1. Change.
(Keep patience as my editor is editing this book. :) )
“Its only after you've stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.”
Roy T. Bennett.
Not a single thing in human life is permanent. So when you begin a new journey, you leave behind certain things for new ones. You changed some of them to new ones. Also, the warmth of the house, this feeling of home-sweet-home, the roads on which she enjoyed each season While walking to school and then university, all these streets she used to run her bike, all left behind when Cynthia began her journey from the west end of America to the east end. She was happy when she left her parents and her home in California because in some ways she always wanted that, she always wanted to leave this town, away from her parents and away from the chaos of her life. She was willing to explore the new one, leaving the old one in the background.
But when she came out of Logan International Airport in Boston, she missed her parents fighting. Though sometimes their battles turn into wars but in some ways they always end up together. They fight, they cry, they listen to one another, and they resolve every fight at the end of the day with a hug and an apology. But this drama was a bit of an exaggeration for Cynthia because she always dreamed of one thing in her life that is peace. She wanted to explore the world of science, she wanted to discover herself through science, she wanted to do something memorable in the world of nuclear physics and the best way to do it was at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. After completing her master's degree in nuclear physics, She applied for a doctorate in the same stream at MIT, and She obtained admission as she had brilliant grades in her Bachelor's and Masters.
Cynthia Williams was the only daughter of Dr. Richard Williams and Dr. Ritika Williams.. Both of her parents were famous surgeons in California's largest hospital, so they never had time for Cynthia. Cynthia's always wanted their time and care. They tried, they really tried to keep their daughter happy, but failed miserably on account of their busy schedule. In fact, the work of Mr. And Mrs. Williams was not only a job for them, but a passion, an addiction, always a race to prove oneself better than the other. But somewhere in that blind race they lost something very valuable, the love of their daughter for them. Cynthia, of course, loved her parents, but now she's had enough of all the fighting and the competitive attitude of her parents. She wanted to get out of this mess and hoped for a place where she could peacefully learn more about science because science was the only thing capable of connecting her soul to peace and light by removing all the obscurity of ignorance.
She planned her life very well and it all worked out perfectly with her plans. Get the top marks always, gold medallist in Bachelors and her masters. What else could she expect in her life? And at last, the greatest dream of her life was about to come true. Joining MIT was the greatest success any science student could hope for. She was finally in Massachusetts and was expecting a senior student council from the Massachusetts Institute, who was nominated for her to pick her up at the airport, Mr. Hardin Carter. He was supposed to pick her up at 4:00, but it was almost 5:00, and she was waiting for an hour like crazy.
Cynthia was a calm and peace loving soul but the one thing which could make her Aggressive tornado from the calm cool breeze was "waiting". She hates to wait. An hour of prepared already made her like an active volcano which ought to burst every time and could flip its surroundings into ashes.
“Wow. Miss Massachusetts what a lovely day it is” She whispered to herself annoyingly sitting on the chair in the ready area. Suddenly people around her commenced jogging in the direction of the cafeteria side of the airport. They have been all strolling like a pet dog runs upon seeing his proprietor after a long time. Cynthia's thinking was nonetheless processing what was occurring around her and all of sudden a bunch of human beings with cameras in their arms ran in the direction of the same direction and it clicked immediately in Cynthia's thinking that it should be some movie star or well-known man or woman in the airport this is why all of those were strolling like maniac. She sighed annoyingly on the notion that how humans at present treats a celeb like a god.
She went to the cafeteria for to take hold of a cup of black espresso to kill her headache. There had been so many people in front of the cafeteria's entry gate. They have been speaking to a man who was in black Jeans with black shirt and black masks on his face alongside with the airport safety guys who had been making a strive their top notch to hold the crew in control.
“Ed, tell AJ I love him. I love him so much.” A girl in her twenties must have shouted from behind.
“Tell AJ his song “Infinity” is the best”A boy shouted with a poster in his hand “AJ will you marry me?” On it.
“Guys calm down, AJ will be late as he missed his flight so please don't create any chaos here” the Man in black told the group of people.
Cynthia scoffed at their nonsense and walked into the cafeteria. Cafeteria was nicely decorated as usual every cafeteria at the airport to entice people.
“A cup of strong black coffee with lemon, no sugar please.” Cynthia ordered her coffee and checked around the room for an empty table to sit down. And finally her big brown eyes landed on the vacant table in the right corner of the room. She grabbed the coffee mug and began to walking towards the table that suddenly someone entered the cafeteria through the back door.
