Chapter 148: The Bracelet

Mira looked at Elias’s bright smile and felt as if the exhaustion inside her had been soothed all at once.

All the frustration of facing a room full of gifts, all the mental fatigue from sorting them one by one, seemed to loosen in that moment.

Only then did she remember what kind of young man stood in front of her.

He kept calling her with that sweet, polite warmth, and he looked so innocent, sunny, and clean that nearly every positive word seemed able to find a place on him.

More importantly, he did not seem offended by her question.

Mira smiled too. "It’s not bad. Anyone would notice right away."

Elias lifted a hand and naturally brushed through his hair. Then he blinked at her through his glasses.

"Do you think it looks good?"

He had not taken off his glasses, so Mira could not see the full effect of his face. With the frames hiding part of that striking beauty, she only felt that he looked especially cute like this.

She nodded with a smile. "It looks pretty."

"Thank you," Elias said easily.

Without either of them quite noticing, the distance between them narrowed.

"Oh, right." Elias looked around at the room full of gift boxes. He had already guessed what Mira was doing, but he asked anyway. "What are you doing?"

"This?" Mira glanced at the boxes and let out an instinctive sigh. "I’m helping Dr. Quinn sort through her gifts."

The moment she mentioned it, her shoulders seemed to grow heavy again.

Whoever said opening mystery boxes was fun had clearly never done it as a job. Let those people come do her work for one morning. After opening this many boxes, Mira could guarantee they would never want to touch another one again.

Just then, Elias blinked at her.

"Do you need help?"

Mira’s eyes lit up. "Can you?"

If she had one more person helping, her workload would be much lighter.

But the words had barely left her mouth before she realized it was inappropriate. She and Elias were not exactly close. How could she trouble him like this?

Before she could take it back, Elias had already crouched down and started copying the way she opened and sorted the gifts.

Mira swallowed the words at the edge of her mouth.

Gratitude rose in her heart.

What a good kid.

Because she was Dr. Quinn’s assistant, Mira had suffered plenty of harassment and insults. Too many people believed she was using her position to get close to Yvonne Quinn.

She truly felt wronged.

Yes, Yvonne was beautiful. Her figure was excellent, her medical skill was extraordinary, and she treated people with a mildness that made her seem easy to approach.

But Mira really did not like her that way.

She liked men. Completely.

Unfortunately, other people clearly did not believe her. Their hostility toward her had always been intense. Only Elias, right now, showed her this rare friendliness.

Mira was so moved she almost wanted to cry.

She thought that even if Elias really wanted to pursue Dr. Quinn, she would not stop him. She might even help him a little.

The two of them began opening gifts together.

As they worked, Elias asked, "I’m Elias, by the way. What’s your name?"

Mira lightly slapped her own forehead.

How had she been so careless? She still had not even told him her name.

"I’m Mira Perry," she said. "And you’re Elias Kane, right? I know..."

She had almost said, I know you.

But if Elias asked how she knew him, what was she supposed to say? That she had heard about him from Dr. Quinn?

Mira still did not know what Yvonne’s attitude toward Elias really was. She could not risk damaging Dr. Quinn’s reputation with one careless sentence.

Fortunately, Elias did not seem to notice her unfinished words.

Mira quietly let out a breath of relief.

Elias asked again, "Are all these gifts for Dr. Quinn?"

Mira paused slightly.

She was still not used to hearing him call Yvonne that way. But after thinking about it, he called her with the same kind of warmth too, so maybe that was simply how he addressed women.

It really did make him likable.

"Yes," Mira said with a nod.

Then, as if casually reminding him, she added, "They’re all from Dr. Quinn’s pursuers."

Many of the gifts in the room were expensive beyond imagination. Judging from Elias’s appearance, he did not seem like someone with money, so this was the only way Mira could hint at just how difficult it was to pursue Yvonne Quinn.

Unexpectedly, Elias seemed to finally remember something.

He reached into his backpack, took something out, turned, and handed it to Mira.

"Here." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"What is this..."

Mira looked down at the item he offered her.

It was a delicately woven bracelet, clearly handmade.

She accepted it, then raised her eyes to Elias. "Do you want me to give this to Dr. Quinn?"

Elias nodded.

A slightly shy smile appeared on his face.

For a moment, Mira did not know what to say. For some reason, the bracelet in her hand suddenly seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.

She had already told Elias, indirectly, how difficult it was to pursue Dr. Quinn. Yet he still handed over this gift.

He must have made it himself.

It was full of a young man’s sincerity. But compared with expensive gifts, sincerity usually was not worth much at all.

Should she call him too naive?

And yet, even after knowing the difficulty, he had not lost his courage.

A sense of responsibility rose in Mira at once.

She promised him, "I’ll make sure this gets to Dr. Quinn."

"Thank you," Elias said softly.

The two of them continued opening gifts.

After a while, Elias asked, "What happens to all these gifts?"

Mira froze.

Her lips moved a few times, as if she wanted to say something else, but in the end, she could not bring herself to lie to him.

"To be honest, the expensive ones are usually given away to nurses. The lower-value ones are usually thrown out."

The words sounded a little like she was smearing Dr. Quinn, but that was the truth.

Yvonne treated all gifts this way.

After Mira finished speaking, she saw confusion appear on Elias’s face.

"Why?"

Mira pressed her lips together. "Maybe Dr. Quinn just doesn’t like them."

Then she hurried to add, "But don’t worry. Your gift, I’ll definitely give it to Dr. Quinn..."

Elias shook his head.

"That’s okay. If Dr. Quinn doesn’t like gifts, you don’t have to give it to her."

"What?" This time, Mira was the one who did not understand. "You’re not sad?"

"Why would I be sad?"

Elias tilted his head slightly, his pretty face showing a trace of confusion.

Then he smiled again.

"Dr. Quinn is a doctor. She probably can’t casually accept gifts from people, right? Rules are rules. Of course she should follow them."

Mira looked at his sunny smile. It was as if nothing could put out his warmth.

Her lips parted.

"But... don’t you like Dr. Quinn?"

Elias froze. "Who said I liked her?"

Then he seemed to realize how that sounded and quickly explained, "No, I mean, I do like Dr. Quinn. Who wouldn’t have a good impression of her? But it’s not that kind of like. How do I put it? It’s more like liking an idol, maybe? I really admire her."

He finally found the right words.

"Maybe it’s because my parents used to want me to become a doctor. That’s why I admire Dr. Quinn so much."

After hearing this, Mira’s eyes widened slightly.

So all this time, she had misunderstood him?