Hello loves!
Enjoy the new chapter!
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When Enid returned to her dorm room that evening, she collapsed onto her bed with a smile.
All the worry and pain of the past few hours had been washed away by a feeling of excitement.
She hadn't lost her scholarship or been kicked out of the university.
More than that, Dr. Drewitt had complimented her playing.
And then they offered her a job.
She could barely wrap her mind around all of it.
Rolling onto her stomach, she pulled her laptop toward her.
She had already googled Dr. Drewitt, but she knew little about the lives other two men.
Other than that their names had been slightly familiar when she first looked over her schedule.
She started with Dr. Easton, as he was the most difficult puzzle to her.
A quick glance at his Wikipedia page told her he was 36 years old and unmarried.
As she scrolled down, she nearly gasped.
Theodore Easton was one of the most prolific researchers in the psychology field of all time.
Before coming to work at Pennington, he had been the CEO of his own successful research lab and company.
An image of him receiving an award sat at the bottom of the page and Enid stared into his blue eyes.
Even in the image, his face did not smile.
His eyes were as dark and private as ever, secrets hidden behind the wall he put forth.
They flashed like lightning as the photo was taken.
He was more than handsome.
Strong and fierce, he was like a god carved out of stone.
Scrolling along other sites, Enid found that he had received hundreds of awards for his work and brilliance.
A link to his company provided the answer to the burning question she had.
His research was focused on human sexuality.
"What makes humans come undone" was the motto scrawled across the top of the website.
She blushed deeply as she skimmed over words like "dominance" and "venereal".
It appeared Dr. Easton spent his time defining and quantifying pleasure.
Embarrassed and flushed, Enid typed in the name of her final professor.
Dr. Dante Romano.
His novels were the first thing to come up, each touting innumerable awards and statuses as best-sellers.
He was regarded as the best writer of the century at 33 years old.
His book of poetry was described as the rebirth of the romantic era.
Enid found a snippet of his book of short stories and settled back against her pillows to read it.
Enid was in tears by the time she was done.
His writing was stunning.
She recalled a word that one of her father's suitors used to use to describe her father's paintings.
Sublime.
His writing was sublime.
It transported her into a different world altogether.
She found Dr. Drewitt and Dr. Easton in the footnotes of Dr. Romano's Wikipedia page and she clicked the link.
It took her to a newspaper clipping of the three at a gala earlier in the year.
Theodore Easton (Left, 36), Dante Romano (Middle, 33), and Alexander Drewitt (Right, 31) pictured at the Spring Pennington University Arts Gala.
The image was taken candidly, none of the men aware that it was being taken.
Dr. Drewitt looked to be in the middle of telling a story, his large hand clutching an intricate glass of golden liquid.
Dr. Romano had his wicked smirk painted on his face as he listened, but his eyes were trained on Dr. Easton who wore his usual pensive mask.
A cigarette hung from Theodore's left hand, effortless and deadly.
The three men were dressed to kill in expensive tuxedos, the monochrome colors adding to their ethereal image.
The holy trinity seemed to glow under the warm light of the chandelier above them.
Enid's heart began to beat quicker.
If just a photo caused such a reaction in her, she had no idea how she was going to manage being around them so often.
She wondered for a moment if she was truly capable of being their assistant.
She had been denying it the past few days, but she was finally admitting it to herself.
Enid had a crush on three men.
Three older, very successful men.
Her professors.
Men she had no business daydreaming about.
Yet, there she was.
Blushing as she studied a photo of them.
She wondered how it was only Wednesday.
She had only had three days of classes, yet she felt she had been changed entirely.
Standing up and stretching, she decided to get ready for bed.
A long shower and a pair of comfortable pajamas later, she was snuggled under her duvet.
The next morning flew by quickly.
Her history and math classes as equally busy and unmemorable as they had been on Tuesday.
She spent the break after her history class wandering around the campus.
She hadn't spent much time exploring the grounds, other than her residence hall and classroom buildings.
She made a mental note of where the library was, knowing she would need to return there this weekend to begin her research on sadism.
Wait.
Did she still need to do that?
They had already hired her after all.
She wondered for a moment about trying to find his office, but then remembered the new phone tucked safely in her backpack.
Grabbing it, she found the contact for "Theodore Easton" and sent a text before she lost her nerve.
"Hi Dr. Easton. This is Enid McCarthy. Do you still wanted me to write the application essay for the assistant position? Have a great day. X"
As she read back over it, she sucked in a gasp as she realized she had absentmindedly added an X as a kiss at the end.
It was something she had always done in her messages to her father or Fionna.
She tried to delete the message, but found it had already sent.
She cursed the fancy technology.
She considered throwing the phone into the bush beside her and running away, but she knew that would solve none of her problems.
The dinging of the phone interrupted her distress.
"Hello, Enid. Yes, I would like you to still complete the assignment. I am looking forward to reading your work. See you soon. X"
Enid stared at the screen in shock.
He had sent her a kiss back.
Maybe he didn't know what it meant, it was a European thing, right?
She brushed it off as a misunderstanding and quickly popped into her dorm room to retrieve her dearest possession.
Her cello.
With a quick spritz of her favorite perfume and a glance in the mirror, she headed toward the music hall.
This time she was ten minutes early.
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A bit of a filler chapter, but some important background info as well.
We'll be getting into some serious action in just a few chapters, so hang tight!
Comments fill my heart with joy.
All my love, Sappho ✾