RBCT Chapter 291 - 289: She Is Not the Real Mia Grant
Chapter 291 - 289: She Is Not the Real Mia Grant
Upon hearing this, Felix Sinclair glanced at him impassively.
Ian Sinclair stared back, not to be outdone.
’In truth, he had no idea what Felix was up to.’
’But it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. For someone as straight-laced as Felix to be acting so out of character, it definitely had something to do with Mia Grant.’
’When things are this unusual, something strange is afoot.’
’He didn’t know anything for sure; he was just bluffing, hoping to get a reaction out of him.’
’It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried contacting the people Felix had met over the past few days. Unfortunately, Felix was meticulous, leaving no loose ends. After asking around, no one revealed anything useful.’
’He couldn’t tell if Felix had warned them to keep quiet or if nothing had actually happened.’
’He was leaning toward the former.’
’He’d also thought about using their mom to probe, but she was completely uncooperative.’
’In his mother’s eyes, someone with Felix’s personality wouldn’t be capable of doing anything truly terrible.’
’No, that’s not right. To their mom, as long as Felix wasn’t harming himself, nothing else was a big deal. She wouldn’t interfere.’
’Besides, Felix had just gotten engaged to Mia Grant. Even if the engagement was a sham, the feelings were real. So, from their mom’s perspective, Felix wouldn’t be having any suicidal thoughts.’
’He just had this feeling that Felix was secretly plotting something...’
’And it seemed like a big move.’
Felix withdrew his gaze, his eyes calm and unreadable.
Seeing this, Ian knew Felix hadn’t believed a word he’d said.
’Forget it.’
’No point wasting any more time on him.’
Ian put down his teacup, ready to leave.
He wasn’t interested in the older generation’s topics of conversation and didn’t have Felix’s patience. He preferred to get away for some peace and quiet.
"Wait a second."
The person beside him suddenly spoke.
Ian froze and looked over in surprise.
He saw Felix put down his teacup, rise to his feet before him, excuse himself to the elders, and then motion with his eyes for Ian to follow.
As they left the tea room, Ian was completely baffled.
They were brothers, after all—twins, at that. Ian knew his earlier attempt at bluffing had been a failure. Felix wouldn’t have believed him.
’But now... what was this all about?’
「On the terrace.」
Felix gently closed the door.
"What did you want to talk about?"
Ian looked at him, confused.
Felix didn’t beat around the bush. "Last time, I heard her mention parallel worlds, so I wanted to try and find an answer."
"..." Ian was lost in the fog of his words. "So, because she’s curious, you’re going to solve a problem that all of humanity has failed to crack?"
Felix shook his head. "I’m the one who’s curious."
"..." Ian fought the urge to just say, ’You’re something else.’
Felix was telling the truth. He was just too curious about the hidden story behind Mia’s words.
"It’s just a hypothesis, it’s not real." Ian didn’t understand the logic of these geniuses.
"You want to prove that parallel worlds are real? And then what?"
"I don’t need to prove it; that’s not something that can be done in a short amount of time. Instead, I’m more inclined to take some practical action."
"Like what?" Ian spread his hands.
"Like, for example, finding a way to get to a parallel world."
"..."
Ian was dumbfounded. He sized up the young man before him, who was like his mirror image, and saw not a trace of humor in his expression. "Are you out of your mind?"
Ian was losing it.
"Have you not been sleeping well lately, or were you replaced by an alien? When you said that just now, didn’t you think it sounded absurd? Didn’t you want to laugh?"
’When people have too much time on their hands, they love to stir up trouble for no reason.’
’Look, Felix was a classic example.’
Felix laid out his ideas, analyzing them seriously with him.
Listening to all this supposed data, Ian felt like he was trying to read gibberish. It was all going over his head.
"Either I’m not fully awake, or... you’ve lost your mind."
Ian had no intention of continuing this conversation. "If I keep talking to you, I’m going to go crazy too. Then we’ll both get shipped off to a mental hospital together. Maybe we’ll even get a two-for-one discount."
Pulling open the terrace door, Ian prepared to make a run for it.
Behind him, Felix watched his retreating back and spoke calmly, "Have you never had any doubts?"
"What?"
Ian stopped in his tracks, not understanding.
"Doubts about what?"
"That she might not be Mia Grant."
"..."
Ian turned back, stared at him for a moment, and then let out a short laugh. "You really are far gone."
"She’s not the same as the Mia Grant I first knew."
"I’d never thought about it before. But after she brought up the possibility of parallel worlds, it was like everything clicked into place."
"It might sound absurd at first, but when you quiet down and think about it carefully, it’s not entirely impossible."
"Proving this to you, or to her, would take too long. I can’t be sure I could do it within my lifetime."
"So, I’ve temporarily given up on that idea. Because more than that, I need a chance to follow her."
"If she’s from a parallel world, no matter which time or space, the fact that she was able to come here means she could also leave at any time."
"Can you accept that outcome?"
Ian froze, his eyes staring blankly.
Felix didn’t wait for his answer. "Your answer doesn’t matter to me. I only know that I can’t accept it. Even if, in the end, this all turns out to be just a fantasy, I’ll only feel relieved."
"So, no matter what, I will see this through to the end. Just in case this possibility becomes reality."
---
Felix left.
Ian remained outside alone, quietly pondering Felix’s words.
’Simply absurd.’
’He honestly suspected that the person standing in front of him just now wasn’t Felix, but an impostor.’
’It was no exaggeration to say that a chill was still running down his spine.’
’But...’
The first time he’d met Mia Grant was when they were very young.
His mom and Yuna Hughes were what you’d call frenemies, often going shopping together.
Because of this, he and Mia had known each other for a long time.
They just weren’t as close as one might think.
They mostly saw each other at their parents’ dinner parties, with no private interaction.
The rumor mill claimed that the Grant family’s little princess was utterly unruly, spoiled beyond belief.
They started getting to know each other in high school.
They were in the same class, so they couldn’t avoid seeing each other.
’What was Mia like back then?’
’Strange.’
’He couldn’t seem to recall much.’
His memories of her really began in their third year of high school.
It was like she really wasn’t as boisterous as before, but inexplicably, he started to notice her existence.
At first, she was always alone, mostly studying.
She was serious during class, and after class as well.
It looked like she was just putting on an act.
But her grades didn’t lie.
Even the teachers were surprised at the time, unable to understand how her grades had improved so much in such a short period. It was a complete turnaround.
Back then, the teachers became especially attentive to her, starting to help her plan for the future.
The options laid out before her gradually began to multiply.
Before that, the Grant family had been stressing over her academic performance.
While her grades weren’t terrible, they weren’t good enough for a top university in the country. The Grant family wouldn’t tolerate such a situation, so they had long planned to send her abroad to burnish her credentials.
’So, is she really not...’
At that realization, Ian’s heart skipped a beat.
’Could it be... that he was going crazy too?’