6. Start of Understanding
1135 Words
Everyone in the library immediately gathered around Zea. Even the librarian, who had been silent earlier, also approached her. Meanwhile, Zea was still crying and not ready to talk yet.
“It's alright, just keep crying. Once you feel relieved, then you can talk,” said Andrei.
A few seconds later, after she was done crying, Zea started to talk. She said she lost the thesis file she had just revised. If it was accidentally deleted, it should still be in the recycle bin, unless someone mischievously deleted everything on purpose.
“Didn't you save the file on your phone?” asked the woman with glasses.
“I haven't had the chance to move it. I do have it on my phone, but it's the file that hasn't been revised,” she replied, wiping away her still-flowing tears.
“Which chapters did you send to me last time?” asked Andrei.
“Chapters 1 to 3 that haven't been revised. I usually do offline guidance, Sir. That's why I rarely send files to you.”
“So the one that's missing is the file you just revised?” asked Andrei again.
Zea nodded while wiping her tears. “I worked on it all night without sleeping, Sir. That's why I'm really shocked. Who wants to revise that much again? I'm exhausted, Sir. Exhausted...” she lamented.
Everyone there let out a heavy sigh. They felt sorry for Zea because this was a major disaster feared by all final-year students working on their thesis.
“You really need to be more careful. Don't just save your thesis on the laptop. After working on it, transfer it to your phone immediately. So if anything happens, you still have a backup,” scolded the library lady. Meanwhile, Zea just remained silent, looking down while playing with her fingers.
Andrei sighed at the library lady's attitude. Although he often acted harshly towards Zea, he didn't dare to scold the woman in this situation, because it was purely an accident. Who wants to be struck by disaster? Andrei even shuddered at the thought.
“It's alright. Disasters are unpredictable. Revising is easy; it can be done after the defense is over. For now, focus on guidance for chapter 4.”
Zea suddenly looked at him in shock after hearing the man's words. Her gaze seemed to say, “Is this really Mr. Andrei I know?” But Andrei just responded with a faint smile.
“Come on, I'll be waiting in my office,” said Andrei as he stood up from his crouch.
***
Zea was confused. When she arrived at Andrei's office, instead of getting guidance, she was told to leave.
“I have a meeting with the Rector in half an hour. Just go home and come to my house tonight.”
“Why should I go to your house?”
“For guidance. Unless you want to do more revisions?”
Zea quickly shook her head. She was already relieved; was she really going to be asked to revise again?
“Alright, off you go,” Andrei dismissed her.
Zea quickly hurried away. At least she was grateful that Andrei gave her time to rest. She didn't want to stress over her lost thesis anymore. The more she thought about it, the more it pained her.
“Oh, is this the student who's supposed to be accomplished but can't finish her thesis?”
Zea immediately stopped in her tracks. Three women were now standing beside her. One of them was the person who exchanged books with Zea earlier.
“Mr. Yohan said a student's quality is judged by their thesis skills. If she can't do it, then she's just been pretending to be smart all along, right?” said another woman, looking at Zea disdainfully.
Zea just gave them a blank stare. Meanwhile, the person who exchanged books with Zea just stood silently with a crooked smile, arms crossed in front of her chest.
The three of them have been Zea's arch-enemies since forever. Not only Zea, but they also have enmity with people they consider their rivals.
Their enmity began because Zea always got attention from seniors during the orientation period. They were jealous because they also wanted attention from the seniors they considered handsome.
Eventually, they started antagonizing Zea by bothering her every day, making her increasingly uncomfortable until she decided to fight back.
“Susan... Susan. I know you've been cunning from the start. You're the one who deleted my thesis file, aren't you?” Zea asked, making the woman's face tense up immediately. Meanwhile, Zea just smiled disdainfully at her.
“You should be grateful to have an enemy as kind as me. I'm not one to hold back. If I report you to Mr. Andrei, you're done for,” she continued.
Yes, they were in the same guidance group, and from the start, Andrei was known to be strict. If there was any mischief in the thesis, he wouldn't hesitate to punish them. For example, last year one of their seniors was caught using a thesis ghostwriter, and Andrei took firm action by making them change the title and start over.
“Don't talk nonsense! There's no way I deleted your thesis. If it's missing, then you were careless!” Susan snapped, denying Zea's accusation. Meanwhile, Zea just smiled crookedly in response.
"The more upset you get, the more guilty you look." After saying that, Zea walked away, leaving the three women even more furious.
***
Andrei returned from university at four in the afternoon, and he was currently tidying up the house with his young daughter helping him.
"Why didn't Sena go with Grandma too?" asked Andrei, while cleaning his sofa with a vacuum cleaner. Meanwhile, his daughter was busy dusting the table with a feather duster.
"No. Grandma takes a long time when she goes to weddings," replied Sena.
Yes, Sean had just gone with his grandmother to a wedding in the neighboring complex. Sena didn't want to go because she got bored meeting unfamiliar people. She is indeed an introvert, unlike her twin, who is very extrovert.
"Alright, just go watch TV, Sena. Let Dad do the cleaning," Andrei instructed. But Sena refused.
"No, I want to help Dad."
The child has indeed inherited her father's diligence. At her young age, she already liked to help Dad and Grandma when cleaning the house. Unlike Sean, who is as lazy as his biological mother.
"Why is Dad cleaning again? Grandma had already cleaned earlier."
"There's going to be a guest."
"Who?"
"Dad's student."
"Girl or boy?"
"Girl."
"Is she pretty?"
Andrei paused for a moment. Then he answered, "Pretty."
Sena's eyes lit up. She then approached her father and asked, "Is she going to be my new mom?"
- Writer
