Filed to story: Mia Bowen and Timothy Barrett Novel
He glanced at his phone. An unexplainable weight stifled his chest.
His eyes shifted to the building outside.
In the past, he’d returned home after work every day; but now, he didn’t know how long it had been since he last returned to his marital home on time.
The place felt so empty after Mia’s departure. Something was missing.
Frustrated, Timothy reached out to Caleb. “Found out who Mia’s family is already?”
“No clue for now. There’s no change to her family background, so I can’t find anything.”
Timothy massaged his temples. Connor somehow crossed his mind when he thought about Mia becoming a resident of Nord City.
Connor came from the same city too!
Coldness seeped into Timothy’s tone. “No wonder the Lanes, especially Connor, are close to her. It has something to do with her family.”
“Doesn’t that make them a perfect match?” Caleb blurted.
Dark clouds shrouded Timothy almost instantly. “Shut up.”
“Tim, if you genuinely want her back, make her fall for you again before the divorce happens. If you fail, just don’t sign the divorce papers! You’ll lose your wife unless you become shameless.”
Timothy paused momentarily.
That idea sounded feasible.
The next morning, Mia kept having a bad feeling about the day.
Her hunch was telling her that something bad was going to happen.
She took a cab to college. Riley spoke to her. “Mia, could you contact Dana?”
“Dana? We hadn’t contacted each other since the day I found out she was the one who reported me anonymously. What happened to her?”
“The management is investigating her and found that she had violated the rules before. In addition to the terrible effect caused by her anonymous report, we decided to expel her. We need her to come to sign the papers, but we can’t reach her.”
Expel Dana?
Mia didn’t expect the punishment to be this severe. She initially thought that it would end with a warning and a merit deduction.
Noticing her hesitation, Riley continued, “Dana had previously violated the rules. She took and shared pictures of her roommate online. We’ve found irrefutable evidence before coming to this decision.”
Only then Mia realized that she had never known Dana’s character that well, which explained why she was betrayed by Dana.
Mia nodded. “But I don’t have any news about her for now. I bet she doesn’t dare to come to me either.”
“Okay. We’ve reported it to the cops. If you catch wind of her, please inform me about it.”
Mia watched Riley leave. Then, she turned around and headed to the Music School. She entered the empty classroom.
The piano reminded her of when she and Dana played the piano together. It felt like a dream.
Someone scoffed. “What’s the matter? Still daydreaming of becoming a pianist? Want to join the musicians that came performing that day? Someone of your level can never be one of them.”
Hearing that, Mia turned to find Maya standing by the door.
Mia responded indiffirectly, “You’re speaking as though you could be one of them.”
“That’s because I don’t want to. Do you think I, Maya Lane, can’t?” Maya stared at Mia, trying to find a shadow of that little girl.
However, Mia had changed a lot compared to her younger days. Only her eyes resembled a little to that of the little girl.
Lucky for Maya, she managed to dig up information from Dana. Due to illness, Mia had forgotten her childhood in the orphanage.
The only thing she remembered was the children’s song taught by the orphanage director.
However, Maya was the only person who knew the meaning behind that song and she would never give Mia a hint. Let alone tell the Lanes about it.
That way. Mia would never be able to return to the Lanes.
Mia mocked, “But if my memories serve me right, someone was rejected by the musicians, though. Does she think that others don’t know about it?”
That day. Claude told Mia about how Maya wished to join the musicians but was rejected.
Maya’s ego was bruised. She actually intended to buff herself up with empty talks, not expecting Mia to actually know the truth.
Quickly, Maya veered the topic. “Even if I was rejected, there’s no way you’ll get in. I have been learning piano since I was young. My family hired the best pianists to be my teachers. As someone who has just started learning piano, you should wake up. You don’t have the talent for it.”
Mia chuckled. “Right, I have just started learning piano, so what are you so afraid of?”
That familiar smile conjured a childhood nightmare in Maya.
At that time, the orphanage director favored Mia the most and kept praising her for her talent, believing that she would hit it big in the future.
Jealousy had taken root in Maya since then. She kept honing her piano skills just to make up for her childhood regret.
Now that Mia was right before her eyes again, she couldn’t help the jealousy at all.
“What are you doing here? Where’s Dana?” Maya switched topics.
“That should be my line.” Mia let out a meaningful smile. “You told her to approach and report me anonymously, didn’t you?”
An eerie shift shadowed Maya’s features. “What are you talking about? I don’t get it. Dana’s your friend. If she reported you, you should repent.”
Right then, Mia reached out for Maya’s hair, yanking her out of the classroom.
Maya yelped. “Mia Bowen, let go of me! You’re crazy!”
Grabbing Maya’s hair, Mia looked her nose down at her. “Look. If a stranger like me suddenly becomes physical with you, shouldn’t you realize how annoying you are and go repent yourself?”
The tearing of the scalps hurt so much, but Maya couldn’t fight back. She barked with gritted teeth,”
You’re dead meat, Mia Bowen!”
“Oh really? Death is nothing to be afraid of. People die anyway.”
“My brothers have come to Bern City, Mia Bowen. If they find out that you’re bullying me, they’ll never let you off the hook that easily!”
Mia clicked her tongue. “Too bad there’s no surveillance camera over here. No one can prove that I’m the one who yanked your hair.”
Fear didn’t strike Mia as she had learned some legal knowledge from Jason. He was worried that she would be picked on, so he taught her a lot of dirty tricks.
Take the present situation as an example¨CMia was aware that the area was free from surveillance cameras.
Furious, Maya screamed, “I will never let you get away with this! I will hire the best lawyer to send you to prison!”
“Okay, I’ll be waiting.” Mia shoved Maya away before wiping her hands with a tissue. “If you don’t watch your language next time, believe it or not, I’ll tear your hair off.”
Maya was so enraged that her expression was contorted. She pointed a finger at Mia. “Hold it right there!”
Ignoring Maya, Mia spun and left.
Maya wanted to chase after Mia, but she realized that her hair was a mess. Her scalp hurts just from a light touch
In the end, she stopped in her tracks and called Blake. “Bring me a hat. Hurry.”
Angered by her defeat, Maya kicked the piano. Actually, she came over to look for Dana because she hoped that Dana could pretend to be the girl from the orphanage.
However, to her dismay, Dana went missing in action.
The most infuriating part of all was that Mia grabbed her hair.
When Mia reunited with the Lanes, would Maya be able to survive the repercussions?
Maya couldn’t let that happen.
Soon, Blake came with a hat. “Ms. Lane, Mr. Shaw claims that Dana has to be expelled.”
“Does he no longer pay my family respect? Did you tell him that we will make donations?”
“Yes, but he’s firm with his decision.”
She felt her blood pressure rising. If Dana was to be expelled, she wouldn’t cooperate with Maya.
Blake added, “But I learned something new from him. There’s a graduation evening party happening on the weekend. The Lane family will attend. I heard that they will build an exhibition hall for the Design
School.”
“Why didn’t I know about that?” Maya was bewildered.
Trepidation trapped Maya as soon as she heard the news. Something was going on without her knowledge.
She glanced at Blake. “Why did Dominic and the others suddenly want to build an exhibition hall for the Design School? It’ll cost an arm and a leg, won’t it?”