The Double or more Life of the Fake Heiress (Mirabella) novel Chapter 313

The cash transfer fiasco had been bad enough the night before, but now, with the onslaught of study material, Mirabella was pretty sure her sibling bond with Zach was hanging by a thread. She took a deep breath and managed to force a smile. "It's fine. This is enough. No need to dig around for more."

"Okay," Nick let out a sigh of relief, then added, "I’ll mail these back to you later."

Mirabella averted her gaze, noncommittally mumbling an "Mhm" as she did.

Nick moved the boxes to a corner of the room, his pale face looking even more ghostly under the artificial light.

Mirabella eyed Nick thoughtfully. On the drive over, his assistant mentioned to her that Nick's place was a fortress of solitude, only ever breached by his therapist and rarely anyone else. The guy was a total research junkie, often locking himself away in his lab for weeks, even months, without coming up for air.

Regaining her composure, Mirabella sipped her drink and casually struck up a new topic, "Nick, do you live here all by yourself?"

"Yeah," Nick replied. A thought seemed to strike him, and leaning against the wall, he turned to Mirabella, "How did your competition go today?"

"Not bad, just made it to the finals," Mirabella answered with modesty.

Nick hadn't followed the event but nodded in appreciation, "Oh, that's pretty impressive."

To avoid an awkward silence, Nick pulled out his phone. "What's the name of the competition? Can I look it up online?"

Mirabella shrugged, "I'm not really sure. There is news about the domestic ones, but I haven't checked for international ones."

Nick brought over two sets of cutlery, and after Mirabella asked which set was hers, she grabbed it and sat at the opposite end of the rectangular table. Considering the logistics required to reach for dishes, she just took one dish for herself. "Nick, this portion is fine for me."

Nick was confused. Was there something a bit off with his sister? Throughout dinner, Nick couldn't help but glance at Mirabella sitting at the far end of the table. It was certainly an unusual way to share a meal.

After dinner, with plenty of evening left, Nick didn't rush Mirabella back to her hotel. Instead, he turned on the TV and settled on the couch.

Mirabella came out of the bathroom and saw Nick sitting there. Walking over, she very considerately chose the spot farthest from him to sit down.

Nick silently observed her. Here was this keeping distance thing again.