(flash story)

That day, the library of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University was quiet, even the occasional flies avoided breaking the stony silence… Andrii, a second-year student, was sitting by the window, absorbed in a philosophy book he had just found. The author was a little-known professor, Olha Levytska, who wrote about time and space.

Suddenly, he felt that someone was standing next to him. Looking up, Andrii noticed a woman who looked like the professor from the photo on the cover, only slightly older.

“Do you like my book?” she asked unexpectedly.

“Yours?” Andrii was surprised. “It’s incredible, but what are you doing here? I thought you didn’t teach anymore.”

The woman smiled mysteriously and sat down nearby. They started talking, and the professor shared that she was working on new research in the metaphysics of time. Andrii was excited—he had been looking for an idea for his course paper.

“Remember,” she said as they parted, “sometimes the answers aren’t hidden in books, but in those who write them.”

When Andrii returned the next day to read the book again, the librarian told him it had been discarded long ago. As for professor, Olha Levytska, she had emigrated too… Being astonished, Adrii just did not know what to say… However, later he found this book in his backpack, along with a paper of handwritten advice from Professor Levytska—a gorgeous gift he had never expected.