“Edmond, Wait at the rear gate. I'll be there in 20 minutes, just let me have a cup of tea to refresh my mind.” He was talking on his phone, so he was not looking out where he was walking and hit Cynthia not knowing about her presence on his way.
“Oh shit” Cynthia yelled as soon as he collided with her like a tornado because her white turtleneck shirt was now a bit dark brown. Her black coffee spread out over her shirt like a Nutella spreads over white bread.
“Oh my... I am sorry, miss” Person on the other side said in a deep husky British accent. He was amazed at how beautiful Cynthia was. Her brown eyes shone like tiny diamonds, her dark rosy lips were perfectly complimented her pale golden skin.
Cynthia gritted her angry teeth and turned up her face to see the person who just ruined her favorite white good luck shirt. The only things noticeable on his face were his green eyes, as he had a pink mask on his face. He was in a weird sort of pink tuxedo with flower designs on it.
"You son of a bitch, you've got no idea what you just did. You completely ruined my lucky shirt and jeans.” Cynthia screamed in anger that some people started staring at them in the cafe.
“Shhh...calm down, don't create a scene” He took her hand and pulled her to the counter.
"Let me get you some more coffee. Okay? I am sorry I was in hurry." He apologized.
"Yes, please." Cynthia was gnashing her teeth and trying to contain her anger.
" 'Mam, your coffee" said a man over the counter.
"Happy? Now please excuse me" green eyed person said.
As soon as he turned to order his tea, a hot liquid touched his face and his mind took a minute to treat what just happened.
"Yeah, now I'm happy" Cynthia faked a smile as she just threw her coffee on his face and his pink tuxedo was now brown. And brown coffee stains created a wonderful contrast on his pink mask.
"What the fuck?" He yelled and took off his mask that was dripping hot brown coffee.
But before he could do or say anything to Cynthia, she left the cafeteria without even seeing his face. But Cynthia's clutch fell to the ground without a clue to her. Only her credit cards and a copy of MIT identification card that she received in mail a day before coming here along with a copy of MIT application form were in that clutch. AJ furrowed on looking at the floor and picked the clutch up.
"Hey, Hey kiddo! Listen up!!" He yelled but Cynthia already left the cafeteria and couldn't hear him through the glass door. But this strong crying certainly caught the attention of those in attendance.
"AJ???" A girl at the cafeteria shouted.
"Oh my god, its AJ guys. Its AJ." Other girl yelled to the left.
And within a second AJ was mobbed by his fans.
“Shit.” He immediately called Edmond, his manager .
"AJ please marry me" A girl yelled.
"AJ are you dating Princess Garcia of England?" A boy shouted from behind .
"Ed, please help me. Cafeteria. Immediately." He said on the phone.
And within a minute Edmond arrived along with the security guards. The stampede went up even more as paparazzi also joined the crowd.
"AJ are you dating Princess Gracia?" shouted one of the paparazzi.
"AJ is it true that you have cheated on Victoria Rose? " Another one shouted while clicking his photos.
He didn't answering any of them and continued walking toward the exit.
"AJ please answer, is Victoria Rose's new song "The Playboy" about you?" Another shouted from behind but AJ immediately entered his Bugatti along with his driver and security team followed him into the other cars.
"That Miss I-Am-the-boss just ruined my cup of tea." AJ whispered to himself and chuckled while looking at her photo on the ID card which he got from her clutch. Definitely she was more beautiful in real but her brown eyes were equally charming even in the photo. He smiled at her photo unknowingly And their cars went off the airport.
“Hah! I didn't know someone can feel so royal by just throwing a cup of coffee on a douche” Cynthia whispered and chuckled while sitting on the chair. Her phone vibrated in her pocket.
“Miss Williams, I am at the exit door of the airport. Where are you?
-Hardin Carter”
She rolled her eyes at the text and grabbed her bags out of the chair and left to the exit door immediately. There were many people waiting for their loved ones. Cynthia looked around to Hardin and there he was standing at the far end. Cynthia was in touch with Hardin on the social network site of MIT before coming here for the other formalities, so she knew how he looks.
"Oh! He looks more handsome in real.'' Cynthia thought and smiled. Hardin looked at her and waved his hand with a wide grin like he was advertising some brand of toothpaste.
