Farewell

Ksenia slept fitfully until eleven the next day. When she woke, she vaguely remembered having some extremely intense dreams the night before, yet aside from exhaustion, nothing remained in her mind.

She glanced at her phone—she had missed the 9:30 a.m. group meeting again.

There was a message from her advisor in her inbox, asking why she had been absent that morning and whether she was ill. Ksenia quickly replied that she was not sick, but something had happened at home and she had not slept well the night before. Her advisor soon replied that whatever had happened, if she was not in the right state, she should rest first. She should not force herself or pack her schedule too tightly. All the discussion meetings they had arranged were postponed by half a week. If Ksenia needed someone to talk to, she would be there.

Ksenia continued reading several messages, most of them greetings from senior and junior women in the lab. Ksenia, who was never late or absent, had suddenly missed work; something must have happened. They asked whether she needed any help. Ksenia thanked, reassured, and declined them one by one.

Then Ksenia skipped over several messages from Hesta. Her finger slid downward before abruptly stopping on an unfamiliar number. The message began: "Hello, I'm Gao Fei. I..."

Ksenia tapped it open and read it carefully.

"Hello, I'm Gao Fei. I've decided to leave the lab for industry. My flight is this afternoon. I remembered you once said you wanted to have coffee with me. Are you free now? If you are, reply with a time."

It had been sent at 7:40 that morning.

At 12:15, Ksenia arrived at a creative café in the university's faculty housing district.

Gao Fei was seated by the window. Her luggage—two