The first time Mel saw Dean was in an elective class called Madness in Literature. He had been sitting a few rows down in his green parka, writing furiously into his notebook. Something about him made her stop and stare, and it felt like she hasn't looked away since. But there is a reason why Dean seldom comes to class. And why he seems reluctant to be her friend. And why he disappears for ages with answering her messages. Mel would have been bothered by all of it, except that she doesn't care. When it comes to Dean, she was willing to overlook a lot of things. This is a short story about two young people trying to find themselves and instead stumbling upon love.

Nightingale is human - or would be, had it not been for the manner of her creation. Genetically engineered and grown to adulthood in a lab, she was created, not born. Why? For the sole purpose of the entertainment of rich men as one of the many Inamoratas in the bordello business . Beautiful, elegant, a superb dancer and an even better singer, she is the perfect lover for any man. Perfect, that is, except for her personality - the one thing you can't engineer.