"Miss ________, your dissertation is..." a brown haired man trailed off as he flipped on the last page of your dissertation. For a moment he made a serious gaze at your paper, making you a bit nervous. Was your work bad? Was there something that could contradict your whole work making your whole research worthless?
No, don't think like that ______! You are the best student! Your work is perfect!
"How should I put this...." he sighed and made an eye contact with you. Suddenly, a small smile appeared on his lips "Brilliant. For twenty years of my career as a professor at this University...I've never seen such a brilliant piece of work for someone who was majoring criminal psychology."
It took you a few minutes to realize what the man said. Professor Kaiser was anything but not a type of professor who would easily give a compliment to a student. For you, his lectures were very interesting despite his strictness on nothing but a pure perfection. He was a good man but there was no joking with him when it came to his work.
"Congratulations, Miss ______." he spoke as he placed your work on the table and motioned for you to take it. A small smile crossed your lips, an overwhelming happiness started spreading your body. You stepped towards and took your dissertation. You bowed to the man and thanked him, keeping your expression calm.
As soon as you stepped out of his cabinet and closed the door after, you started running outside with a huge grin on your face, keeping your work close to your body as if it could have dissapiered any moment. You couldn't believe you graduated from University with the highest mark!
Sure, you still didn't get your diploma scroll but overall, you were done with the whole work! Now that all lectures were over, you could focus yourself on your own research and maybe earn PhD one day as well!
Of course...that would the second step. The easier step...or at the very least, easier from than the first step of the path you chose to follow.
The first step would be to find your own past, your own self. After majoring Criminal Psychology for four years, you were very well aware of the importance of one's own past. To know who were you, what was your true identity...it was crucial to know that in order to become something or rather someone.
Since your mind were occupied with a lot of thoughts, you didn't even realize that you bumped into some. Luckily, the person caught you before you could fell.
"________, are you alright?" a spoke in a deep but smooth voice, his hands still holding your shoulders firmly. "You seem to be in a hurry.". Your eyes locked with his black ones as a light wind started blowing, making his bangs getting in the way of his eyes. "Oh, sorry." He spoke and moved his hands and slightly smiled. "You probably don't even know me...I am Marco. I am Law major but we had a few classes together."
"Oh, that makes sense." you smiled slightly at the stranger. Even though you didn't like talking with strangers (let alone with the ones who knew more about you) you were still just way too happy to think of that in the moment. Plus, he seemed to be a nice guy. What could possibly go wrong?
He noticed the file in your hands "How did it go? I assume it's your dissertation."
"Yeah, it went great. Professor Kaiser gave me the highest mark." a small grin appeared on your face as the guy's eyes widened in surprise.
"Kaizer? But he...he..."Marco seemed not to know what to say "He eats students for breakfast! That crazy old man never give high marks to anyone!"
Letting out a small giggle at his joke, you tugged a piece of your hair behind your ear.
Marco pouted and put one of his hand in his pocket "I beat I will have him as my mentor in my senior year as well. Knowing my grades, he will threw my dissertation in the trash without reading it."
You shrugged with your hand and smiled slightly "Nonsense. He isn't that bad. I am sure you will pass if you work really hard on it."
A small blush appeared on his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand "S-say _______, would you like to go on a d-"
"Ah, there you are. I was looking for you, my dear." a smooth familiar voice interputted Marco's question. Marco turned around and saw a handsome young blonde man. His smile was serene like always.
"Johan! Hey!" an apologetic smile made its way on your face "Sorry to keep you waiting, I didn't know a professor would have kept me that long.".
It had passed two weeks since you had been sick and Johan had been at your place. After that, Johan and you didn't have a lot of encounters except the days when he was tutoring you since you were quite busy working on your dissertation. He helped you a lot with Latin which Schuwald noticed and complimented you, making you very grateful to the young man. Not only was he your first friend (or at last the one who you could remember of) but one of the first people you actually truly respected. At the last sessions which he held for you, Johan told you that Schuwald had made him his secretary and that the old man would held a speech once his books were donated to the library. Assuming that the ceremony must be very important to Johan and Schuwald, you told him that you would come on the ceremony as well. Once he heard that, Johan said to you that he would like very much to pick you up before ceremony, which just happened to be at the last day of your attendance at University.
"Oh yes! Marco, this is Johan, a friend of mine. Johan, this is Marco, he is...a guy I just bumped into."
The blonde moved his gaze from you at Marco. His expression didn't change but a flicker in his eyes made it obvious that he and Marco wouldn't be friends in future "Nice to meet you."
"Same, man." the raven haired guy raised his hand and slightly waved as a careless grin plastered on his face. The blush from his face was again as he once again looked at you "He isn't your boyfriend?"
You blinked in confusion. That question really caught you out of guard "W-what? I mean, no."
"Great to hear that! That means I still have a chance with you." he winked and turned around, his eyes still gazing at yours as he started walking towards the entrance door "Hope to see you again, ________."
"...I guess." you spoke unsure and waved back at Marco who was already gone "What just happened?"
"I believe Marco likes you." Johan spoke, his eyes still looking at the direction in which Marco had left. His voice was calm but the way he was said those words it was clear that he didn't like them.
A short and forced laugh left your mouth "Me? Why would he like someone like me? There are plenty of girls who are way better than me. I am person who looks at the whole world and people with different eyes. I try to stay optimistic but I look at the world with pessimistic eyes. I am a person who is focused so much on myself that I haven't made a friend during my life." a saddened smile crossed your lips "I...I don't even know my true self. Plus, I am not any kind of extraordinary beauty to catch his attention ."
"That's not how I see you." Johan spoke, placing his hands between his back as other serene smile crossed his lips. His blue eyes became a bit intense as they stared into yours "What I see is a beautiful, smart and unique lady who is trying to find her place in this chaotic world. She is fighting with her own demons every day and she isn't giving up. She is becoming stronger each day and that, my dear, is makes you an extraordinary beauty who is able to do anything."
A small blush crossed your cheeks as you tightened your grip on the file in your hands "J-Johan..."
"And I am quite sure that I don't have to ask you that you graduated with the highest mark with so little tools. Isn't that what makes you fascinating as well? You should be more pride of yourself."
A genuine smile lighted up your expression as your heart started pounding faster "Thank you...I've never heard such nice words from anyone."
He extended his hand for you and spoke in a calming voice "Should we go? The ceremony is about to start."
