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"You know I'm still stuck with my thesis," Diana ventured in face of the professor's prolonged silence. "I know this could be nothing but a wild goose chase, but I just think it's still worth a try, if it could give me the direction I need."
The professor's fingers tightened involuntarily around his phone. If he told her no, he would be doing exactly what he promised himself he wouldn't do - change her life and lock her in a cage, atoning for a sin she hadn't even committed.
But if he were to say yes...
"Alright," he said finally. "But you need to take proper precautions."
"Of course." Diana's voice was filled with relief. "I have my pepper spray with me at all times, and it's not like I don't know you and Damen still have me under 24/7 surveillance."
"Diana—-"
"I gotta go." Magnolia was waving for her to hurry from the driver's seat, and Diana quickly made her way to the passenger seat. "Thanks for letting me do this. I know how much of a worrywart you are, and I promise to text you all the time. I love you."
The professor started to say 'I love you' back, but she had already ended the call, and something inside of him turned cold, like someone walking over his grave. But instead of worrying about his own safety, he could only think of Diana.
To hell with being paranoid, the professor thought. And so he made the call, and it was why, when Diana and Magnolia arrived at the shelter, it was to find one of Damen's undercover bodyguards waiting for her by the steps.
"Alvin?"
"Good evening, Ms. Leventis. Mr. de Graaf asked that you have this." The former Marine handed her a paper bag, and inside of it was a box of surgical gloves and professional-grade face masks. "If you need anything else, please just let us know."
"Yes." Diana's voice was faint. "Thank you." Her fingers tightened its grip on the paper bag as a strange sense of foreboding squeezed her heart.
She watched Alvin walk away and a part of her wanted to call the man back, wanted to ask him take her straight home to the professor so that everything would be alright.
Oh, Saint M—-
But her prayers were interrupted, with Magnolia impatiently calling her name out, and she mentally squared her shoulders.You're just being paranoid, Di. That's all.She followed her friend inside, but her unspoken misgivings persisted, and her quiet anxiety turned into something ominous and suffocating.
A weary-looking nun came to greet them, and Diana could only nod as Magnolia made the introductions.
While the shelter had been a pleasant-looking, two-story brick house on the outside, what existed within its walls was another story. Its long and narrow hallway was cramped, with hospital beds parked on each side, all of them bearing patients that appeared either gravely ill or were already at death's door.
Seeing her bewilderment, Sister Clare explained in a low voice, "We don't have enough doctors to treat them."
"I don't understand. Doesn't St. Valentines have sufficient funding—-"
"Money has never been a problem," the nun answered curtly. "What we lack are doctors who have the necessary compassion to treat them. As you can see, this is no glamorous workplace, and when you compare it to the posh clinics they have up at the ski resorts..."
Diana couldn't speak.The professor had known,she realized painfully. He had known what she would find here, how this could endanger his health a thousand ways, and he had still let her go.
He had let her go and risk his health, just because she had whined about her stupid thesis.
She took one of the masks out, but Sister Clare started shaking her head as soon as she saw it.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Leventis. But if you were to wear that, it would...it would complicate things. It would make them think you're disgusted."
"Then I can't..." She turned to Magnolia helplessly. "The professor..."
Magnolia paled, realizing what her friend was trying to say. "Oh God, I'm sorry, Di. I didn't think. I forgot..."
"Is anything wrong?" Sister Clare asked worriedly.
"I'm sorry." Diana found herself stumbling a step back. "I h-have someone at home..."The man I love."He's easily...I can't...I'm so sorry." She could barely breathe now, her earlier sense of foreboding having risen back to the fore, and it was now a thousand times worse. "I have to leave. I'm sorry." She turned away, tears blinding her, and promptly bumped into someone.
"I'm sor—-"
The woman interrupted her with a series of coughs, and the moment Diana felt droplets of saliva strike her face, she wanted to cry.