When fate plays its hand

More than a year ago, Miranda borrowed Paul’s experimental physics lab, where she met Silas, Sandy, and the rest of the team. Over the course of a few months, they went from strangers to close colleagues and friends.

One day, Silas noticed how unusually fast Miranda was processing the experimental data. Curious, he asked her about it and discovered she was skilled in programming.

She had even developed a small application to help organize their data, with features for classification and sorting across multiple dimensions.

Amazed by her ingenuity, Silas couldn’t help but call her a genius. So, he quickly asked her to create a similar program for their team, and she did. The result was a huge boost in their data management efficiency.

Whenever Silas used the program, he would often remark, “We couldn’t have done this without Miranda.”

Yesterday, the program suddenly crashed. Bryan tried to fix it, but he only made it worse. No one dared to touch it after that, so they had no choice but to ask Miranda for help.

“Do you have time today?” Paul asked. “If not, we can wait a couple of days…

But Silas was more direct. “Eswear… I’ll lose it right now if you don’t get Miranda here.”

He had been to the hospital the day before for medication. It had helped initially, but his stomach started acting up again that night.

When he arrived at the lab that morning, he had to rush to the restroom. By unofficial count, he went six times in a few hours. His words were laced with urgency.

Miranda replied, “I have time. I’ll head over now.”

“Great, I’ll meet you at the campus gate,” Paul said.

She considered saying it wasn’t necessary, but he had already hung up.

Ten minutes later, Miranda met Paul at the gate. The two of them walked while discussing the specific details of the program crash.

He explained, “Yesterday afternoon, the sorting function stopped working. After trying to fix it, we couldn’t export data anymore.”

She thought momentarily before responding, “I can’t say what’s wrong yet. I’ll need to take a look first.”

Upon entering the lab, Silas greeted her as if she were family. “Miranda! You’re finally here!”

“Dr. Quinton, are you feeling any better?” She smiled, acknowledging him with a nod.

“The meds are helping, but it’ll take a few more days to recover fully,” he replied.

“Your test results were fine, right?”

“The doctor said it’s nothing to worry about.”

“That’s a relief.”

Silas led her to the computer. “Paul probably explained the situation. You wouldn’t believe it- since the program crashed, it takes me an hour just to sort the data. My efficiency is in the gutter.”

He added, “Thank goodness you’re here. If this continues, it won’t just be a mess but a disaster.”

Paul subtly cleared his throat to remind Silas to tone it down. noveldrama

Silas looked a bit embarrassed and quickly pulled out a chair. “Here, Miranda. Have a seat.”

“Thank you, Dr. Quinton.” Miranda sat down and immediately began typing.

Within half an hour, she had pinpointed the issue. Fixing the bug wasn’t hard for her, but it would take some time.

!

Paul had ordered lunch and said, “Let’s eat first, then get back to it.” He placed a takeout box beside Miranda.

She turned to him and smiled. “Alright. Thanks, Dr. Jefferson.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied but then paused. “Honestly, there’s no need to be so formal between us.”

Miranda, not catching the slight disappointment in his voice, replied jokingly, “It’s better to be polite. Otherwise, people might say I don’t respect my teacher.”

Paul choked on his words. “… I’m not your teacher.”

As she unwrapped the takeout, she responded without looking up, “You’re pretty close to one, though.”

Paul didn’t answer.

When she lifted the lid, the delicious aroma of the food hit her. To her surprise, it contained her favorite dishes–BBQ pork ribs, shrimp omelet, and stuffed bell peppers. She thanked him again, this time more sincerely.

He still didn’t respond.

After lunch, Miranda returned to the computer and kept working on the program until 5:00 pm. Aside from occasional restroom breaks and brief chats with Silas, Sandy, or Paul, she was utterly absorbed in her task.

“Where’s Bryan?” Miranda asked at one point.

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Silas let out a sigh. “That fool is probably still sulking over his breakup. He’s been taking a lot of leave these past two weeks. He called in again today.”