Yuanfen

Part-2

The chill of Autumn air ruffled the burgundy colored leaves of the tall trees. The campus had always looked beautiful in this weather. Melancholy yet beautiful.

A girl stood in the window, holding a mug of tea with both hands, as if unconsciously seeking the warmth. She wanted to take a walk outside while enjoying her caffeine, but there were going to be other people around, males specifically. At least the window corner provided her privacy to lower her veil and eat or drink freely.

"Yusra!" Her lab coworker called out to her. "Sir Trimzi is calling for you."

Yusra nodded, immediately adjusting her niqab and leaving for her supervisor's room. The man was like a surrogate father to all his students. Yusra could not imagine making him wait a minute longer, she respected him more than anything.

"There's my brilliant student," Professor Trimzi's voice held pride and affection, just as she entered the room."Yusra Habib. Truly remarkable and currently the youngest student accepted for our PhD program. Come take a seat, beta."

Yusra thanked him humbly and sat down next to the man her supervisor was introducing her to. She had seen him at the campus before, one of the famous oncologists; Professor Shahid Hameed.

"Pleasure to meet you sir," Yusra nodded at him with deference. "How may I help you?"

"I have a student just like you. I don't mean to brag," The oncologist looked at his friend smiling pleased. "But he's quite a prodigy himself. He came up with some interesting ideas about targeted therapy. Trimzi mentioned your work to me and after reading your research papers on immunotherapy and drugs, I was left quite impressed. The two of you would make a great team, and I can already see a breakthrough in near future."

Yusra hummed in quiet contemplation, looking at her supervisor for his response. "I think it's a great opportunity for you," The old man smiled gently and she knew she was already going to say yes.

After doing bachelor in general chemistry, she had taken organic chemistry as her major. Now working at her PhD in natural products, she had been more than willing to look for medicinal drugs that could replace the synthetic ones and thus lower the side effects caused by them.

This really was a great opportunity. "It'd be my pleasure to work with you sir," Yusra smiled.

"Brilliant!" The oncologist said gleefully, before sliding a bundle of papers in front of her. "This is the proposal he wrote for the project. I assume you would want to get started right away." The old man smiled, eyes glinting over his delicate frame.

"Of course," She shook her head in amusement, before excusing herself.

Professor Shahid Hameed was still talking about that student of his as she left. Something about how he was notorious for always coming in late, and how the old man could never get mad at him for his little witty remarks.

A strange wave of nostalgia gripped her in that moment, without wasting a single moment more, she opened the binder.
The emotion that took over her, just as she read the name of the applicant, was something she had never felt before.

"Ahmad. Me." A voice stuttered in the background of her mind. A flash of eyes, full of wonder, chasing her from a far.

No. It couldn't be the same person. What were the odds?

But no matter how many times she read the same page; the name did not change.

Proposal Application by Dr. S. Ahmad Azam.
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"Dandy boy, my proposal got accepted!"
Ahmad skipped stairs in excitement, almost yelling into the phone in hands.

"Woah," Shaheer whistled on the line. "Full budget? That's awesome!"