bioinnovel Chapter 305 - 303: His Probing
Chapter 305 - 303: His Probing
The towel wiped the moisture from her hand. Mia Grant retracted it and looked at Hayes Hughes.
He lowered his gaze, carefully folded the towel, and set it aside.
Back in the dining area, Mia Grant took her seat.
Neither of them spoke during the meal, but the silence wasn’t awkward. Instead, it felt peaceful and serene.
Probably because of his job, Hayes Hughes ate very quickly—a habit that seemed at odds with his upbringing.
Mia Grant used to be the same way, but after transmigrating into the novel and living with the Grant family for a while, she had been forced to adopt the habit of eating slowly and deliberately.
During meals, she couldn’t start eating until Mr. and Mrs. Grant picked up their chopsticks, and she had to put hers down the moment they finished.
She was a growing teenager then, and several times she didn’t get enough to eat, leaving her too hungry to sleep at night.
Eventually, she started eating some bread at school every day before heading home.
At one point, Ian Sinclair found out. So he started secretly taking her out to eat.
Before transmigrating, she’d been a regular at street food stalls and hole-in-the-wall eateries. After, she never had the chance.
At first, Ian Sinclair took her to Western restaurants, but she didn’t have much of an appetite, and with time being tight, she couldn’t eat a lot anyway.
He could tell she didn’t like it, so the very next day, he let her take the lead and asked what she wanted to eat.
After that, he started taking her to those hole-in-the-wall places frequently.
Once she was mostly finished, Mia Grant set down her chopsticks.
"Would you like some more soup?"
Hayes Hughes asked.
Mia Grant shook her head gently. "Hayes, there’s something I’d like to ask your advice on."
Hayes Hughes seemed slightly surprised but gave a quick nod. "Of course."
"I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do with my life." Mia Grant rubbed her chin, lost in thought. "I feel like I don’t have any goals."
"What were you thinking when you first chose this major?"
Mia Grant looked up at him. "Oh, I didn’t choose it."
After a brief pause, she explained, "Kian Keller filled it out for me. He probably based it on my preliminary application choices, but I just wrote those down randomly to get the Grant Family off my back."
"But even if I had to choose again right now, I don’t really have any strong interests. The problem is, I’m not sure what direction to go in for the future."
’In truth, I’m torn between staying here and going back.’
’A part of me leans toward staying.’
’Even with the huge prize money, my past life was a total mess.’
’There are too many dark memories. Running into people or things from my past would just be a constant source of pain.’
’But if I stay, I need to seriously plan for the future.’
’I just have no idea what I want to do.’
’Yuri Sinclair and I are going after the Grant Family, but I’m clueless when it comes to business. It feels like I’m only doing it for revenge.’
’Should I continue my studies and go to grad school? That future is still a total unknown.’
"So, what do you like to do in your free time?"
Mia Grant tilted her head and thought for a moment. "I like lots of things. Eating, sleeping, playing video games, reading web novels, binge-watching shows, reading an actual book now and then. But I can’t pick a single favorite."
"Oh, wait, no. I like money." Mia Grant had a sudden realization. She looked at him, her eyes sparkling. "Does that count as an interest?"
Her comment made Hayes Hughes laugh. "Of course it does."
"I’ve never seen you use that card I gave you."
"Oh, that." Mia Grant cupped her cheek in her hand and blinked. "I actually have money to spend. The amount I have now is enough to live lavishly for the rest of my life."
"But I still love money. I want more of it. The more, the better. My dream is to one day sleep on a bed made of stacked US dollars."
"Is it a form of anxiety?" Hayes Hughes ventured, trying to understand her mindset.
Mia Grant tilted her head. "Is that what this is? Anxiety?"
"I don’t know." She shook her head, her expression blank. "I used to dream all the time about becoming a millionaire."
"But now that I actually have millions, I just want more and more. And yet, I don’t really feel like spending it."
"I guess it’s because... life was so dire for me a long time ago."
"Have you thought about just taking a break then?"
Mia Grant considered it, then nodded. "I have. I feel like I could totally just coast from now on."
"But not having a job or a career of my own would still make me feel insecure."
"That’s why I’m asking you for advice."
Hayes Hughes didn’t give her a specific path. Instead, he said, "There’s still plenty of time. You’re only a freshman. You have three more years to think about it."
"You don’t even need to actively search for it. In time, you’ll naturally find what you want to do."
Mia Grant nodded, though she didn’t fully grasp what he meant.
"Don’t be so anxious. Things will fall into place when the time is right." The man gently patted her head. "For now, all you need to do is focus on your studies and enjoy your life. The rest isn’t something you need to worry about yet."
Hayes Hughes realized that, at her core, Mia Grant was an extreme pessimist.
She was so focused on the distant future that she tended to ignore her own feelings in the present.
While she was meticulously planning for that future, she was automatically skipping past the present moments that could bring her joy.
It was a vicious cycle, and she would torment herself endlessly with this anxiety.
"Leave the future to the future. For now, cherish the present."
"The future will provide its own answers when the time comes."
His fingers gently stroked her long hair. "I was pretty lost in college, too."
"Huh?" Mia Grant looked at him in surprise. "But didn’t you always want to study medicine?"
"I did," Hayes Hughes nodded. "But there were times I wondered if I’d made the wrong choice."
"Looking back now, I can see it all worked out for the best."
Mia Grant met his gaze for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "Okay, I get it now."
***
A week after the semester officially began, Mia Grant finally ran into Felix Sinclair on campus.
She hadn’t seen him in just a few days, but he looked like he had lost a lot of weight.
In the cafeteria, she picked up her chopsticks and moved some of the meat from her plate to his. "You should eat more."
"Did you have trouble adjusting while you were abroad? How did you lose so much weight?"
"You need to build your strength back up."
Felix Sinclair looked at the beef brisket piled high on his plate. He was about to refuse when he heard her say, "If you get any thinner, your abs will be too bony to touch."
"...Right." Felix Sinclair swallowed the words he was about to say.
"Then you can just feel mine."
A voice cut in from the side. A moment later, a tray was set on the table, and the empty seat beside her dipped.
Mia Grant glanced to the side. She stared at Ian Sinclair for a few seconds, then frowned and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing here?"
"Eating, obviously."
Ian Sinclair said, completely unabashed.
"The semester’s been going for a while now. How many times have you actually set foot in the cafeteria?"
Mia Grant gave him a sharp kick under the table, signaling for him to get lost.
As she did, she cast a cautious glance at the person sitting across from them.
It was as if a natural barrier surrounded Felix Sinclair. He kept his head down, silently eating the beef brisket she had given him, acting as though he hadn’t heard their conversation or even seen them.
To be fair, the sight of the cafeteria food did kill Ian Sinclair’s appetite.
Still...
He pushed his tray in front of Mia Grant.
The two trays clinked together, catching Mia Grant’s attention.
She tilted her head.
Ian Sinclair draped an arm over the back of her chair and turned to study her. "I actually did need to talk to you about something."
Seeing his serious expression, Mia Grant instinctively sat up straighter. "What is it?"
"Do you remember... that two hundred dollars you owe me from the spring semester of our sophomore year?"
Mia Grant: "..."