"I am sorry, I am late. I got caught up in research, and then my mom had an asthma attack, so I have to take her to the hospital." Hardin hugged her like an old friend.She was shocked by his gesture as she was not accustomed to this kind of friendly nature back in California. He picked her luggage to put it on his car.
"Yeah, I was cursing you 'cause you were late, but now I feel bad for your mom. How's she?" Cynthia asked worriedly. The best thing about Cynthia was she spoke her heart. What she has in her heart would be on her tongue even though it offends others.
“Yeah, yeah, she's all right now. Mothers will be mothers, remember? No medications in time, careless attitudes towards health and then try to blame us that we do not care for them,” he laughed. Cynthia laughed at his statement because it was the same thing with her mother too. She never takes care of her health, always occupied in her hospital, treating patients, but when something happens to her, all the blame goes to Cynthia and her father that they are not taking care of her. The drama Queens Mothers in effect.
“Hmm? Your shirt, drinks coffee? Wow. My shirt likes to eat tomato sauce” Hardin sneered sarcastically at Cynthia's white shirt with ugly brown coffee stains.
"Oh, no, I... an accident in the cafeteria, you know? Somebody just hit me at the speed of sound and my coffee spread over my shirt at the speed of light.” She smiled in an awkward manner.
"Speed of light? This means your coffee can travel through time.?" He chuckled harder. Cynthia was shocked at his sense of humour, or You might call it the Science of Humour.
"Yeah, hypothetically, you know?" Cynthia laughed too, and the two of them took the car.
Cynthia and Hardin went on to talk about recent research and developments in nuclear science.. After all, science students can never get rid of the science of their gentle little mind, not even for a second. After 15 minutes, they arrived at MIT's main gate.
"Ding! Here we are Williams" Hardin smiled. Hardin And Cynthia got out of the car.
A beautiful, wonderful dome standing on the piers with "Massachusetts Institute of Technology" written about it, was in front of her eyes. She was dumbstruck at the sight. At the end of the day, she was so close to her destination, so close to her dream, her goal. For a moment, time stopped, all around it disappeared and the only thing visible in her eyes was this building. She smiled proudly as she decked the building ahead of her.
"Welcome to MIT Miss Cynthia Williams” Hardin smiles, and both of them walked in.
They did all the paperwork in the admin office, got Cynthia's calendar and other important documents.
"Miss Williams, please, can you provide me with a copy of your application and an ID card for inquiries from the hostel?” A woman in her 20s, who attended and handled all the paperwork there, asked. A plaque name on her table with 'Mrs. Cassie Dawson' inscribed on it gracefully shone.
"Yes, of course." Cynthia checked her backpack twice, but her clutch was missing. And then she remembered the last time she pulled it out of the backpack for paying at the cafeteria.
"O god, I think I lost my purse. Um, Can I mail out copies of my original documents? I lost the prints along the way.” She said with puppy face.
"Yeah. Okay. Please do it Quickly. " Ms. Dawson seemed upset, but she succeeded in feigning a smile.
After completing all the formalities, Hardin brought her straight to the dorm..
"Here. This is the dorm of Nuclear Science Students." Hardin stated while stopping opposite a small building with barely 30 rooms and 3 floors.
There were guys and girls in casual attire roaming here and there.
"Dormitory is common for boys and girls here as nuclear doctoral students do not exceed 25." Hardin said it after noting a shocking expression on Cynthia's face.
She nodded. And both of them came to the door of her room that was on the first floor. Both floors were for students and the highest was for faculty.
''Meet me in the dining room at exactly 8:00. I'll introduce you to the others. If you need anything, let me know right away." Hardin said and left.
The room was quite spacious. After cooling off, Cynthia took the map from the administration office and left the room. It was already 19:45. She quickly went to the dining room, according to the directions given on the map.
But before she got there, she heard a strong voice from a distance.
"Hey Miss Massachusetts! Hold on, " Someone shouted. She looked at the master of the voice. A man with beautiful green eyes and almost of 6 feet height in black turtleneck shirt and blue Jeans was huffing there.
"Miss Massachusetts! Wait." He ran towards her and paused right in front of her.
"Dude! I'm calling your name from the last ten minutes and you just keep running at 140 km per hour." He said while huffing. He had a cane of coke in one hand and a paper bag in the other.
