Wild Ride

Chapter 7: Encounters

Carl's pov

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I groaned and reached for it. It was my supervisor. He wanted to see me in his office in an hour. He said he had some feedback on my master's project after going through my work.

I hung up and checked the time. It was 8:00 am. I had an hour to get ready and get to his office. I had been working on my project for months, but I was not sure if it was good enough. I had to present it in front of the school committee in a few months.

I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. I took a shower, brushed my teeth, and put on some clothes. I chose a pair of dress pants, a black shirt, and a blazer. I wore my Patek Philippe wristwatch, I wanted to look professional and confident. I packed my laptop and some papers in my backpack. I put on my socks and shoes.

I was ready to go. I checked my phone. It was 8:45 am. I had 15 minutes to get to his office. I walked out of my studio apartment, locked the door and climbed the stairs down. I started walking towards the campus.

I was nervous and stressed. I was not ready to face my supervisor. I felt the cold air on my skin and the wind on my hair.

As I got closer to his office, I adjusted my collar. Mr. Thompson was known for his no-nonsense attitude, but he was fair. I respected that. The door to his office was slightly ajar, and I knocked before entering.

“Morning, Mr. Thompson,” I said, my voice steady.

He looked up from his desk, his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. “Ah, Carl. Come in. Sit down.”

"Welcome. I’ve read your proposal. Impressive work.”

I exhaled. “Thank you, Professor. I’m excited to dive into the research.”

He leaned back, studying me. “Let’s start with expectations. You’re not just writing a paper; you’re contributing to your field. Originality matters.”

I nodded, scribbling mental notes. “Understood."

"Carl," he said, tapping his jaw, "tell me about your hypotheses."

I launched into my theories, my hands gesturing like a conductor. He listened, nodding occasionally. "Interesting," he said. "But consider this angle."

His insights were like puzzle pieces, fitting perfectly into my research. We discussed data collection, methodologies, and potential pitfalls. And somewhere along the line, I realized I wasn't just a student; I was part of a scholarly conversation.

After all that was over, I got a call from Damian asking where I was. I told him how I just come out from Mr. Thompson's office. He told me he was hungry and I should meet him up at the restaurant. I agreed, then hung up and started walking towards there. I got there, sat down and started waiting for him.

As I waited, I couldn’t help but feel happy over my encounter with my supervisor. To think I was nervous initially, I smiled to myself. After my meet-up with Damian, who knows, I might casually bump into Xandria. Today could be full of surprises.

Some minutes later he walked into the door, I stood up and we did our bro handshake.

We talked about our day, what we had been up to, and how it went.

I noticed that Damian's gaze had shifted away from me all of a sudden, I looked straight to where his focus was and saw it was at her. I held her gaze for 15 seconds before I turned my face away.

Later on, I turned to look at her but she seemed to be having the time of her life talking with who she was talking with. I decided to download the remaining 4 episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 and briefly played a recap.

I was interrupted when her friend peered into my phone. "Woah, is that season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen that you are watching?", he asked.

"Yeah, it is", I answered him. "That's cool man", he replied. From there we started discussing Gojo, Itadori, Mei mei and the rest.

I wouldn't lie, he wasn't so bad after all, I thought to myself. I was enjoying this. I decided to use that opportunity and find out whether she watches it too. He told me she was into anime and the fondness developed more for her.

He had gone back to his seat when I decided to ask her. "Have you started watching season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen?" Seemed her mind wasn't there because I got no response.

Her friend spoke to her and repeated my question to her and she turned towards me and realised I was looking at her, patiently waiting for an answer.

"Yes, I have. Although I've only watched episode 1, I've been so swamped with classes and assignments, but I'll try to watch the remaining episodes this weekend", she answered me.

"That's good. I would have been done watching it, but I've been busy writing my thesis. I hope to create time sometime this weekend and finish off the remaining 4 episodes."

"Did you just say thesis?", she asked with curiosity. "Yes, I said that I'm a master's student at this university."

"Oh, wow. That's good. If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?", she asked.

"I'm Carl. And you?", I replied. "I'm Xandria", she replied. I repeated her name, liking how it sounded in my mouth.

"It's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl", I said. She blushed in response and thanked me.

It's a good thing she asked my name, just shows she also wants to get to know me, in as much as I want to get to know her.

I wanted her image in my memory, so I studied her for some minutes. I saw that she stood up to leave and spoke "See you around". She waved at me and Damian and was out.