Flora’s Guide to a Second Chance at Love and Life

and for each question, she wrote just one formula, or a sentence or two, then swiftly moved on to the next.

Flora picked up her pen with a calm and collected ease, seemingly carelessly jotting down formula after formula. Her speed was astonishing! In less than half a minute, she had finished the first question. Then, onto the second... The third... Almost without seeming to think, In less than five minutes, she had caught up with, and even surpassed, some of the others in their problem-solving speed.

"How can she be so fast? She's not just scribbling nonsense, is she?" Many were stunned and murmured among themselves. That comment was met with disdainful looks from those nearby, who then, realizing their faux pas, fell into embarrassed silence.

Flora, scribbling nonsense? Perhaps they might have thought so before, but not now - they didn't dare. Their faces had been metaphorically slapped enough already; any more and they'd start to swell!

Only... The formulas Flora wrote were indeed beyond their comprehension.

a curious contestant from the U.S. team to their team

part of those formulas. Some, he wanted to examine more closely, but by

asked Debra and others from the Austenberg team, unable to

"Cough cough, whether they're

we'll know soon enough, won't we?" Mr. Tanner touched his nose, not wanting to admit that he too found them hard to understand. But knowing Flora as he did he was confident that she wouldn't just write formulas without reason. Her confident approach suggested they were likely correct. The worry he had initially felt began to dissipate. A smile couldn't help but spread across his lips. He had said it, with Flora on the case, there would

last two questions, still at an astonishing speed, and

start of the competition. And considering that Flora didn't start immediately, she had completed all the questions in just ten minutes. The room fell silent,

...

frustration. How could those formulas have been written by Flora, when even she could barely understand them? How could Flora possibly! She was only so