The Double ( or More ?) Life of The Fake Heiress

The missed calls and several messages were from the same person – Leo’s agent, Collins

Mirabella tapped open Messenger,

Collins: [Mirabella, the schedule for the sports brand commercial shoot is set.

Collins: [It’s tomorrow.]

Collins: [Tomorrow at 10 AM. Can you get the day off? If it’s too much hassle, I can swing by your school and sort it out for you.]

Collins: [You there?]

Mirabella checked the time stamps. The last message was sent half an hour after the previous ones. She pondered for a moment. Taking a day off shouldn’t be a problem, so she replied directly via Messenger. [Had my phone on silent, didn’t notice. Tomorrow should be fine.]

No sooner had she hit send than a little red exclamation mark popped up in the chat box, with a line of text underneath. [Message sent, but rejected by the recipient.]

Mirabella: [?]

Still, that red exclamation mark showed up

Holding her phone, Mirabella was a bit stunned. She looked up, incredulous, and waved her phone in front of James. “Can you make heads or tails of this for me? Was it what she thought it was? Had she been blocked?

James glanced at Mirabella before his eyes settled on her phone screen, only to see the failed message prompt. His gaze then shifted to the nickname at the top. [Collins

Was she texting a guy? Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

James‘ eyes narrowed slightly, his voice cool and subdued. “Looks like he’s blocked you”

A look of ‘I thought as much crossed Mirabella’s face. She was used to blocking others, being on the receiving end was a novel experience.

She took back her phone, clearly miffed. Was she blocked for not replying to a Messenger message right. away? Collins never struck her as the hot–headed type.

James raised an eyebrow and casually asked, “A friend of yours?” He hadn’t seen the message about the commercial shoot at the top.

While closing Messenger and pulling up Collins’s contact, Mirabella answered, “My brother’s agent.” With that, she hit the call button

James, hearing this, said no more, the sharpness in his expression fading away

Soon, the call connected.

“Collins, if you’ve got an issue with me, just spit it out,” said Mirabella, her opening line Her voice held a tinge of frustration but eerily lacked any real displeasure. She wasn’t about to let a little blocking incident cost her the commercial fee. It was just a block, after all. She was easygoing and didn’t hold grudges

Collins, just picking up the call, nearly dropped his phone at her bafflingly ominous greeting. It took him a

10.02

moment to collect his wits. “…No, Mira, have you got the wrong end of the stick about something?” His panic was palpable as if he’d committed some unforgivable sin.

While listening to Collins‘ cautious tone, Mirabella tapped her nose, puzzled for a moment, then explained, “I was out and about, so I had my phone on silent, didn’t see your messages. I just replied to you and found out you rejected my message.

“What? Rejected? That can’t be right, sis. Why would I reject your messages? Collins was utterly confused, then decisively put the call on speaker and started tapping on his phone screen to open

Messenger.

Just as Leo walked out of the music room, he caught Collins‘ words, ‘rejected your message, paused mid–step, then silently turned back and re–entered the music room,