HLnovel Chapter 293 - 291: Who Is Lying?
Chapter 293 - 291: Who Is Lying?
"..."
Mia Grant’s eyes widened. Realizing what was happening, she scrambled out of bed and ran to the window, yanking open the curtains to look down.
From her position, she could just make out the tail of a car parked quietly under a streetlight.
There hadn’t been a car there when she came upstairs just now.
"Did you follow me here?"
Otherwise, there was no way Felix Sinclair could have shown up so quickly. He didn’t know her new address.
"Yeah," Felix Sinclair replied.
"Why would you follow me? It’s so late..."
"I figured you’d rather talk in person."
He was right.
That was exactly what Mia had been thinking.
Her eyes curved into a smile. "Then you’ll have to wait a bit. They’re still in the living room, so it might be a while before I can come down."
"Okay, I’ll wait for you."
Mia put away the art book, carefully placing it inside her closet.
She turned, gently opened the door, and peeked out.
Yuri Sinclair was still in the living room chatting with Julian Vaughn.
She sighed, went back to her room, and waited another ten minutes. When she peeked out again, the living room was empty.
She immediately grabbed her jacket and tiptoed toward the door.
At the entryway, Yuri Sinclair came out of the study and vaguely saw a figure by the front door. He frowned. "Mia?"
Mia’s body went stiff.
Yuri walked a little closer. Once he confirmed it was her, he let out a helpless sigh and asked with a smile, "Why are you going out so late?"
"Ah..." Mia scratched her head awkwardly. "I’m, uh, just going downstairs to buy something."
"Buy what? Should I have Julian go with you?"
"No, no, that’s not necessary." Mia waved her hands frantically. "I can go by myself. I’ll be back in a little bit."
The residential complex had all the necessary amenities, including a 24-hour convenience store that wasn’t too far away.
Yuri saw her evasive gaze and pretty much understood what was going on, but he didn’t call her out on it. "Alright then. Put your jacket on properly before you go."
"Ah, okay."
Mia obediently did as she was told. After putting it on, she looked down to check the zipper, then looked up at Yuri.
The old father figure smiled and nodded.
Mia breathed a sigh of relief. "Then... I’m going?"
"Go on."
Once she was in the elevator, Yuri walked over to the window.
A moment later, a small, jogging figure appeared in his line of sight.
Soon, Mia slipped into a car.
From this distance, he couldn’t make out the license plate, but fortunately, he could vaguely identify the car’s brand.
That car had been following them on their way back earlier.
It was probably from the Sinclair Family.
’Perhaps it’s Felix.’
The old man sighed but had no intention of disturbing them.
—
Downstairs, Mia unzipped her jacket partway and turned to Felix. "I was delayed on my way out. Got caught. But it should be fine."
’Yuri probably didn’t suspect anything.’
Not wanting to waste time, Mia got straight to the point. "I want to ask you about your trip abroad. And... about you looking for Simon Adler."
Felix was slightly taken aback, not expecting her to know.
"He told me." Mia looked him in the eye and answered matter-of-factly, "I’m not trying to test you. I’m asking you directly because I know you won’t lie to me. If I ask, you’ll tell me. Right?"
This time, Felix was silent for a long while before answering, "But this is something I don’t plan on telling you right now."
Mia didn’t get angry. Instead, she tilted her head. "Why?"
"Because I haven’t figured it all out yet."
"So, no one else knows?"
"Most people don’t."
"So that means someone is the exception. Then why can’t I be?"
"..." Felix frowned. He felt like she was twisting his words, but on second thought, her point wasn’t entirely wrong.
"I won’t deceive you. It’s just that this matter really does need a little more time."
"Not many people know. I only just told Ian Sinclair tonight."
Mia stroked her chin as countless thoughts flashed through her mind. "Does it have something to do with me?"
Felix didn’t deny it.
Suddenly, the hand on her chin froze. Mia was abruptly reminded of the dream she’d had not long ago—as brief and brilliant as a firework.
It wasn’t really a dream, more like a memoir of her past life.
Like scenes in a revolving lantern, a few fragments from her childhood to adulthood flashed before her eyes one by one.
There were many memorable moments.
For instance, that strange man she met at her part-time job.
A while ago, she had solved that puzzle in a dream.
That person... seemed to be Yates Donovan.
She didn’t know if she was just projecting Yates Donovan onto him, or if he really looked like Yates Donovan.
There was no way to verify it now.
And then there was the boy she had run into at a bookstore when she was a student...
It was during a summer break.
The summer was muggy and hot. She had run all the way to the bookstore to buy study materials. At the checkout, she’d embarrassingly rummaged through all her pockets but couldn’t find her money.
She clearly remembered saving up enough. It had been in her backpack the whole time, so how could it be gone?
An image suddenly flashed in her mind: when she came out of the bathroom that morning, she had seen her younger brother running out of her room in a panic...
No wonder he had been so nice to her that morning. It was completely out of character for him not to give her a hard time, not to complain about how bad her breakfast was.
The person behind her in line was getting impatient, and the cashier irritably asked if she still wanted the items.
"In... in that case, I won’t be getting them. Sorry."
She handed the items back, sighed, and started to leave.
The air conditioning in the store continuously pumped out cool air, making it so comfortable that she didn’t want to leave.
But she had to go back.
She pushed the door open, and the bell chimed.
With her backpack on, she started walking back the way she came.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew past, and she faintly heard the bell chime again.
Someone was catching up to her.
"Wait a second."
She turned around to see the cashier from before. He was holding a bag, which he shoved directly into her arms.
She looked at him, confused. The cashier casually pointed inside. "A guy in there asked me to give this to you."
"..."
With that, the cashier went back to work.
She stood outside the store, looking inside through the glass window.
Her gaze passed over rows of bookshelves. There were a lot of customers, and she didn’t know which one the cashier was referring to.
She only remembered that someone seemed to have noticed her, meeting her gaze just before she looked away.
It was for the briefest of moments; he turned his head away first.
By the time she looked again, she only managed to catch a glimpse of the corner of a white shirt.
She pushed the door open and rushed back inside, wandering in front of the bookshelves for a long time, but she couldn’t find that person.
For some reason, she suddenly felt that if she had to put a familiar face to that person, it would definitely be Felix Sinclair’s.
Taking a deep breath, Mia looked up at Felix. "Do you remember what I said last time about a parallel world?"
She didn’t know why, but even though Felix hadn’t said a word, she had a vague sense of his intentions.
"I remember," Felix nodded.
"That was just... I was curious. It didn’t mean anything else."
"I know." He nodded again.
Mia frowned. "You’re lying."
Felix gazed at her for a long time before saying, "I’m not."
"I’m not the one who’s lying."
"..."
Mia’s pupils trembled.