As I approached the cafeteria, I noticed Lydia sitting at a table, sipping her coffee.
She looked elegant in her light brown jacket, and her dark hair flowed gracefully down her shoulders.
"Hey, Lydia," I greeted her with a friendly tone.
She had been gazing out the window, but her attention shifted to when I sat down.
"Oh, hi, Max. I’m happy that you made it. How was the flight?" Lydia greeted warmly.
"Not bad... I don’t even feel tired," I replied.
"That’s good. So... Max, I wrote to you before that I got my Ph.D. already. Or rather, I will get it in 3 days at an official ceremony," she said with a smile.
"So they let you skip 3 sesters, from what I understand?" I asked. It seed a bit unusual to . Normally, you would at least need to pass so exams.
"No, they let through based on trust," Lydia explained.
"Trust?"
"Yeah... I still need to write those exams after I get my Ph.D., but with my other project, I had enough points to obtain my Ph.D. So after an oral examination, the Professors agreed to grant the Ph.D."
"I understand. That’s cool, but why did you want to speak with ?" I asked curiously.
With a hint of shyness, Lydia said, "Well... I thought that maybe... I really enjoyed working with you, Max. So I thought that you could hire or sothing? I heard that you’re working on fusion technology. I would love to work on that!"
"Hmm... That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea. You already have a good basis on the monopoles after all," I said.
Lydia’s eyes lit up. "Yes! And I’ve made good progress on that, Max. I learned your theory on this..."
"Alright, Lydia. I’ll start hiring people soon, so I’ll call you then. I can even make you a team leader," I offered.
"Caugh!", She seed overwheld by the idea and accidentally spilled her coffee. "I don’t know if I can take that sort of responsibility, Max."
"Don’t worry! I’ll give you so training," I replied with a playful smirk.
"I’m already shaking, Max. Be lenient,"
We continued to talk about more details, and at so point, students started approaching , asking for autographs.
It seed that I couldn’t escape from my newfound celebrity status.
Lydia ntioned that an autograph I’d given her earlier, complete with the date, was fetching a pretty penny from collectors.
Back in my dorm room, I found Rick as usual.
The tough part of the sester was on the horizon, but Rick seed unruffled. He didn’t need to revise at all.
He was still killing it at Microsoft, and he’d even snagged a well-deserved promotion.
As I was laying in my bed, weird thoughts invaded my brain.
What was I even doing all of this for? Was it for myself? Was it for soone? What’s the point? What was the endga here?
Was there sothing that I trully cared about?
...
The Dreamland was still fading to a nacing shade of red that seed to seep into every crevice.
The eleven blue cots now floated in the midst of this crimson nightmare.
The very ground beneath my feet had transford into a surreal, unsettling blood-red abyss.
the only remnants of normality were the nets, still retaining their unique, shifting shades.
...
I woke up in the middle of the night.
I grabbed my laptop and began scrolling through arXiv, exploring a myriad of Quantum Physics papers and mathematical theories.
I felt like I could prove so of them with just so ti; however, they appeared entirely irrelevant, yielding little benefit even if comprehended.
What to do?
As ti passed, it was already early morning.
Our plan was to visit New York with Olivia.
Finding parking space in New York would be a huge challenge, especially on New Year’s Eve, so we set off around 11 AM as soon as Olivia got ready.
She sported a pair of stylish black sneakers, paired with sleek black trousers. To complete her look, she wrapped herself in a vibrant red puffer jacket.
A little while later, we stumbled upon a charming restaurant and ate lunch.
As we sat at our cozy corner table, an uneasiness crept over .
I thought back to the situation with Ms. Brooks, and how I understood it, in theory, I should be experiencing regret.
I should feel like I have done sothing wrong.
As if I had made a grave mistake.
"Max? Hello!" Olivia waved her hand in front of my eyes, attempting to rouse from my thoughts.
I blinked, realizing she was trying to get my attention. "Oh, sorry, Oliv. I was lost in thought for a mont there."
"What’s up, Max? Is sothing wrong? Is the beef not to your liking? You can just order sothing else."
"No, it’s not that, Oliv."
"You need to relax, Max. Sothing has been different with you lately. You shouldn’t be thinking about work today.", she seed genuinely concerned.
I didn’t feel like I have made a mistake. I didn’t feel remorse.
What’s the point of regret and remorse.
Those simply felt like unnecessary burdens.
Devoid of any enrichnt or purpose in my life.
After our lunch, Olivia suggested going for a walk in Central Park.
We found a parking spot closer to the park, paid for parking, and took a leisurely stroll around Central Park.
After about an hour, we sat down on a bench and began discussing our plans for the evening.
We talked about the upcoming New Year’s Eve party, the countdown to midnight, and our future plans together.
Olivia was enthusiastic about the idea of buying a house with , and we decided that we’d start house-hunting the next day.
Before that we really wanted to have so fun.
"How’s your sester going, Oliv?"
"Really well, Max. I’m loving Professor Milik’s classes; his way of teaching is crazy good and he make laugh too. I might even get a scholarship for next sester with my results."
"Yea. Professor Milik is a great guy. I know sothing about that!"
"And how did your trip to Germany go? Did you manage to convince people, and where are you planning to build the fusion engine?"
"Well, I can say that we made so progress. There are so crazy investnt comming. The plan is to build it in Germany."
"Oh... so you’re gonna be away from Boston?"
"Yea. For so ti..."
"Hmm. I hope you will visit often."
I looked at Olivia and my feelings were getting extrely complicated.
My social awareness was telling that sothing was wrong.
I knew that usually people don’t reveal things that they know could hurt soone.
Things that would not be beneficial for them in any way.
However, for so reason, I didn’t feel the sa way.
I didn’t feel like that at all.
"Olivia, I need you need to know sothing", I said.
She lookes at , confused, "Hmm? Why are you calling Olivia? What’s happening here?"
"I cheated on you Oliv.", I said blatendly.
Olivia’s eyes widened as she looked at , "What? What are you talking about?"
"Back in Germany. I cheated on you with Ms. Brooks."
There was a long pause, before Olivia broke the quiet, "So that’s why you’ve been so absent all this ti?"
"Not exactly", I answered.
"Not exactly? Are you fu**cking kidding ? But what’s the reason? It’s not like I’m completely closed to an open relationship. Why did you do that behind my back?"
"Well... I just did it."
"You... you just did it?! Max... Sothing has been very wrong with you lately. I think you should get so help. So dical help."
"I might just do that", I said, but I wasn’t really considering it.
I felt like I was fully in control of my thoughts. In control of what I did.
Hiding things was useless
Lying was useless.
A complete waste of ti.
A sense of clarity washed over as if I had found answers to the questions that had been haunting my thoughts.
"Max! I wanted to spend this night together, but I’m sorry, I can’t just continue this like that. I think we should break apart. At least for now..."
"Do I drive you back?"
She thought for so ti, before shaking her head, "I will just take an Uber."
Should I be sad? Should I cry? I didn’t feel like it.
Being in a relationship where people hide their true selves seed unnecessary.
Inefficient.
My mind quickly moved away from what had happened and focused on the house I wanted to buy.
The only difference would be that I would be buying it alone...
Or maybe I should invite soone to help choose?
In hindsight, there was only one mistake in what I did that day, the last day of 2023.
I omitted the fact that Olivia had a different side to her.
She had a crazy side to her. Or did she?
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