Sophia forced herself to study, even if the energy to do so was absolute zero. For a second, she did not believe that a day would come when what she loved doing best would be making her fatigued.
As she was robotically typing away, the thoughts about the mysterious audio popped into her mind again. She had already concluded that it was a sick prank made by someone, so she didn't base her mind on that matter anymore.
However, the thoughts kept popping into her head distracting her further. She groaned and paused her research.
She closed all the tabs she opened and launched Meta. She then searched for the name "James S". Although she had forgotten his surname, she still remembered it started with an "S". Unsure, she proceeded with using only the 'S' word.
The search finished with fifty-five output. It took Sophia more than ten minutes to sort out all the accounts, but she could not find James' account in the sea of other similar names.
She tried reversing the name, "S. James", but the result was still the same. Frustrated, she attempted to search his name on google, but the result was even worse than on Meta.
This guy is not on Meta, she thought and thinned her lips. Closing the app, she proceeded to begrudgingly continue her research. Seriously, apart from researching all day, there was nothing better for her to do.
It was getting late, and Beatrice had informed her two hours ago for her dinner, but she had totally forgotten. By now, the dinner would have gone cold, so there was no need to go to eat anymore. She would probably skip dinner, as she had no appetite to eat anyways.
Her phone vibrated, indicating a message. It was from Daniel. "Hi, Sophia".
Sophia stared at the message for a split second before turning off the screen and sighed. I have no time to reply to him, she thought as she began feeling sleepy. She turned off her laptop and closed her eyes.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
After playing an intense game, Daniel exited the game and slumped on the small couch in the sitting room. A family of six came into his house, and his father pleaded to him to sleep in the sitting room for now. As much as he resented it, he had no choice but to obey him.
Before he called it a day, Daniel opened his WhatsApp message for any new messages. There were six messages, all coming from his friends. After replying to the five and ignoring one, he closed the app. But he suddenly remembered something and opened the app again.
He searched for Sophia's name, and it came up. He clicked her profile picture, and it displayed a very pretty picture of Sophia and her mom smiling. These made Daniel smile a little. In addition to her inborn gift, she was also kind, generous, and so jovial. Who would not love someone like that?
He wrote a long message, asking her if there was anything he did that was angering her, let him apologize. Thinking about it, he could not understand why Sophia suddenly became hostile to him. Their friendship was going smoothly for more than a year, but suddenly, it just went south.
Sighing, he cleared the long message and sent a short message. "Hi, Sophia". Although it was a short message, Daniel was a bit apprehensive. This was his first message to her for two years. Time is passed so fast.
Although he prepared that she will not reply to him, it still hurt realizing that his instinct proved true. He plugged in his phone in disappointment and lay on the couch with a blanket.
Closing his eyes, he could still see the image of Sophia's innocent flashing in his mind occasionally. This girl is truly something. It took him an hour and a half to truly fall asleep.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Just as Sophia was about to eat her breakfast the next morning, her phone started ringing. Normally she sets a special ringtone for the ones she knew well and left the default ringtone for the people she didn't know or was not on her contact list.
The tone that was playing was the default ringtone, causing her to frown. She checked the ID on Truecaller. "Mark Ardolf" is displayed on the banner of his profile.
It was her biology teacher. "What?" She muffled while eating her bread. "Who is that?" Beatrice asked as she picked a slice of bread and butteredit carefully. "It's my biology teacher. I wonder what he wants from me." Sophia picked up the call, and before she could say "hello", his voice interrupted her.
"Sophia, hi! Uhh, I'm sorry for calling you at this time of the hour. The reason for calling you is to inform you to come to my lab during the break. There is something I want to tell you, and it cannot be on the phone."
The last time she went to that lab, she was depressed, so why the hell would she want to go back again?
"Sir, I'm sorry, why am I coming to…" Sophia was talking when Beatrice gently took the phone from her ears. "Hold on, let me answer this", she said as she placed her phone on her ears.
"Hello, this is Sophia's guardian….. uh-huh…. Yeah right, but why would I allow Sophia to come to your lab again, because the last time I remembered, she became depressed right after your visit…. Okay… okay…"
Sophia was itching to know what he told Beatrice. Right after she was done, she nudged Beatrice impatiently. "What did he say?"
"He informed me you will be visiting his office, but for a different reason. He wants to see more of your work", Beatrice said, giving the phone back to Sophia.
Huh? Why does he want more of my research? Literally, two days ago, He said my research was 'not good enough. So why does he want to feast his eyes on them again?
These questions were not going to answer themselves. It's was until she went to his office that she would quell her curiosity.