Waterfalls || Yeonbin

chapter 12: dream

January 15, 1940

We had about fifty people come in to take this second test, seeing as how they completed the crossword. They have another puzzle to complete now; Hugh, John, and I made it. It's quite difficult actually, took me eight minutes to complete. It took Hugh and John nine minutes as well, but we're giving them seven. We thought it would be nice to see who truly stands out from this bunch.

"You each have a notepad for scratch work, but your final answer should be put on the paper titled 'Answer Sheet'. You have seven minutes t—"

I paused when someone opened the door to the room, making me scrunch my eyebrows when a woman walked inside. She seemed flustered, her hair a bit messy and her glasses were sliding off the bridge of her nose. One of the guards standing next to the door instantly went over to her, "Ma'am, you can't be in here."

She seemed a bit confused, moving away so the guard didn't touch her, "The two men outside told me to come up here."

"The applications for the operating room are in the next building, ma'am."

She kept scrunching her eyebrows, still squirming away from the guard, "That's not what I came here for. I did a crossword in the paper. Why does everyone think I want to be an operator?..." She said, making everyone go still. She looked over to me, giving me a soft smile before opening her purse. It looked like she was rifling through papers until she pulled out the one she wanted: a newspaper. She started reading it, "It said if you finished this puzzle in ten minutes or less, come to this address... I do apologize for my tardiness. The bus was late, and I ran here a bit."

The guard scoffed along with a few other people in the room, "Did you really complete this puzzle, ma'am?"

She scrunched her eyebrows again, "What makes you think I didn't?"

"You're—"

"Henry..." Yeonjun said from right next to me, cutting him off, "That's quite enough."

I started walking over to her as Henry rolled his eyes and moved back to his position by the door. She seemed a bit anxious as I made my way over, simply reaching out my hand and asking, "May I see your paper, please?"

She nodded and handed it to me, letting me quickly look it over. I softly smiled when I saw how she got everything correct, which surprised me a bit. I looked back at her, shoulders stiffened from being uncomfortably awkward in a room full of men. She seemed a bit more relaxed when I asked, "Your name, ma'am?"

She pushed her glasses up her nose, "Joan Clarke, sir."

"And your educational background, may I ask?"

"Double first degree in mathematics from Cambridge..." She paused, dryly swallowing before she added, "They don't give full degrees to women."

It's strange, I kind of saw myself in her. I mean, the amount of rights men have compared to women in this day and age is quite absurd, if you were to ask me. At least I can hide the thing that could diminish me to have little rights; homosexuality. But she can't just simply hide that she's a woman.

"I don't appreciate tardiness..." I said before I turned my body to the side, gesturing towards the front of the room, "There's a vacant seat up front."

Joan smiled, giving me a quiet 'thank you' before walking to her seat. The sound of her short heels clicking against the wood floor was the only noise in the room, finally stopping when she sat down. I handed Hugh and John the newspaper she had given me, knowing that they wanted to see it as well from the look in their eyes. They took it before I went back to my spot in the front of the room.