As far as I know, the evaluation was completed by mid–January. According to standard procedure, the reports are sent back to the teams shortly thereafter.

“Some students received theirs as early as a week ago, and the rest should have received them this week.”

Miranda thought back carefully. There truly hadn’t been any delivery notifications in the past two weeks. To be sure, she called Madison and Sebastian on the spot to confirm. Both of them said they hadn’t received any couriered documents either.

Owen frowned thoughtfully. “It might be worth checking with your college’s

administrative office again. During the holidays, staffing is often reduced, and delays in receiving couriers are possible.”

“Understood,” Miranda replied, her expression becoming increasingly pensive.

As silence settled between them, Paul tried to keep the atmosphere light by chatting with Owen while keeping an eye on Miranda’s thoughtful demeanor out of the corner of his eye.