Her brain went numb; she couldn’t believe he was actually talking to her.

“I – Isabel,” she finally managed.

Victor smiled warmly at her before flipping open his book and sinking deep into his studies. Peering over the top of her own reading selection, Isabel noted it was a textbook on code breaking.

Lines of concentration squiggled across Victor’s forehead, and his glasses made a gradual descent down the slope of his nose as he scribbled feverishly on his paper. Isabel presumed he was deciphering a message, the way he kept glancing from one scrap of paper to another.

She fumbled to turn the page of her book when he looked up, unbecoming displeasure printed across his features. He ripped his paper into strips, balled them up, and threw them to the ground. Sweeping his possessions into his bag with one arm, he rose to his feet and vacated the library, tossing a careless “Nice meeting you, Isabel” over his shoulder as the door swung shut behind him.