Back In time

Fourteen

"Now, can you recite the first ten elements of the periodic table."

Easy.

I smirked upon hearing his question. Science was not only my favorite but also the only subject that gave me the thrills.

"Hydrogen. Helium. Beryllium. Boron. Carbon. Nitrogen. Oxygen. Fluorine. Neon" I answered with great confidence. Nicholas looked at me in awe.

"Can you tell me, how you knew of these elements when there are only a handful of people who knows." He frowned at me as his fingers grazed his chin.

"I have ways that you cannot fathom." I shrugged my shoulder, feeling a tinge of happiness admixed with satisfaction." Meanwhile, Nicholas seems to be satisfied with my answer as he replied it with a small grin. I smiled back at him. It seems like Camille was right after all.

This is going better than I thought! He's not so bad once you get to know him!

Just then, there was a knock on the door and Christian came walking into the room.

"Sir, Mrs. Dolittle is here, shall I have them wait in the hall?"

"It is fine, I shall see to her myself." With a bow, Christian left the room. Swiftly, Nicholas walked to the chalk board and started jotting a few mathematical equations. I was glad that the sound of chalk diminished the awkwardness in the room.

"Now, I am going to give you two mathematical questions. When I get back, see to it that it is done."

And so here I was, left alone in the room. Facing two algebra questions that looked completely alien to me. In case you have yet to notice, I am terrible at math, and would give anything to be rid of them. But I guess it is inevitable to avoid them. I didn't want to disappoint Camille nor Agnes who had put so much effort in me.

I guess I will just have to fend for myself against these two questions.

"I can't do this! Who sets questions this hard?" I sat down on the chair and looked at all the scribbles I made on the chalk board. It has been thirty minutes since Nicholas left, and these thirty minutes has done nothing but inflict exhaustion and a splitting migraine. Truth be told, this is the first time that I had put much effort into something that I hated the most. And surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Though the answers may be wrong, I kind of enjoyed the fact that my brain was working.

Not knowing how to proceed with the question, I started to pace about in the room while waiting for Nicholas to return. I stared in awe at the wondrous carpentry of the ceiling architecture and thought to myself as to why I didn't bother enjoying them when I first stepped into this room.

Just then, a strong gust of wind swept in, forcing not just the curtains to bend against the breeze, but the papers to rustle and plummet towards the ground. I proceeded to shut the windows and gather the documents from the floor.

My gaze fell on his desk as I placed the papers neatly by the side. Piles of paper were arranged haphazardly, leaving little to no working space available. Eventually, I took the initiative to stack them up neatly.

Once I was satisfied by how tidy the place looked, I went back to my seat. It didn't take long before I was startled by the rough opening of the door. In came a furious Nicholas as he stomped his way back to his desk.

"Who shifted my belongings!" He shouted. 

"Uhmm... I did..."I responded, standing up slowly. It was kind of scary when he got angry. But I was also curious as to who and what made him this way.