The Numbers That Brought Our Fates Together 133 Small Hope.

"Dad, can you drop me off in front of the Academy? I want to check something."

"Academy? I thought your study leave didn't end yet. Did something happen?" Chen asked. After the death of her professor, Elena almost never showed up there.

"No, nothing serious. I want to find one book that I didn't read."

Mr. Lee nodded his head and asked the driver to change their route.

At the academy, life went on as usual, as if nothing had happened in the world. Although it was so in reality. This is only Elena's life that was filled with strange events that go beyond the understanding of ordinary people.

The girl went to the office where Professor Richards used to work. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. Elena turned the doork.n.o.b, but the door was closed.

"Miss Lee, is that you?" The girl turned around when she heard a familiar voice.

"Oh, dean, greetings. How are you?"

"Thank you, dear. All is well. But I'm surprised to see you here. What brought you to the Academy? I remember that your father told me that you would return to school only next year."

"Yes, that's right. I just remembered that I wanted to read one research paper that Professor Richards told me to read before his death," Elena explained.

"Hmm, if these doc.u.ments were in his office, then they are all archived now. Currently, this cla.s.sroom is occupied by another teacher," the dean said to her.

"Can I go to the archive then?" the girl asked.

"Of course. If this is you, Miss Lee, then I will drive you there," the gray-haired man smiled and led Elena along with him.

During the few months that have pa.s.sed since the death of the professor, the boxes with his doc.u.ments have already been covered with dust. One of the employees of the archive brought three large boxes with things and put them on the table next to the girl.

"Miss, when you are done, call me and I will take everything away," he said and went about his business.

Elena opened the first of the boxes and began to lay out books and doc.u.ments on the table. Many of them were very familiar to her, she read many of them from cover to cover and, naturally, she remembered everything by heart.

But neither in the first nor in the second box was not what she was looking for.

The girl opened the third box, hoping to find the thing she needed. Although she remembered only the cover of that magazine and the first couple of pages, since she simply did not have time to read anymore, Elena felt that she could find some important clue there.

The box was almost empty, but that book was never there. There was the last row, and the hope of finding this thing was melting before her eyes. Suddenly, the familiar root of the book appeared among others.

"Got it!" The girl exclaimed happily and took out a magazine. It was the same handwritten journal of one traveler, which Professor Richards gave her before his death. Elena pulled up a chair, sat down and opened the first page.

The girl began to turn the pages slowly, each time realizing that her a.s.sumptions were justified even more than she had expected. On one of the last pages of the magazine, she found several pictures. For a simple man in the street, they might seem like stupid scribbles, but for her, they were more than familiar objects. Especially one of them - a bracelet of unusual shape with intricate designs on it.

Elena closed the magazine and hid it under her jacket. It was forbidden to take anything from the archive, but she simply could not leave this thing here. The girl walked over to the archive worker's table and thanked him for his work and help with her charming smile.

The young guy, who apparently was one of the students of the Academy, immediately began to s.h.i.+ne, receiving a compliment from the lips of such a charming girl, and completely forgot about the rules of inspection before letting her go.

Elena smiled, satisfied with her cunning move, and left the school building with the book she needed in her hands.

The girl got into a taxi and dialed David, "h.e.l.lo? Are you still busy? As you finish your stuff, come to me right away. I found something interesting." She hung up the phone, leaving the young man completely at a loss to wonder what she could find.

Elena looked out the window at the rapidly pa.s.sing skysc.r.a.pers. There was a smile on her face, and even if it was still small in her heart, there was a hope that in the end, everything would be fine.