When Lucy returned to her dorm, it was quiet. Chelsea wasn’t around.
She dropped her backpack to the floor before collapsing into her chair with a long sigh.
Her shoulders ached.
Between the endless discussions, stacks of research papers, her brain felt like it had run a marathon.
She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds.
Three bacteria. They had finally made progress.
Yet, it still felt like they were standing outside a locked door without the key.
She reached for her laptop, opening it almost absent-mindedly.
Her eyes drifted to the small notebook lying beside it.
If you get stuck... contact me.
Kane’s words echoed in her mind, and she exhaled softly.
Would this count as being stuck? They had a lead already... they just didn’t know where to go from there.
Lucy reached for her phone. She hesitated for a while before she clicked on Kane’s contact.
She bit her lip as her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Should she send him a text?
The debate didn’t last long as her fingers began to type on the phone’s keyboard.
She typed a greeting, and stared at it for a moment.
Then she deleted it.
Too soft. Too... intimate..
She typed again, and deleted it.
"Urgh!" She groaned, throwing her head back in frustration. "Why is messaging a professor so stressful?"
Eventually—
Good evening, Professor Sterling.
Our group has narrowed the possible target organisms down to three multidrug-resistant bacteria. However, we’re unsure how to determine which organism the compound was designed for. Could you kindly point us in the right direction?
She read it again and changed kindly to please.
She thought for a while, then changed it back.
Lucy exhaled sharply, before finally settling on please.
Satisfied, she leaned into the chair as she... waited.
"Or I could type a Chapter." She mused to herself as her gaze drifted to her laptop.
Sterling’s Pharmaceutical Laboratory.
Kane was on his way out of the lab when his phone buzzed in his pocket.
He paused in his steps as he brought it out.
When he saw who had sent him a text, his lips curved almost imperceptibly.
"Sooner than I expected." He murmured as he flexed his shoulders before returning his phone to his pocket.
Walking towards his car, his phone rang. When he saw the caller ID, the small smile he was sporting vanished instantly.
He picked the call.
"What?"
"Come home for dinner."
"No."
He ended the call.
About thirty minutes later, Kane arrived at his apartment. He took slow strides towards the kitchen as he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and a glass.
He poured a reasonable amount into the glass and set the bottle on the table.
Swirling the whiskey in one hand, he unlocked his phone with the other. Almost without thinking, he opened Lucy’s conversation.
He read through the messages, and his brows creased. The messages they shared were surprisingly short and... professional.
Did you forget that you were the one who set the boundaries? She’s only adhering to it. His subconscious reminded him, and his hand tightened around the glass.
Kane shook his head. "What the hell am I thinking about?"
He read through her message. And once again, he was impressed by the direction they had taken.
He quickly typed a reply:
Good evening, Lucy.
Your group is asking the right question.
Don’t compare the bacteria first. Compare how each organism survives exposure to antibiotics. Ask yourself which resistance mechanism would justify designing an entirely new scaffold instead of modifying an existing drug.
The answer you’re looking for is hidden there.
He paused for a while before he added;
Good night, Lucy. Sleep well.
Then—
He pressed send.
Meanwhile, Lucy had barely written a paragraph since she sent him the text message.
She stared at her laptop screen without moving... until her phone buzzed.
She jumped as she reached for it almost immediately.
Then paused.
"You’re acting as if you’ve been waiting for his reply," she muttered to herself.
She deliberately counted to five before she picked the phone up.
But that didn’t help.
The moment she unlocked the screen, her eyes flew to the notification.
Professor Sterling.
Her thumb moved before she could stop herself.
As she read, the knot in her chest slowly loosened.
He had given them a direction, not the answer.
A small smile tugged on her lips. Then her eyes dropped to the last line.
Good night, Lucy. Sleep well.
Lucy blinked. "Lucy?"
"Did I read it wrongly?"
She rubbed her eyes as she read it again.
Nope. She didn’t read it wrongly.
He had addressed her as Lucy.
Lucy. Not Miss Bennett.
Just... Lucy.
She stared at the screen for another second before laughing quietly at herself. "You’re reading too much into it."
He probably addressed all his students that way... didn’t he?
Shaking the thought away, she pulled her notebook closer and wrote one sentence across the top of a fresh page.
Resistance Mechanisms.
Beneath it, she listed the three bacteria again.
Rubbing her palms eagerly, she murmured, "let’s see which one of you is being hidden."
She reached for the first journal on the pile.
This time, she knew exactly where to begin.
Monday Morning.
Lucy stepped out of her room, and looked around with furrowed brows.
"Chelsea?" She called out softly.
"Here." A soft voice drifted from the kitchen, and Lucy allowed her feet to lead her there.
What she saw made her pause in her tracks.
Chelsea was sitting at the small kitchen table, a mug of tea untouched in front of her. Her hair was tied into a messy bun.
Her eyes... they were swollen.
"Chel," Lucy’s voice was small, instinctively frowning. "What happened?"
Chelsea laughed softly, but the sound came out as a choked sob.
"He broke up with me."
Lucy’s eyes widened. "Charles?"
She nodded in response.
"Oh God," Lucy moved closer to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulder.
Chelsea’s shoulders trembled as she broke into small sobs.
"I guess..." she whispered between sobs. "...your ex wasn’t the only idiot."
Lucy sighed as she rubbed Chelsea’s back.
"I caught him cheating."
Lucy froze. "What?"
"He didn’t even apologize." Chelsea laughed bitterly.
"Chel..."
Chelsea stared blankly at the floor as she pulled away from Lucy’s arms. "Do you know what he told me?"
Lucy shook her head.
Chelsea laughed—a hollow, broken sound. "He told me I could join them."
Lucy frowned. "...Join them?"
"He said we could make it a threesome."
Lucy blinked, her lips parting in shock.
"Lu..." she whispered, covering her face. "I’ve never felt so disgusted in my life."