Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Roseanne felt a lump in her throat but she understood.

For Madeleine, research always came first.

It wasn't about the length of life, but the depth of the ocean of scientific inquiry she was navigating.

Maybe she would never reach the bottom, maybe she would exhaust herself trying, but what did it matter?

She was willing to rest eternally in the river of research, becoming the nutrients for those who followed, lighting their path forward.

"Are you going to cry again?"

Madeleine sighed, scenes like this were exactly what she tried to avoid.

Roseanne sniffled, "Who's crying? I'm not crying."

"Sure, sure, you're not crying." Madeleine chuckled.

"Let me give you a massage..."

Understanding her stubbornness and determination, Roseanne didn't try to persuade her further. Instead, she sat down and started gently massaging Madeleine's calves. Soon, Madeleine felt much better.

"Your arthritis must be acting up because of this crazy weather we've been having. I ordered some bath salts for you; they should be delivered in a couple of days. Remember to soak your feet every night, it'll help a lot." "I know, I know."

Madeleine laughed, pointing at the table, "There, take that phone number."

Roseanne was puzzled.

"Remember Hans Olson?"

Roseanne's eyes widened. "Professor Olson?!"

"Yep, that's him. He found out you were back and secretly applied to my graduate program. He's mad I didn't call him first to let him know, sulking now. I can't deal with him; you give him a call, he listens to you." Roseanne was bewildered. How could she possibly manage Professor Olson's temper?

Since bioinformatics heavily depends on computing to handle and analyze large sets of biological data, it requires a solid background in information technology and programming skills.

This was how, when Murray was kicked out and they were living in a basement, Roseanne managed to earn their first seed money by coding a small program, thanks to the computer science tutoring Hans provided her during her undergraduate studies. After making sure Ms. Payne had soaked her feet and taken her medication, and after cooking her a homemade meal, Roseanne finally headed home.

At home, she took out the piece of paper and dialed the number written on it.

The first call was promptly hung up.

The second call, same result.

On the third attempt, the call was finally answered.

"Hmph! Who's this?" The grumpy old voice came through.

Roseanne couldn't help but laugh. Just that "hmph" gave away so much.

She decided not to play by the rules: "Sorry, wrong number, goodbye-"

"Roseanne!" The other side immediately reacted.

"Professor Olson..."

"You dare hang up, just try!"

"...I wouldn't dare, I'm behaving."

"How come you only contacted Madeleine when you got back? Am I not your mentor too? And you dare apply for a graduate program without consulting me?!"

"Professor, my undergrad was in bioinformatics..."

"So

Com just as talented in

science. What's wrong

fields? Got a problem

with that?" Content beet

"...No problem."Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

"Hmph!"

After finally appeasing Hans, Roseanne breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, out of the blue, he asked, "Have you forgotten everything I taught you over the years?"

"Absolutely not."

"Words aren't enough, show me."

Roseanne was puzzled.

And just like that, she spent the entire night tapping away at her keyboard coding with the old man.

As dawn was breaking, Hans said, "Ahem! That's enough for today. u've got the final exam the final exam questions

and

You swers down, notot

bad."