The elevator stopped on the sixteenth floor, and when the doors opened, there was only a passageway in front, with doors on both sides tightly shut. Shea Thorne was looking for the room number Ariana Thorne had given her earlier, but there was no such room on this floor.
It was clear that Miles Crawford had given Ariana the wrong room number on purpose to mess with her.
Shea didn't know a single person here, and to make matters worse, many rooms didn't even have windows, and some rooms had three doors, making it impossible to locate Miles.
She called Miles, but he still wouldn't pick up.
Why doesn't he answer? Wouldn't it be better if he just blocked her?
Shea thought with resignation. The relationship between these two was peculiar—Miles clearly disliked Shea from a glance, but he still kept her number, keeping her in limbo.
Normally, if you dislike someone, wouldn't you just delete and block them? Miles really was a piece of trash; calling him a scumbag would be a compliment.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on this. Shea had to find Miles first and get her violin back.
Behind her, Milo Sinclair leisurely followed her around, having intentionally tagged along from the start, watching her anxiously searching for a place but not offering any help.
Shea immediately understood, turning around and using her sweet looks to their fullest, looking innocent and vulnerable. She said, "Mr. Sinclair, I want to..."
Before she could finish, Milo interrupted her, saying, "Name."
He didn't seem to mind the "five-year-old" boundary she mentioned before. Why wasn't he taking her seriously? he should have minded, right?
Ariana didn't understand, but Shea did—he liked her, and this was him showing tolerance, pursuing her.
So she opened her mouth and said, "Ar...ia... Shea Thorne."
When Shea got to the second syllable of "Ariana," Ariana herself protested against revealing her name to Milo, forcing Shea to say her own name.
Who knew, Milo extended his hand in front of her, saying, "Which three characters?"
He was teasing her on purpose!
Ariana felt like he was insulting and offending her, like a playboy flirting with girls, and anger welled up in her, wanting to call him a jerk. But Shea knew he genuinely saw her as a little girl, deliberately teasing her with an old joke.
However, in the interest of her violin, she didn't mind putting on a bashful act, extending her finger to write her name in the palm of his hand.
Shea Thorne.
Her nails had cute little pink flowers painted on them. As she wrote, her sharp nails scratched against his palm, Milo squinted, the sensation making his heart go wild, and he looked at her hair, fixated on her pink butterfly hair tie.
"Can you tell me now? I'm looking for Miles Crawford from the graduate program."
Shea smiled sweetly while writing her name, studying the lines in Milo's palm. She came up with an idea. Ariana had only ever had eyes for Miles, never seeing any other man, including her father and brother.
But now there's Milo, an exceptionally qualified man. Maybe she should force Ariana to experience love with someone else, to understand that love shouldn't be about pining in vain, and perhaps her obsession with Miles would lessen.
No matter the method, for her freedom to make friends and future reputation, she had to try.
Good men are rare, but any man better than Miles would do.
"Through the third door from here, after you enter, take the right door, he's inside." Milo didn't waste time and directly told her where Miles was.
"Thank you, goodbye." Having come up with a plan, Shea happily thanked him.
The girl suddenly burst into joy, turned around, and skipped off, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Milo watched her leave, the sensation in his palm still vivid. Observing this girl, he suspected she might be Miles' girlfriend.
What a pity, finally met one.
...
Shea knocked on the door three times, a cold voice from inside said, "Come in."
She opened the door to see that it wasn't a lab but rather a crowded office. Ariana immediately controlled her emotions, full of girlish affection, noticing Miles wasn't working inside but was changing his clothes, seemingly about to leave.
"Miles..." Shea said in a lovestruck voice, a sound that made her skin crawl, as Ariana took over.
Miles heard someone calling him, turned around while adjusting his collar, and saw Ariana standing there. He frowned and asked, "What are you doing here?"
Then he noticed the lunchbox she was holding and said, "I'm not having dinner. You should go."
"I... I'm here to get my violin." Ariana and Shea switched in an instant. Couldn't she see that he disliked her?
She should grab her violin and leave quickly to avoid being labeled as a lovesick fool.
When Miles heard she was there to get the violin, his expression showed undisguised disdain, he pointed behind the door at the upright cello case and said, "It's over there! Stop playing these stupid games. Next time you ask Jonah Bell to do such things, I won't keep it for you, I'll just throw it out!"
Shea understood what he meant and asked, "You think I asked Jonah to give you the violin case on purpose, don't you?"
Anger surged within her, not allowing anyone to insult her violin: "Don't worry! I will absolutely never...!!!"
Never come again!!!
Before finishing her sentence, Ariana took over again!
She was truly fed up!
She heavily placed the lunchbox she brought on Miles' desk, turned to pick up the violin case behind the door, and was about to leave when the sound of a phone ringing echoed—it was Miles' phone.
Shea stopped in her tracks, mocking Ariana: Hear that? His phone has a ringtone, he just doesn't want to see you.
This pierced too deeply, a sting rising in her heart, Shea clutched her heart, unable to hold the violin case, which fell to the ground with a clatter. Shea leaned against the door frame, taking deep breaths to ease the pain.
"Hello, Master, I've completed this experiment report..." Miles saw she was unwell but chose to ignore it, finishing his phone call: "Alright, please hold on a moment, I'll bring the report to you right away."
After hanging up, Miles sifted through a pile of documents on the desk, searching for the one he needed for his mentor. At the door, he faced Shea and said, "If you're not feeling well, just go home early, don't wander around alone at night."
Fearing that Ariana might wait for him as she used to, he added, "I'm going to be a while, you should leave first, don't distract me and get in my way!"
Having said that, he took the document and disappeared at the end of the hallway.
Shea retreated, letting Ariana take over, to let her witness Miles leaving and feel the despair.
Shea: He's a medical student, he vowed to save lives. You're not feeling well, and his first reaction isn't to check your symptoms, he doesn't care, and tells you to go home alone, and you still like him?!
But Ariana was calm, telling Shea: It's okay, he just has something more important than me.
Shea immediately gave up. How could she forget that Ariana was the self-proclaimed strongest devotee on earth, how could she back down easily?
Since she couldn't provoke her, Shea took a few deep breaths to feel better, picked up the violin case, and started to head back.
Take it slowly, there has to be a way.
...
Just came downstairs, out of the hall.
Shea's chest pain hadn't fully dissipated. Feeling unbalanced, it wasn't her who chose to be reborn as Ariana, so why should she feel the pain?
She walked into the grove beside Jenson Hall, sitting on a wooden bench by the woods, carefully recalling Ariana's life, struggling to find any reason for her connection to Miles.
She had only watched a short video and knew the brief overview, knew nothing about the original story's progression, and had only fragmented memories of past lifetimes as a devotee.
Ariana's feelings for Miles were a mystery to her.