Having reached her limit, she told herself that it had been too much. Although she had often heard that Romania's education system trains future aces in every field of activity, she never would have expected to go through such an intense exam session. The last three weeks had felt like a battle against the impossible. She had prepared extensively for the winter exams, tutored three students who had turned to her for help in the hope of passing their retake exams, and managed all this without neglecting the extracurricular projects she was involved in.
Today, after finishing the last exam of the first semester, she felt more exhausted than ever. The lack of sleep over the past three weeks and the constant presence of stress had drained her, causing weight loss to the point where she compared herself to a walking corpse.
Although she considered herself too thin, she had a figure many twenty-year-old girls dreamed of having. She was about one meter seventy-five tall, slender, with well-defined curves carefully sculpted during aerobics classes.
Her blonde hair, falling halfway down her back, perfectly framed a round face with a small nose, full lips, and large eyes of the most beautiful shade of blue. She was often told she was a natural Barbie.
She was heading toward the exit of the university building, her thoughts invaded by what awaited her at home: a soft blanket, a large mug of hot chocolate, and Zane Mackenzie, the fascinating hero of the book "One Unforgettable Night" by Linda Howard. Once she passed through the massive doors that kept the warmth inside, the cold February air hit her straight in the face, snapping her out of her reverie.
She took her headphones out of her bag and connected them to her phone, randomly choosing a song from her much-loved playlist. The piano chords began to take effect, drawing her once again into a daydreaming state, urging her to forget all her worries.
Her steps carried her toward the bus stop at the northeastern end of the beautifully landscaped parking lot. She cast a brief glance over her shoulder to take in the lovely winter scenery. The imposing building used as a university had once been the castle of a great nobleman, Iacob Moldovianu, standing for three centuries under the constant assault of the wind.
Located on a hill and surrounded by forest on three sides, it offered a magnificent view that always reminded her of the fairy tales her father used to read her in childhood.
Chasing away the image of her parent holding a five-year-old child on his lap and reading her stories, she calmly resumed her walk toward the bus stop.
And then she saw him. She saw him leaning against his car. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was staring at her intently, as if waiting for a reaction from her. But what could she do? She tried to avoid meeting his gaze because she didn't want to reveal what was obvious: she was madly and irrevocably in love with him. Moving unhurriedly toward her greatest happiness and, at the same time, her greatest disappointment, she remembered how it had all begun, during that first week of university, four months ago.