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He was…baffled.
He didn't know why the sight of her small room with her sparse belongings and impersonal touches got such a reaction out of him, but it simply tugged at his heart.
Just as he'd seen her on the video feed, she was curled in her bed, holding herself tight as she slept the night away.
She didn't give any indication that she was aware of what was happening around her, or that there was a stranger in her room. Though he felt an unnatural pull to go to her side, be close to her, he didn't want to waste this golden chance of learning more about her.
Curious, Michele started to look around. For weeks now he'd seen her shuffle her stuff on the desk and he couldn't help but be intrigued by their contents.
After all, Michele was nothing if not thorough. And that meant he needed to knoweverythingabout his pet—including what she was studying.
He wanted to know her strengths and her weaknesses, but most of all he wanted to know what she was hiding in her drawer.
After the first time he'd seen her handle that item, she'd done it almost daily. At some point he'd wondered if it wasn't a rosary or a religious item of sorts and she was saying a prayer before bed. Too bad the angles of the cameras Andreas had set up couldn't capture everything.
Carefully, he opened the drawer, using the flash from his phone to browse its contents.
To his great surprise, it was almost empty save for a small object covered in a piece of material. Reaching for it, he pulled it out, surprised to see what it was.
The pendant.
The necklace he'd given her with their mixed life essences.
The moment he saw it, unimaginable joy spread through his core at seeing the confirmation that she wasn't, in fact, indifferent to him.
No, she couldn't be if she had not only kept the necklace, but she'd spent time with it on a regular basis—no doubt reminiscing their relationship.
A knowing smile spread over his features as he put the pendant back in its place, closing the drawer before focusing on the other things demanding his attention. He would address that later on when his pet was more receptive to his attentions, and he'd make her wear it once more.
The fact that she'd kept it—that she'd placed it somewhere close for safekeeping—was all that mattered.
Satisfied with that line of thinking, he pointed the flash towards the stack of papers on top of the desk, wanting to see what other mysteries about his pet he could solve that night.
There were school notes and some personal ones. But the one thing that struck him the most was her handwriting.
It was exquisite—exquisitelyher.
Elegant but minimal, just like her personality.
And Michele couldn't help himself from taking one of the sheets of paper, folding it and depositing it in his pocket.
Research, he told himself. He'd study it in details later.
Yet as he continued to look, he realized there were pages upon pages of the same transcribed material. The earlier ones contained monumental errors, but as he sifted through page after page, he noted fewer and fewer errors.
His pet had been working hard to eliminate the errors from her writing, and his lips pulled in a soft smile as he recognized her effort.
So this was what she was doing when she was spending hours on end at her desk, writing away. She was repeating everything to reach perfection—an error free transcription.
In spite of her inherent disability, she put on double—triple—the work to ensure perfection, or as close to perfection as she could get.
Andthathe couldn't help but admire.
She wanted to do better and she took the steps towards that instead of complaining about her lot in life—without yelling about the injustices done to her and wallowing in self-pity.
And the moment that thought arose, Michele realized he'd never heard her complain—about anything.
Not even once.
