The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Juliet slapped her chest with a promise, "Don't you worry, Mom, we won't let you down!"

Standing nearby, Isaiah sometimes wondered about life itself. Were girls naturally this enthusiastic, kind of like his aunts? No, that

wasn't quite right—his uncle was pretty lively, too.

Lost in thought, Isaiah suddenly felt warmth atop his head, where Vivienne's hand hade to rest without him noticing.

"Off to school now. I'lle pick you up after, okay? If | can't make it, Dad will be here."

This time, Juliet had no objections, well aware of Vivienne's busy schedule.

"Got it, Mom. Don't et to eat," Juliet said, planting a kiss on Vivienne's cheek in parting.

Isaiah's goodbye was less fervent; he hugged Vivienne briefly, waved, and then hurried to catch up with Juliet.

Vivienne watched the kids enter the school before turning to leave, noticing Floyd's gaze lingering on her. She pretended not to see

and quickly vanished from Floyd's sight.

Back in the car, Percival handed her a USB drive. "Here's everything Soren managed to dig up. Might be useful for your lab work."

Hearing Soren's name, Vivienne immediately thought of Anna. "How have those two been lately?"

"Soren and Anna? Well, Anna's practically living in your lab these days, and Soren's beamped with tasks at the squad. They

probably haven't seen each other much. Plus, Soren's been off since that last mission; | heard he wasn't feeling great yesterday."

That explained why Anna seemed so distracted yesterday—she was worried about Soren's condition.

"How's the mission wrap-up going? Maybe he shoulde help in the lab; | could take a look at his symptoms."

Percival chuckled. "Always worrying about everyone else, huh? How about a little concern for me?"

Vivienne raised an eyebrow at him. "Haven't | worried about you enough?"

"You got me, and now I'm off your radar. Is that it?" Percival's mock sorrow was almost convincing.

"Let's not castas the villain here. Raising kids on my own hasn't been a walk in the park!"

Their banter continued until Percival was laughing. "You've done well, my dear," he said.

Leopold, bewildered, wondered, "Who's speaking up for me? What about all I've done for the kids?!"

Vivienne's eyes twinkled mischievously. "If you want to thank me, clean up and wait fortonight."

Percival was speechless. Vivienne's playful side hadn't changed a bit over the years.

After dropping Vivienne at the lab, Percival left. Inside, Vivienne found Anna so engrossed in her work that she nearly caused an

accident.

"Anna, how many times do we have to go through this? You know how dangerous it is to let experiments run unsupervised. You

could have blown up the lab!"

Anna, realizing her mistake, apologized to Ms. Vivienne.

"Emotions have no place in the lab, Anna. You're affecting the work; take a break."

Anna knew she wasn't in the right state of mind to argue. She retreated to the break room, while Vivienne, through the glass, saw

the sadness in her eyes. Love had indeed distracted her.

Why did love have to be soplicated, unlike Vivienne's own straightforward relationship with Mr. Wolf?

As she pondered, Soren arrived.

"How are you feeling?" Vivienne asked, preparing her acupuncture needles as Soren described his symptoms.

"Take off your shirt," she instructed, focusing more on the task at hand than onparing Soren's physique to Mr. Wolf's, though

the thought did cross her mind.

Back to professional mode, Vivienne attended to Soren, while Anna returned to her work, trying to ignore the unfolding

around her.

Soren noticed Anna's cold demeanor, wondering if he had somehow upset her. Then he remembered failing to reply to her

message and thought that might be the cause.

Vivienne watched Soren's frantic attempt to text Anna, wondering if it was possible Anna simply hadn't recognized him in his

distressed state.

"All better now. Just follow the prescription | gave you and take the meds for five days, and you'll be fine," Vivienne declared with a

flourish, removing the bandages that Soren had on his back.

Soren quickly got dressed, offering a simple, "Thanks."

Hearing the familiar voice, Anna turned around, freezing for a moment when her eyes landed on Soren.

"What are you doing here? Are your injuries healed?" Anna's voice was laced with concern, drawing an affectionate chuckle from

Vivienne.

My star pupil, indeed.

"Much better, thanks. I'm here to help with your project. Things have been slow with the team lately."

As the air between Anna and Soren seemed to sparkle with unspoken emotion, Vivienne decided not to intrude. "I'll leave you two

to it. Just keepupdated on any breakthroughs," she said, before heading to her personal office, a space overrun with research

papers and experimental records.

Despite her efforts over the past two days, she'd made little progress. The information Soren had gathered was of no help to her,

perhaps even less useful than her own attempts at deciphering the runes.

It was clear that the transmission of these symbols was not widespread.

It seemed everything now hinged on Juliette and Isaiah.

At school.

"Juliette," Floyd caught her during the break, "what do your parents do?"

In this westernized adaptation, the setting transitions smoothly into a familiar western scene, with descriptions and dialogue

reshaped to fit more naturally into a western context. The essence of the original narrative is preserved while ensuring cultural

relatability through the incorporation of typical western elements.