She recognized him in 30 seconds that he was the same person who ruined her shirt in the café with the coffee. Even though she didn't see his face, his green eyes and dark brown eyebrows were enough to recognize him. And those rings on his fingers that she noticed earlier were another proof as she was blessed with a photographic memory, so she never forgets the things she once sees.
"You? Again? Now what? Don't you dare to ruin my this shirt with your coke as I'm in no mood to leave you peacefully after that" Cynthia snapped at him.
"What? No. No. Here. You dropped your purse there at the café. I checked and found out you are MIT student through the form you held in it and Luckily I had to come here to meet my brother so thought I'd return it to you too." He said annoyingly and gave her the clutch.
"Okay. Thanks." She took her handbag with the expressionless face.
"Thanks? Wow. That's how you thank your knight in shining armour?" He pouted annoyingly.
"No, that's how I thank a douche" She faked a smile to irritate him more.
"Hey AJ!!!!" Someone shouted and everybody over there circled around AJ And Cynthia.
Cynthia tried to escape the crowd but failed. She was claustrophobic, and she couldn't bear the crowd. Slowly, the surrounding voices began to faint, her vision began to fade, dark patches began to appear in her sight. She was choking and trying to find the way out of that mess. It was not the best time to panic attack, but who could stop a crisis? Panic attacks are more hazardous with Asthma. It felt like the last day of her life to her. She was about to faint when someone pulled her through the crowd. She tried to see the face but couldn't because her vision was still blurred.
"Are you okay Williams?" That person said. Cynthia tried to look at his face and after trying hard, finally she recognized him. It was Hardin.
"Hardin? I..." Cynthia stuttered.
"Hey, Don't, Don't speak. Breathe in breathe out calmly. Think about the happiest moment of your life." Hardin tried to calm her down and within five minutes it worked. She was stable now.
"Thank you... you Hardin" Cynthia smiled weakly.
"You can go back to your room, I will bring your dinner there if you want. We'll do the intro thing later. " Hardin said while tucking her hair behind her ear.
"No... No Hardin. That's fine. Let's go. I am feeling better now." Cynthia said and rose to walk to the dining hall.
The crowd was still there around AJ. His security team and his manager came to rescue him.
"Who is he? Why everyone is so crazy about him?" Cynthia asked while walking.
"AJ? You don't know him? " Hardin asked, widening his blue eyes in shock.
"Am I supposed to? He is some science legend?" Cynthia asked and looked at his face to obtain an answer.
"No... Yes... I mean He is so famous singer and actor. I thought you did know him" Hardin chuckled.
"I do not watch movies and hear music so..." she shrugged and smiled.
And they arrived at the dining hall. There were so many students. It was huge, a combination of ancient architect with modern. So graceful. Hardin took her to the group seated in the back corner of the back row.
"Here guys. Miss Cynthia Williams." Hardin said and everybody sitting there turned their faces toward them.
"Miss gold medallist of CIT. Finally, happy to meet you." One of the boy said. He was blonde with ice blue eyes and his accent was Scottish.
"I am Oliver Addair." He stood up and sent his hand to shake.
"You already know my name." Cynthia said while shaking his hand and he chuckled.
"Ruhya Yildiz." Girl sitting with Oliver said and smiled. She was so beautiful with black hair, white skin tone greyish eyes.
"Hello beauty. Liam Threadson here" boy sitting next to Ruhya said. His hair was black and eyes were dark brown with olive skin tone.
"I am Daniel Decker" a boy with light brown hair and green eyes smiled.
"Noah Smith." another boy with blue eyes and milky white skin and golden hair said.
"So These 5 are your batch mates. Total 6 in your class." Hardin smiled and they both joined the dinner with them.
They all talked about Economy of the world, how science is affecting the world politics and other innovations during the dinner.
"So. Guys. First class at 8:00 tomorrow. Doctor Enrique Martin will attend you." Hardin said to the group and they dispersed.
Yes, Dr. Enrique Martin was one of the reasons Cynthia came to MIT. He was the Science wizard, one of the youngest Nobel Prize winners in physics at the age of 25. He did amazing research on Higgs boson god particles and proved their existence with the help of nuclear fission in the space for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in the year 2016. He had achieved so much since then, a permanent post Of professor at MIT and was also running a private lab in there for his research. The first day of her PhD was going to be memorable.
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