Chapter 292: I’m So Lucky to Have You
Arabella Donovan had only asked casually, never expecting to hit the nail on the head so perfectly.
The two of them stared at each other, and the atmosphere grew a little awkward.
Aurora Donovan raised an eyebrow, his gaze shifting between the two before he was the first to break the silence.
"You really have a brother named Norman? That name’s easy enough to guess, though. North, South, East, West... If your parents had more kids, they could’ve been named Easton and Cecilia."
Ben Sullivan rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "My parents only had me and my brother. My second uncle did have a son, named Dean, and my aunt had a daughter named Susie."
Arabella Donovan didn’t hear a word Ben Sullivan said after that. Her mind was completely occupied by what her brother had just said to smooth things over.
’Right, right, a coincidence. It has to be a coincidence! A name that common... you could find a dozen people with similar ones. I must be overthinking things.’
A flicker of light crossed Aurora Donovan’s eyes. His gaze toward Ben Sullivan suddenly held something inscrutable.
Ben Sullivan shivered under his gaze, but when he looked closely again, he found the other man’s eyes were as calm as still water, showing no obvious emotion.
It was as if that inexplicable, dangerous chill he’d just felt was merely his imagination.
"Has Teacher Lyons arrived yet?"
"Director Lyons probably isn’t here yet. I haven’t seen him at all today."
"Then I’ll take my sister for a walk around and meet some other people."
"Okay, you two go on ahead. I’m going to the materials room to find something."
Off to a bad start. Alarms were already blaring in Arabella Donovan’s head.
They had only walked a few steps away. After confirming no one else was around, Arabella Donovan immediately grabbed her brother’s arm and asked again, "Brother, are you really, truly sure there isn’t a Dr. Donovan in your lab?"
"Not at the moment, no. Why do you ask? Is there something wrong with this... Dr. Donovan? Or was there a problem with that Ben Sullivan guy?"
Arabella Donovan was surprised by Aurora Donovan’s sharpness. "N-no, nothing. I was just curious."
’I can’t just tell you that this Dr. Donovan is a total patsy! It’s a classic case of being persecuted for one’s talent. He’s going to be squeezed dry of all his value and then have his name dragged through the mud. He could have been a savior, but because of some people’s greed, he’ll become a pariah and die full of resentment. It’s just too tragic, too tragic!’
Aurora Donovan: "?!"
Squeezed dry, slandered, and dying full of resentment? ’Good, good. Very good!’
Arabella Donovan didn’t realize her internal rant had already piqued her brother’s curiosity and competitive spirit. Aurora Donovan’s denial allowed her to relax, at least for now.
Fortunately, the classmates still in the lab that Aurora Donovan introduced to Arabella all had unfamiliar names, which helped calm her nerves considerably.
’So it really was just a coincidence. I knew it. There’s so much misfortune in the world, it can’t all happen to me, right? In the end, it’s just that there’s too much drama with everyone at home. It’s making me as jumpy as that Mr. York, freaking out at the slightest sign of trouble.’
Aurora Donovan recalled the "grand exploits" of their family members and had to admit his little sister’s worries weren’t entirely unfounded.
The siblings wandered around the lab for a while without running into anyone else of note. Seeing that it was getting late, Aurora Donovan thought he would take Arabella Donovan out for a bite to eat first.
The two of them had just stepped out of a biology lab when they ran into a handsome man at the door. He was wearing a white lab coat, with a tall, slender build, gentle and attractive features, and a faint smile on his face.
The handsome man paused when he saw Aurora Donovan and his companion, then took the initiative to ask, "Hannah, and this is..."
"This is my little sister, Arabella Donovan. Serena, this is a senior from the group next to mine, Derek Kensington. You can just call him Kensington."
"Ken...sington?"
Arabella Donovan froze when she heard Aurora Donovan’s introduction. She went completely stiff. After a long moment, she secretly tugged on her brother’s sleeve and asked in a low voice, "What are the characters in his name?"
"’Ji’ as in discipline, ’Yin’ like the imperial princes, and ’De’ as in to obtain."
Although Arabella Donovan’s question was quiet, they were standing close enough that the person in question heard her.
Derek Kensington smiled good-naturedly. "Find the name a little special, not too common? HAHAHA, my parents are history teachers. They love the history of the Qing Dynasty, especially the ’Nine Dragons’ Struggle for the Throne.’ So when my mom was pregnant, they decided that whether they had a boy or a girl, they’d use the character ’Yin’ in the name."
"So that’s how it is." Aurora Donovan joined in with a faint smile. "When I first heard your name, Kensington, I wondered why anyone would use that character. The meaning is auspicious, that’s true, but the character itself is really complex and hard to write. Most importantly, it’s also hard to pronounce."
"HAHAHA, you get me!" Derek Kensington’s smile became a bit more genuine upon hearing this. "God knows how many times teachers have mispronounced my name from my first day of school until now."
After the lighthearted chat, Derek Kensington looked at Arabella Donovan again. "Elder Lyons mentioned to me before that your sister would be visiting the lab. Since the semester hasn’t started yet, there aren’t many people around. You can just show her around the outer areas today. I have something to do, so I’ll get going."
Arabella Donovan’s attitude toward Derek Kensington was clearly off. Wanting to fish for more information, Aurora Donovan uncharacteristically pried, "Today isn’t a designated return day, and most of the research institute’s labs aren’t open yet. Do you have some urgent business to take care of, Kensington?"
"Not exactly urgent. Kendrick asked me to pick someone up and show them around our lab. If all goes well, he’ll be joining Elder Lyons’s team with you after the semester starts for a research exchange."
Aurora Donovan looked surprised. "Oh? I didn’t know anything about this beforehand. Which school is this student from? What’s his name?"
"He’s a second-year graduate student from our university’s finance department. His name is Julian Spencer."
"A finance student?" Aurora Donovan almost thought he’d misheard. A finance major coming to their lab—which conducted biology, chemistry, and physics experiments—for a research exchange? What was there to exchange? What was there to learn?
Derek Kensington glanced at him and smiled, as if this sort of thing was completely normal.
"You’re still young, so you probably haven’t encountered this before. Our university’s research institute is a place that eager students from all over the country are fighting tooth and nail to get into. Especially for projects run by senior professors like Elder Lyons and Elder Keane. If a young person can just get their foot in the door, their future career path will be much smoother."
"So this Julian Spencer is just here to get his foot in the door?"
"Well, what can you do? He has a rich and powerful father and a mother with the surname Li. And it just so happens that the dean of our research institute is also named Li."
The meaning behind Derek Kensington’s words was self-evident: this Julian Spencer got in through the back door, using his connections to the dean.
While Aurora Donovan was talking to Derek Kensington, his mind was entirely on his sister.
Don’t be fooled by Arabella Donovan’s silence, with her head bowed and not saying a word. Inwardly, her mind had already exploded.
’Brother, my dear brother, having you around is a real blessing!’