Knock-knock.

"Come in."

Elena opened the door of the study room and went inside. David was sitting across from her on the couch, with his legs crossed and reading a magazine.

'Damn, no matter what he is doing, every time it looks deadly sexy... Or is it just my unhealthy fantasy?' the girl thought to herself, feeling surprised at the thoughts that were unusual for her.

From the moment of their first meeting, it began to seem to her that her body began to live a separate life from her brain. No matter how much she restrained herself, an invisible force was pulling her toward this man for no reason.

"As I see it, Mr. Anderson, you are enthusiastically studying the next materials for the lecture, aren't you?" the girl asked with slight malice in her voice.

"Elena! And I was wondering when you would finally honor me with your visit!" David broke into a charming smile. "Come in, sit here," he patted the sofa, hinting to Elena to sit next to him.

The girl walked forward and instead of sitting on the sofa, she went on and stood at the window.

David grinned, the stubbornness of this young lady caused him an undisguised smile, he put the magazine down on the sofa, slowly got up and went to her.

The fragile shoulders of the girl and her slender silhouette vividly evoked the memories of last night in him. The man hardly stifled the desire to press her to him and touch her delicate neck with his lips in order to again inhale such an alluring aroma that made him lose all his self-control.

"I'm so glad to see you... Honestly, the thoughts of you kept me awake all night," David said in a low voice, not hiding his interest. "Don't take my words for being rude, I'm completely honest," he added when the girl looked at him in mild confusion.

Elena was staring out the window, not knowing how to react to such an unexpected confession. She was not a great expert in love affairs, but in this case, she did not need to be a genius to notice obvious things.

She was very much attracted to him no less than he was drawn to her. And maybe even more, but she has not yet decided to admit it openly.

"Elena, did anything happen? Is something bothering you? Does it only seem to me, or you're kind of very thoughtful?" David said with genuine concern in his voice.

"No, nothing special. Just a bad dream, I could not rest," Elena turned her head to David and smiled at him.

"What kind of dream? You can share it with me if you want. I will be very glad to listen to you," the man added with such a charming smile that Elena could not contain the wave of embarrassment that covered her at this moment.

Elena's cheeks flushed and she looked away. The man touched her face with his palm and turned her head back, "I'm all ears."

From his unexpected touch, invisible sparks ran across the girl's skin, this feeling was so mesmerizing that Elena wanted to feel it with even greater force.

'Interesting, and if I touch his body, will it be just as nice?... Stop! Elena Lee, have you the lost drops of your mind? Keep calm! Hormones, it's all just hormones!' In the girl's head, a serious battle began between logic and emotions, and the outcome of this battle was unpredictable even for Elena herself.

Taking the side of logic, the girl decided to turn her attention and share with David what was bothering her. In the end, despite all his impudence in speech and the periodic absence of any manners, on the whole, he made an impression of a decent and reasonable person. At least for now.

"You know, I don't know where to start. I sometimes have very strange dreams; they are so realistic that it becomes scary. Especially in today's dream..."

Seeing the bewilderment and sadness of the girl, David wanted to hug her to calm her down but decided to restrain himself for the time being. "And what made today's dream so different from the previous ones, that it made you worry so much?"

"I was in some strange room, there were different people. One of them made me memorize some information. If I was making a mistake, then he... He was killing people. This was really scary. As if all this was actually happening...," Elena said, feeling a lump coming up to her throat.

The man took the girl's hand and squeezed it in his palm, "Don't worry, it was just a dream. Look into my eyes, see, I'm real. Everything else was a game of your imagination."

Elena looked into David's eyes and felt their dark depth once again absorb all her attention. The space around the man became blurred. All that Elena saw was his eyes, all she heard was his voice.

"Elena, what kind of information did he ask you to memorize?" David said in an even, quiet voice, the girl's body fell into a trance that was invisible to her.

"It was some kind of formula. I don't know why, but there was...," Elena began to tell, but before she could finish the sentence, a sharp knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

The girl started with surprise and pulled her hand from David's palm, then turned back to the window and picked up a bottle of water. Her heart was beating like crazy, and the idea of watering flowers seemed to her very reasonable at the moment.

"Come in," David said with a note of annoyance in his voice, and the door opened.

"Excuse me, I would like to see Professor Richards. I was told I can find him here."

Elena heard a low voice from a stranger behind her. Judging by the timbre and manner of speech, he was no more than 30.

"Professor Richards is currently at a meeting. He will be in his study room in about an hour. Will you wait for him or shall I take a message?" David asked an unexpected visitor.

The man was silent, and Elena felt as if a stranger's gaze had glared at her back and goose bumps ran along her. For some reason, his voice was causing an unclear feeling of anxiety in her.

"No, thank you. I'll come back again later," the man answered and left the office.

Elena turned to David. He smiled at her and looked at her as if nothing had happened.

"David, do you know who it was now?"

"No, I have no idea. But his look was strange for somebody who the professor knows."

"What do you mean? What do you mean by a strange look?" the girl asked, feeling an incomprehensible tension inside herself.

"He was dressed in all black. Cap, hoodie, pants. Even the face mask was also black," the man answered.

'As if he didn't want his appearance to be remembered,' Elena thought.

David noticed that the girl was thinking about something, and decided to return to the conversation that they interrupted.

"Well, tell me in more detail, what kind of formula did you have to memorize?"