I had wanted to stay in bed a bit longer—but the memory of last night came flooding back, and I could no longer sit still.
While Claire was gone, I snuck into her study, found the hidden switch, and opened the compartment.
But it was so small—I searched everywhere but couldn’t find the jar I’d seen the night before. I even turned over the entire study and still found nothing.
Had I imagined the whole thing?
But I had really found the switch and opened the compartment!
Or maybe I misread that glass jar?
What on earth was going on?
I couldn’t make sense of it. After pulling myself together, I headed to the dental clinic to take a look.
To my shock, by the time I arrived, Ryan had already had eight teeth extracted and eight “perfect” implants placed.
With blood still at the corners of his mouth, he grinned at me and said it didn’t hurt at all.
I don’t know much about dentistry, but even I knew pulling eight teeth at once was painful and risky. I rushed to ask Claire about it.
“Claire, isn’t this way too fast? Eight teeth all at once? And you placed eight implants immediately afterward? Won’t his gums swell so much he can’t eat? Couldn’t that cause an oral infection—or worse, something intracranial…?”
“It won’t. Don’t worry,” Claire said with a calming smile, offering me her personal guarantee.
“This is a new implant system I’ve developed—fast, safe, convenient, and rock-solid. I’m using premium materials, and the crowns are precision-crafted porcelain. As long as he takes his antibiotics on schedule, he’ll be fine. Within a month, we can complete a full set of perfect teeth.”
“That’s awfully fast. Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Of course. Don’t you trust me? I trained abroad and specialize in this. I know what I’m doing—it’ll work.”
Her confidence left me with nothing else to say—and besides, Ryan didn’t seem uncomfortable.
On the contrary, he was suddenly polite—maybe it was the implants, but even his voice sounded softer, more courteous, more mature.
“Don’t worry, bro. Claire’s technique is great. I didn’t feel a thing. I’m fine.”
“That’s the anesthetic talking. I’m worried when it wears off you won’t be able to eat.”
“It’s fine—call it a cut. I’m about to be an influencer. Gotta manage my physique.”
Hearing that, I stopped hovering. The next day they continued, and in just three days they’d worked through his entire mouth.