Anastasiia Deniz Mitchell "Don’t Fall in Love with an Aquarius: Saint Petersburg. Volume 2"

“And she,” he pointed at the younger woman, “helped me write my course paper and then thesis.”

“Wow, it’s quite a friendship,” I thought and then said, “Are all of you qualified engineers?”

“The two of us – yeah,” the man pointed at the younger woman and himself. “And she,” the younger woman went on, nodding at the elder one, “is a musician.”

“A musician? Why are you begging here, then?” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Because we’re disabled, my girl,” the older woman said. “When you’re in suc a state, you can hardly move! Just think!”

“Of course!” I agreed.

“So,” she went on, “is your man, Emre, a would-be engineer?”

“Yes, he is.”

“And you?” the woman asked.

“I’m an English teacher.”

“What a seemingly good match – a teacher and an engineer!” she chuckled.

“Yeah,” I sighed.

“So, do you love him?”

“I do,” I said firmly.

“So, what’re you going to do then, after he didn’t meet you?”

“Err… Let me think…” I said thoughtfully.

“Will you try searching for him?”

It wasn’t a bad idea, though!

After aВ few minutes, IВ nodded confidently:

“I will!”

“Oh, my God!” the older woman laughed openly. “She’s a brave one, isn’t she?”

The man said, “When we were students, there was a curious saying among LETI inhabitants. If you have nowhere to elapse, LETI is the only place. That’s what many people did when they were alone or had no one to talk to. Seems like you’ve got to do the same.”

“So,” the older woman asked me, “will you do the same thing?”

“I have no choice,” I shrugged my shoulders. “I love him.”

“We hope everything’ll be fine,” she looked at me. “Good luck to you! And, of course, we’ll pray for you!”

I said goodbye to them and headed… yes, towards my destination point. LETI.

After an hour or so, IВ reached the University. The outer building looked like aВ castle. There were several inner buildings located inside the campus. The castle one opened on the street.

I’d say practically every building in Saint Petersburg looked like a castle…

As IВ came closer and closer, only one thought was running on my mind. ToВ see Emre. At least toВ catch aВ glimpse ofВ theВ man.

Emre! My Emre…

It was so illogical… Actually, the man who sent you off wouldn’t be worth even his name pronounced and thought of. However, love is such a thing that… you never know what you’ll think of a second or a minute later.

That was my situation. Only he was on my mind.

“I need to have a look at the timetable,” I thought. “What’s his group number?”

It wasn’t all that simple, though. Because of something I hadn’t even suggested before. The entry checkpoint.

“Hello,” I said to the security officer at the entrance. “I’m coming to a job interview.”

“Your first name? Last name?” there was both the question and the answer.

“Aziza Kadirova,” I said.

“Let me have a look in today’s job interview database…” he took a tablet out of his tabletholder.

What? How sophisticated it all was! IВ desired toВ see Emre without the stuff like red tape!

“No,” the man said after a while. “I’m afraid your name’s not included in today’s list. Maybe you’ll be able to come tomorrow in case you appear in the list…” he shrugged his shoulders.

“So,” I frowned, “I’m not permitted to be let in, am I?”

“No, I’m afraid you’re not, Miss,” the officer sighed.

Goodness gracious! What should IВ do then?

“What do I need to go in?” I asked.

“A pass. The pass is required for all the University staff and students.”

“How may I make it?”

“Well, you should address the entry checkpoint center,” the man coldly shrugged his shoulders. “Only then may you be let in.”

My Emre…!

I was absolutely desperate to see him. But how and when…?

Emre was so… unattainable!

IВ practically had no chance ofВ getting inside!!!

IВ was hardly holding tears back. What was it allВ for?

“Okay,” I said. “Thank you very much anyway. Have a nice day!”

“Thank you! You too!” the man’s answer was.

What should IВ do, then? IВ needed toВ see Emre.

AВ student passed byВ me.

“Excuse me, sir,” he said to the security guard. “Where could I see the Master’s degree entrance requirements, please?”

The Master’s degree. Sounded exciting. Especially if you have to go on with your education.

Suddenly, it dawned on me. What if I tried to enter a Master course in linguistics there, in LETI? It’d be fascinating!

At the time, I had a great desire to enter the University. First, I’d get a passing card. Therefore, with the card, I’d have much more chance to come across Emre.

Now, IВ asked another question toВ theВ boy.

“Are you going to enter the Master’s?”

“Yeah,” he smiled.

“I can see now,” I nodded. “Which department?”

“Robotics.” One more proud answer.

“And are you from LETI as well?”

“But of course! And you?”

“I’m not,” I lowered my eyes. “But I’d love to be.”

“Come on!” he laughed. “You’ll do it! Which department are you willing to enter?”

“Is there anything concerning Linguistics, Philology or, well, English studies?”

“Yes, there is. The Linguistics department.”

Two months later…

30В AugustВ 2021

Something incredible had happened. Indeed.

Since now, I’d been a LETI student!!!

Let me tell you everything inВ detail, though. From the very beginning.

I had decided to stay in Saint Petersburg. I told my Mum, “I feel this is for me. I’d like to go on with my studies. What’s more, I can find a job there. Mum,” I was saying in ecstasy, “it’s a perfect, an awesome, opportunity, for me to proceed with both my career and my studies.”

Mother agreed. If her daughter wants something (something that’s not bad for the child, of course), she approves of it. So was this time.

Having rented a flat in the suburbs, I applied for entering the Master’s program.

Judging by the exam requirements, I just had to read everything up. The theory concerning linguistics studies, the scientists’ names, and so on.

There were two exams – the first was an English exam, the second being a linguistics one. All of them were to be held online, due to the Covid restrictions. Which was definitely an advantage for me. No, I didn’t intend to cheat. Not at all. Just I felt more comfortable if I take an exam via web-camera. However, it was my first experience of sitting an online exam.

That was a problem, though. At the English exam, there was a software problem. As a result, I couldn’t get access to my test questions at the beginning of the exam. So, I thought they simply wouldn’t take my work into consideration!

I was in tears. “What shall I do?” I thought.

Was it the end of the world…?

IВ contacted the board.

“We’re aware of the problem and therefore are doing everything to solve it,” they wrote back.

That is, the other students had no access toВ their test either? My God, we were all inВ the same boat!

Ten or fifteen minutes later, the access was finally provided. Although it was an electrotechnical university, it had its own, technical issues. What about aВ university connected toВ the humanities? Are there philosophical problems arising? Seems like that.

I had forty-five minutes to complete the task. Actually, there must have been an hour for us to do the job: the machine is not a human. It wouldn’t give us extra minutes, after all. However, due to the well-known circumstances, I had no choice but to adjust to the current exam time.

Thank God, I did it. Almost a hundred percent. Okay, not all the hundred percent. Ninety-eight. That wasn’t bad either.

The linguistics exam was pretty easy. On the one hand.

On the other hand, you were interacting with a live person, not a machine. Therefore, he or she (in this case – he) would ask you extra questions (or even grill you down) if your answer was unclear. Actually, in this case, I’d got only one extra question: “Could you please provide the board with more examples of idioms?”

IВ had none!

As a result, I scored seventy-eight out of one hundred. Was it or wasn’t it bad? That was the question.