Sweet Retrieval

Prologue

It felt like she finally reached her limit and she thought it was too much to her to handle.

Although she has often heard that Romania's education system prepares future aces in all areas of activity, she would never have expected to have such an intense exam session. The last three weeks were like fighting the impossible. She prepared herself a lot for the winter exams, meditated on three students who turned to her for help in the hope that they would pass their outstanding exams, and all this without neglecting her extracurricular projects in which she was involved.

Today, after finishing the last exam in the first semester, she felt more tired than ever. The lack of sleep in the last three weeks and the constant presence of stress weakened her and caused her to lose weight, reaching a comparison between her and a walking corpse. Although she considered herself too thin, she had a figure that many young women in their twenties want to have. She was tall, about one hondred and seventy-five centimetres, slender, with well-defined shapes, carefully sculpted in aerobics classes. The blond hair, up to the middle of the back, perfectly framed a round face with a small nose, fleshy lips and large eyes, of the most beautiful shade of blue. She was often told she was a natural Barbie.

She was on her way out of college, thinking she was overwhelmed by what she would find at home: a soft blanket, a large cup of hot chocolate, and Zane Mackenzie, the fascinating hero in Linda Howard's "An Unforgettable Night." Once past the slightly massive heat retention inside, the February air hit her straight ahead, waking her from daydreaming. She took her headphones out of her bag and connected them to her phone, randomly choosing a song from the playlist she loved so much. The piano chords were begining to take effect, bringing her back into a state of daydreaming, being urged to forget all the worries.

Her slow steps led her to the bus station at the northeast end of the beautifully arranged parking lot. She took a short look over her shoulder to contemplate the beautiful winter scenery. The imposing building used as a faculty was in the past the castle of a great nobleman, Jacob Moldovianu, being in constant wind during the three centuries of existence. Set on a hill and surrounded by three-part forest, it offered a beautiful landscape, which always reminded her of the fairy tales her grandfather read to her as a child.

Driving away the image of her grandfather holding a five-year-old girl on his knees and reading her stories, she quietly resumed her way to the bus station. And then she saw him. She saw him leaning against his car. His hands were folded across his chest and he was staring at her, as if he expected a reaction from her. But what could she do? She tried to keep their eyes from meeting because she didn't want to reveal what was obvious: she was madly and irrevocably in love with him.

Advancing unhurriedly to her great happiness and disappointment at the same time, she remembered how it all began, in that first week of college, four months ago.