Book To Read
Chapter 338
At dusk
As soon as Mirabella arrived home, she noticed the new surveillance cameras mounted by the front door and several infrared scanners placed high on the walls. Raising an eyebrow, she swiftly approached the devices. Those guys’s movements were efficient.
In the house, she paused at the smart home system installed in the foyer, tapping the screen with her fingertip.
Shawn, who had been leading the way, saw his daughter examining the security panel and circled back. “Oh, I forgot to mention. A couple of guys came by this afternoon to upgrade the security system.”
“Mm–hmm,” Mirabella responded, retracting her hand from the device.
“This new system has more bells and whistles than the old one I installed, but I’ll be darned if I can figure out half of them,” Shawn confessed, with a hint of frustration in his voice. The technicians had only shown him the basics, and after an entire afternoon fiddling with the app. he was still none the wiser. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
Hearing this, Mirabella raised an eyebrow. “Let’s go inside. I’ll show you how it works.”
“Alright.”
Shawn nodded and followed his daughter into the living room. Sitting down, he pulled out his phone, launched the app, and showed her a few features, saying, “See these? I haven’t dared to mess with them.”
Mirabella took the phone and began explaining the functions in simple terms. Twenty minutes later, she pressed her hand to her forehead, realizing that she might have overestimated her father’s technical savvy.
Shawn glanced at his daughter sheepishly. “Am I just too old–fashioned for this stuff?”
Mirabella sighed inwardly at his careful demeanor. “No, it’s not you. It’s the software – it’s too complicated,” she replied, keeping a straight face.
Shawn immediately felt vindicated. “Right?! I knew it was too complicated. Your mother insists I’m just being dense.”
Mirabella silently nodded, letting the matter drop.
“If I were dense, would I have a brilliant daughter like you?” Shawn puffed up with pride.
Mirabella sighed. Fine, if that was what you wanted to believe.
Two days later, the three boxes of review materials Nick had sent arrived. Mirabella got
Jenna’s home address and forwarded one of the boxes to her place. It was a local courier
1131
service, so it would be delivered the same day.
The Powell family had invited Mirabella over for dinner several times, and feeling it would be rude to refuse again, she accompanied Jenna to her home after school that afternoon.
The Powell residence was a quaint, vintage–style cottage – a type of home typically inhabited by the well–established local families.
As soon as Mirabella stepped into Jenna’s home, Jake and Kayla grabbed her hands in a show of gratitude, showering her with thanks until Jenna managed to extricate them from her parents‘ ceaseless chatter.
Jenna led Mirabella to her bedroom, where they were both greeted by a large box. Jenna opened it, and her eyes widened in shock as she discovered a trove of test papers and study materials. She was so stunned she could barely breathe.
Turning to look at Mirabella, who leaned against the doorframe with a relaxed air, Jenna recalled their conversation from a few days prior and the question about her address from yesterday. “Wait… Queen Mira, is this the ‘surprise‘ you were talking about?”
Mirabella nodded. “I did the math. If you do one test paper per day, you’ll finish just in time for the final exams. No need to thank me.”
Jenna was speechless. One paper a day… That was so cruel!
After a beat, Mirabella arched an eyebrow and added, “Of course, if you’d like to do two a day, that’s an option as well. I’ve got two more boxes where that came from.”
Jenna’s mouth twitched sharply at the thought.