Mia Grant stared intently at the clock on the wall.
The second hand ticked around and around, and the oxygen in the room seemed to vanish.
The world stood still, as if someone had quietly pressed pause.
Her hand, gripping the remote, tightened... and tightened again...
...until a soft gasp sounded by her ear.
Mia Grant whipped her head around to look at Ian Sinclair. A flash of pain crossed the young man’s eyes.
Her heart skipped a beat. A second later, she looked down and realized she wasn’t gripping the remote—it was his hand.
And now, her nails were digging into his flesh.
Startled, Mia Grant quickly let go. "I’m sorry."
Ian Sinclair had only lost his composure for that single moment. Now, meeting her gaze, he looked completely unfazed, not even glancing down at the injury.
"I’m fine."
"Why are you so tense?"
Mia Grant didn’t answer, grabbing his hand to examine it closely.
Ian Sinclair tried to pull away, but she was surprisingly strong. He couldn’t fight her.
On the back of his hand, beads of blood were already forming, a testament to how hard she had just been squeezing.
Mia Grant’s eyes filled with regret. "I’ll go get the first-aid kit."
"Hey, no, don’t worry about it." Quick as a flash, Ian Sinclair wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.
He held her waist tightly, not letting her run off.
"It’s just a tiny scratch; it’s barely even bleeding. It’s not that big a deal. It’ll heal on its own soon enough. I wasn’t this worked up even when I broke a bone playing ball."
Mia Grant frowned.
She started to say something but was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.
Hayes Hughes didn’t have any work to do, so he had just taken a shower.
Seeing the two of them in the living room, he turned toward the wet bar and asked Mia Grant if she wanted a glass of milk, adding that she should get ready for bed.
Mia Grant agreed and took the opportunity to get off Ian Sinclair’s lap.
Ian Sinclair pouted, a little dissatisfied.
Before going to bed, Mia Grant double-bolted the main door. Then, like a wolf alpha inspecting her territory and taking stock of her pack, she went to every room and left a warning: "No one is allowed to leave this place while I’m sleeping, and don’t open the door for anyone! And it would be best if you all didn’t talk to each other!"
Silas Grant found her fierce, defensive posture adorable. He turned off his video conference camera and microphone, pulled her behind his desk for a few kisses, and then finally let her go. "Don’t worry. Nothing will happen tonight. Good night."
Despite his reassurances, Mia Grant couldn’t sleep peacefully.
In the middle of the night, she got up to splash some water on her face, intending to start her patrol.
Everyone had locked their doors from the inside as she’d instructed, but she was still afraid of an unexpected incident.
The moment she sat up, the person next to her woke instantly.
Hayes Hughes turned on a lamp. Meeting Mia Grant’s dazed stare, he couldn’t help but chuckle. "Can’t sleep?"
Mia Grant drew a sharp breath. ’I’ve been so preoccupied, I completely forgot there was someone else in my bed.’
There were four bedrooms and two studies, which meant one person was still left without a room.
In the end, they drew lots, and it was decided that Hayes Hughes would share a room with her for the night.
Though they called it drawing lots, Mia Grant felt a little guilty. She had, in fact, cheated. ’I just don’t know if anyone else noticed...’
’In any case, the result was what I wanted. As long as no one calls me out on it, it’s fine.’
Her reason for choosing Hayes Hughes was simple: in her previous life, he was the one who had left. That’s why she had to pay extra attention to him tonight.
Mia Grant stammered, "I’m... going to the bathroom."
"Okay." Hayes Hughes brightened the nightlight for her.
Mia Grant sat in the bathroom for a while before finally giving up and returning to bed to try and sleep.
Whether it was because she was truly exhausted, or because having someone next to her gave her a sense of security, she fell asleep not long after.
Hearing the even rhythm of her breathing, Hayes Hughes’s tense nerves finally began to relax.
—
When Mia Grant woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
When she saw the time, she nearly screamed. ’How could this... Why didn’t my alarm go off?’
’I was supposed to get up at six, and now look! It’s almost noon.’
She didn’t even have time to wash up. She leaped out of bed, but in her haste, she tripped while trying to slip on her slippers.
Her knees hit the floor, and she gasped in pain.
Thankfully, the carpet was thick, so her knees weren’t scraped raw.
After a couple of seconds, she pulled open the door and ran out.
Hearing the commotion, the conversation in the living room stopped.
It was Silas Grant and Kian Keller, having tea. It looked like they were discussing work.
Her eyes scanned back and forth between the two of them several times before Silas Grant finally spoke up. "We’re fine."
Only then did Mia Grant let them be and go look for the others.
At the kitchen entrance, Yates Donovan was leaning lazily against the frame, munching on an apple and playing foreman.
Inside, just like yesterday’s formation, Hayes Hughes was preparing lunch with Felix and Ian Sinclair.
Confirming that everyone was safe, Mia Grant pulled out a chair and sat down, sighing in relief.
The pain in her knee became sharp and clear in that moment.
Yates Donovan noticed her subtle movement. The playful smile on his face vanished, and he hurried over.
He rolled up her pant leg, looked at her knee, and frowned. "What happened?"
"I slipped and fell." Mia Grant rubbed it gently. "It’s fine."
Yates Donovan shot her a look of mock reproach before grabbing some medicinal oil and rubbing it on for her.
"You don’t have to worry so much about us. Unless there’s an earthquake, it’s pretty hard for any of us to die even if we wanted to."
"The wicked live long, after all."
Mia Grant’s mouth twitched violently.
Lunchtime passed in continued harmony.
Mia Grant let out a silent sigh of relief. She had been genuinely worried they would start killing each other without any warning.
Back in the living room, Mia Grant checked the messages from Simon Adler while watering her plants.
He said everything was currently normal on Serena Grant’s end.
"What are you looking at? You’re watering the floor." Yates Donovan came over, took the watering can from her, and finished the job for her.
Mia Grant had been staying off-campus more often recently, so she kept a lot of flowers and succulents here.
When she didn’t have time to come by, a housekeeper would help with the watering.
But for the most part, Mia Grant tended to them herself. She loved the process of waiting for them to bloom.
Truth be told, she’d killed her fair share of them. She didn’t have much experience, and even when she followed the instructions and online guides, unpredictable things still happened.
But Ian Sinclair would always secretly replace the dead potted plants with new ones that looked almost identical.
At first, she really didn’t notice. She had no idea where he found such similar-looking plants.
It was only later, when she noticed that each flower bloomed in a slightly different shape, size, and angle, that she started to suspect something.
She finally checked the security footage and discovered the "culprit."
In the afternoon, with everyone bored, they played board games with Mia Grant, and then a round of Werewolf.
Mia Grant felt that their situation today was a lot like a large-scale game of Werewolf.
Because when dawn came, they had no idea what would be waiting for them.
And so, another anxious afternoon passed.
At ten o’clock at night, there were only two hours left until Serena Grant’s birthday.
Mia Grant sat in the living room, the health tracker on her wrist constantly buzzing with high heart rate alerts.
She stared nervously at her phone, terrified of receiving bad news, while simultaneously keeping a close watch on the movements of the men around her.
Every time she glanced over, it was as if they had all planned it, smiling at her in unison, as if to say they were fine and she didn’t need to worry.
They were incredibly patient, tirelessly meeting her gaze every single time.
Gradually, her heart rate returned to normal.
The clock struck twelve.
Dawn has broken.
The Narrator announces—
Last night... was a peaceful night.