𝐶𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐾 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐷𝐴𝐺𝐺𝐸𝑅 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒 [DISCONTINUED]

𝟐𝟎 | 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐀𝐃𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐍

"𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠."
— 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎 𝑆ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟

𝒩.

𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐃, 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 back in her chair as she stared at the computer she was working on in her office. She rubbed her eyes before moving her chair closer to her desk and beginning to type again.

The room was quiet, save for the light buzz of electricity and her soft humming, but she could hardly focus on her work; she felt far too excited for the rest of the night. She was going to meet with Vanya in less than ten minutes, and afterwards, Diego was taking her out on a date (the destination was a surprise, and he kept his lips shut no matter how much she pleaded for him to tell her).

She glanced down at the time that was shown in the corner of the screen—it was almost four, meaning that she'd have to get going soon to meet Vanya.

Still, she had a few minutes to finish editing her research paper. It had to be finished by the end of February, which was a few days away, and she was only three pages in (the whole thing was thirty-eight pages long).

She narrowed her eyes, biting the tip of her thumb as she scrolled through the pages. Her eyes flickered over the words and formulas, and, with a small sigh, she corrected the spelling mistakes.

Her attention was suddenly brought to the door as a knock sounded.

Her eyebrows furrowed; it wasn't her office hours, so it shouldn't be a student unless it was someone from her lab. Still, she called, "Come in."

"Dr. Kim?" the head of a fellow assistant professor (of analytical chemistry), Dr. Jonathan Parkinson, popped in. "You have a moment?"

"Hi! Yes, come in." Natalia nodded quickly, gesturing for him to step inside with one hand as she used the other to save her document.

He stepped in and closed the door behind him, and offered her a small smile, which she returned. She and he weren't the closest of friends, but they spent the occasional night cooped up in the same office as they exchanged ideas and advice.

He was a few years older than her and seemed quite charming with his wavy brown hair, crystal blue eyes, and dazzling white teeth that he flashed whenever he smiled.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked.

"No, no," he chuckled, shaking his head, "it's more of a . . . personal thing, I guess."

"Oh." Natalia's eyebrows furrowed, but she questioned no further as she nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"Well . . ." Dr. Parkinson clasped his hands behind his back, giving her one of his signature smiles as he began, "You know, we've been friends for a little while, and, as much as I love being your friend, I thought maybe . . . we could be a little more?"

Natalia stared at him for a moment with furrowed eyebrows before she realized what he meant, and her eyes widened. "Oh, uh . . ."

"There's a really nice Thai place ten minutes from here that we could get dinner from," he continued, seeming to not notice the awkward expression that had come over her face. "I was thinkin' we could go there, maybe get a drink or two, and go back to my place? I don't mean to be too forward, but—"

"Dr. Parkinson," she tentatively interrupted, a small smile on her face. "I'm flattered, but . . . I kind of already have plans tonight."

"Oh!" He swallowed, his eyes widening a little. "Oh . . . uh . . . like, romantic plans, or just friends?"