I. Introduction.

We didn’t know each other that well in our first year but that didn’t stop us from being introduced to each other. I had a classmate of a friend who connected you to me. You wrote prose while I crunched numbers. Qualitative and quantitative. The scope of what we could talk about used to be limited, in a way.

II. Review of Related Literature.

You liked to read a lot. All about myths that mystify me, and roles and characters. You wanted to explore themes and metaphors. You slowly taught me to see allegories and metaphors, and I hoped I didn’t bore you talking about the languages numbers speak. You told me that it took a bit of soul searching before you chose your course, that you were trying things out to see what would stick around. I didn’t know it at the time but a part of me secretly hoped that I would be one of those who did.

III. Methodology.

I don’t know exactly how or when it all started, but I knew that I liked you because we always met up at the center of campus because our buildings were flung so far off, almost as if by design that we had to search for each other first. And then either of us would be standing there, whoever got first, and slowly watch the other come into view. I learned how to spot you from the sample of the crowd by the way you would perk up just a little bit more when we see each other. Then, we would talk about our day and you would sometimes crack jokes and make comments about our majors. It always seemed new to me, maybe because you put them in a way that only your line of thinking would have concluded, and eventually I learned to understand them and you, too.

IV. Results and discussion.

The day before your thesis defense you practiced it all in front of me and even though there were some bits I couldn’t understand, you were still very cute and I liked the way your eyes lit up the way they did every time we talked. Do I read more into this? I was always more suited to spotting errors in the ledger lines. The morning on the day of your defense I walked you to your building and I wonder if you would one day speak about me with the same passion you do with your research.

V. Conclusion.

You’ll walk out of the building and we’ll find each other. Discuss your revisions and then graduate soon. The rest is a footnote. And then what? We’ll part ways, maybe - hopefully with grace as a result from our circumstances and the industries we’ll join. Will I find you in fleeting reference? How much of us are still the same as when we started? How much of me should I leave with you? How much of you will be stuck with me? Do we recognize each other? Research. Re-search.