Chapter 20

I never thought I’d see Pax again.

But fate, it seemed, had a cruel sense of humor.

Two years later, on another Christmas Eve, as Berlin slipped into wintertime, I found myself walking through streets dusted in the season’s first snowfall. The golden glow of streetlamps flickered against frost–coated windows, the world outside hushed and serene.

Inside the lab, however, serenity was the last thing on our professor’s mind.

“This one’s going to be a handful,” she muttered, rubbing her temples in exasperation.

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Her frustration was so uncharacteristic that Erike and I exchanged amused glances.

“What’s the problem, Professor?” Erike asked, barely suppressing a grin.

“A hard case,” she sighed. “Connections. Family money. One of those. Can’t be fired, hard to manage–what a

headache.”

Then, as if resigning herself to fate, she looked between the two of us.

“So? Which one of you is going to mentor him?”

-A man, then.

1 instinctively took a full step back.

“Erike you do it.” I shook my head with mock solemnity.

“I’d hate for her to fall helplessly in love with me.”

A voice came from behind me.

I hadn’t heard in two

“Cecilia.”

I stilled.

I thought I had imagined

I turned, there he

Pax Brown.

in our lab.

officially

weeks that followed he shattered nine beakers.

to turn off the equipment fifteen

he nearly melted an expensive

him and, for the first time in two years,

should just marry a

Pax froze.

he just stared

eyes turned red.

voice raw. “Does this mean you’ve

at me like he had been waiting for this moment longer

had meant every word he’d said back then..

done

long since

had never been the

had grown

by her side,buying her gifts. Picking her up

her place, maybe I would have fallen

my

asking me this question means you

fingers twitching at his sides–like he

forward, casually positioning himself between us.

turned uneven.

it, then?” His voice was barely above

Erike?

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