Are You Just Friends?

Black Mercedes was silently taking the passengers on the way to their home.

"Why don't you answer when I call you?"

"Did you call me? When?" Elena was surprised when she heard her father's question.

"I called you half an hour ago."

The girl thought a little and then realized what was happening.

"Sorry, dad. It seems I forgot the phone in the Academy. In the professor's office."

"I see," the man sighed, and the total tension in the car decreased noticeably.

"But, dad, why are you here, shouldn't you have come back only at the end of the week?"

"So there were circumstances. Before I could get off the plane, I received a call from the head of your university. What do you think my feelings were? When I heard that you were taken to the police station as a witness of the murder?"

"Forgive me please." The girl looked guiltily at her father.

The man sighed and patted her on the shoulder. "You have nothing to apologize for. You are not to blame for anything. But tell me, what has happened?"

"When I was at the professor, a man came. They began quarreling about something. Then this man gave the professor some kind of injection and Mr. Richards lost consciousness. When I came closer to him, he was already dead," Elena finished her story, omitting some details.

"I see ... wait a minute! Did it all happen before your eyes? Did the man commit the crime right in front of you?" President Lee was puzzled and shocked at how serious the situation was.

"No, that's not how it was, dad. Of course not. He did not see me. I was behind the bookcase, and he did not know about my presence. I just saw him," Elena hurried to explain to her father.

"Hmm, well, it's good if you say so. In any case, everything that you will say to the police, you should discuss it in advance with the attorney Brown and testify only in his presence."

"Good, dad. As you say."

Chen Lee looked closely at his daughter. There would be nothing surprising if the girl, being in a similar situation, would fall into depression or would be in hysterics. But Elena was different from her childhood. She always knew how to quickly restore her emotional state and skillfully managed her feelings. Even now, after what had happened to her favorite professor, she sat quietly in the car and looked out the window.

'I hope she really calmed down a bit because by her appearance I still cannot understand what she had in her mind,' the president was thinking about as he was watching the girl.

But soon another image appeared in his head and he immediately hurried to clarify the situation.

"What is your relationship with this Anderson?"

Elena, thoughtfully looking out the window, was a little confused by the unexpected question from her father. "Umm, what do you mean what kind of relationship?"

"Judging by the way he looked at you, it doesn't seem that he is just your teacher," Chen Lee looked at his daughter sternly, as if he had caught her with something improper.

"Um, we have no such special relationship. We are just good friends," Elena replied, having decided that it was better not to disclose the details of her personal life to her father.

"And since when are you such good friends?" The father did not want to let go this subject of their conversation and further interrogated his daughter.

"Well ... from recent time," Elena felt that this conversation might go in the wrong direction, and then she remembered an important detail. "We were recently introduced by Rick, Rick Stein. You know him, right?"

Chen looked at his daughter, who suddenly began to smile sweetly as if she wanted to distract him from the true essence of things. 'Hmm, it seems that something is not right here.'

"Yes, of course, I am very familiar with Rick. Wonderful young man. You should take a closer look at him. As for this Anderson... I do not want you to get closer with him."

"And what is the reason for such a recommendation?" The smile immediately disappeared from the girl's face and she also looked at the man seriously.

"Honey, if you were at least a little interested in your father's work, you wouldn't ask such questions." President Lee looked at his daughter one last time, letting her know that their conversation was over, and delved into the study of working papers.

Elena understood that there was really no point in discussing anything further. She turned away and stared out the window. 'If you were a little bit interested... blah blah blah... Damn and you don't have anything to say in response,' she thought to herself.

All these years, the girl didn't go deep into the affairs of Lee Pharmaceuticals. She knew some common details but she had not enough information to be fully aware of the current events.

'It's probably worth spending more time to study this issue,' Elena thought and continued to look at the cars passing by, while their Mercedes was silently driving its passengers on the way to their home.