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

Listening to the steady thump of his heartbeat, Mirabella's fingers curled slightly. Whether she admitted it or not, this feeling wasn't half bad.

After leaning against him for a bit, she suddenly lifted her head and said casually, "Let's see how you do."

"Let's see how I do?" James looked at her, trying to catch the drift of her words. Was this the breakthrough he'd been hoping for all this time?

Mirabella raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else. On a whim, she leaned down and planted a kiss on his chest.

The moment her lips touched him, James froze, the warmth from her kiss spreading all over, leaving him momentarily speechless.

Mirabella rolled off him, glanced back to see his bathrobe had come undone, and quickly turned away, clearing her throat. She grabbed her phone from the table and made a swift exit from the room.

The click of the door jolted James back to reality. He touched the spot where she'd kissed him, a soft smile playing on his lips, feeling an indescribable joy. Despite the lack of sleep over the past couple of days, he felt rejuvenated, no trace of fatigue.

After lounging around a bit longer, James got up, noticed the slightly torn wound on his side, and shook his head, maybe understanding what it truly meant to be bewitched by beauty. He picked up the bandage from the floor, wrapped it around his waist a few times, and went to the closet to find something to wear.

Soon enough, James made his way downstairs.

...

Mirabella had just set the takeout on the dining table, wondering whether to call him for dinner, when she saw James coming down. She headed to the kitchen and brought out two sets of cutlery.

They ate in comfortable silence, no hint of awkwardness between them.

"Oh, by the way, Nikolai popped by Riverdale. He wanted to grab dinner with you a couple of days ago, but you were busy, so I let him know you couldn't make it," Mirabella remembered as she looked up at James.

"Yeah, I saw your message on Messenger after getting back from the Wildwood.

Is Nikolai doing alright?" James asked.

Mirabella finished her last bite of rice, put down her chopsticks, and replied, "He seemed pretty upbeat."

As if on cue, her phone buzzed with a message from Nikolai. She checked it, her brow furrowing a bit. James noticed and asked, "What's up?"

Holding her phone, she replied, "Nikolai just apologized to me out of the blue."

"Apologized? For what?" James asked, clearly puzzled.

Mirabella shrugged, "I'm not really sure."

She replayed their last meeting in her mind. Besides him being a bit distracted after a phone call, everything seemed normal. She couldn't figure out what warranted an apology.

After mulling it over for a couple of minutes, Mirabella decided to message him

back, asking if something was wrong.noveldrama

But no reply came.

Though it felt odd, Mirabella didn't want to push it, so she tucked her phone away. Once they finished eating, she cleaned the dining table and checked the time. "You should get some rest. I'm heading back to campus," she said.

James didn't have much to say, but he did ask her, "Hang on a sec."

"Hmm?" Mirabella looked at him, curious, but saw he was already heading upstairs. She blinked, choosing to wait downstairs instead of leaving.