Chapter 2

Now she lived in an Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan. It has been a month since she moved into her new apartment. It was a small apartment, a tiny one comparing to her house in Bloomington. There was only one bedroom and a bathroom, living room and kitchen were small. Nevertheless, it was nice and comfortable, and neighborhood was peaceful. She was still busy with settling down since she did not bring all her stuff. She decided to bring the most important stuff with her and buy the rest after moving in. The first day she moved in, she hugged Ethan who was already homesick and promised him more interesting life than ever.

She consoled herself thinking she will get used to it. At least, she was not alone; Ethan was still with her. Moreover, classes were going to begin in a few weeks. She probably will not think about this stuff while she is working. The only thing she went through trouble to bring with her was her precious Porsche. In the beginning, she thought about selling it and buying a new car in New York. Then she changed her mind after imagining all the trouble of choosing and buying a new car. Instead, she shipped the car to New York. Now she lived in a tiny apartment, her only consolation was her expensive car, which still made her feel better.

Classes started and she was happy to go back to teaching. Her classes were more crowded than in Bloomington but this did not bother her. She was sure that moving to New York will change her life; she will be facing new challenges and opportunities. These all are for good she constantly repeated to herself every morning, while standing in front of her bathroom mirror.

A month later, she already made up leeway. She spent most of her time at work; when she was not teaching, she was in her office redesigning her course curriculums, finding new materials for further reading, and when she was not in her office, she was in the university library writing new articles to publish in Psychology Journals.

She also had time to get to know some of Psychology department staff. Everyone was friendly enough trying to help her with new atmosphere. She even went out with some of staff for a coffee or lunch a few times.

Her life was getting better and normal, and she almost forgot about the problems that brought her here. She was not happy but she was OK, finally she was peaceful. There were no rumors concerning her personal life and everyone respected her. It was enough for making her feel calm.

On a November evening, when she was in the library she realized it was late and she glanced up around to see who else was there. She saw nobody except a student sitting at the next table in front of her. Bored by all the reading and writing she had done that day, Catherine started attentively watching the girl in front of her.

The student was a young woman who tilted her head down on a journal. She had a pen in her left hand. She was calmly taking notes while reading the journal. There were other journals and books on the table too. Probably she was writing a paper or researching on a course topic. She had a porcelain skin tone and dark shoulder length haircut. Because of her side swept bangs, covering half of her face Catherine could not see her face. When Catherine realized that, she does not need to see her face and she better conclude her work here and go; the young woman lifted her head and gazed at Catherine who was staring at her.

They were close enough to each other for Catherine to see her big dark blue eyes, Greek shaped nose and oval chin. She was an attractive young woman in mid-twenties. She probably was a Master's or PhD student, Catherine thought to herself. She was older for being an undergrad student. Then she realized that the young woman is still looking at her and she better say something in order not startle her. Since the dramatic humiliation with her previous employer, she has lost all her confidence and communicating with other people was not so easy as it was before. The girl was still looking directly into her eyes and Catherine could not think of anything to tell her.

"Shit" Catherine thought to herself.