026. Mind of a Genius [1]
MISHA
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"All I wanted was to know if I had the potential, if those famous colleges would recognize my potential, if they would enjoy the glimpse I gave them of my mind, of my intelligence. I wanted to see if they would judge me capable," she rolled her eyes with a grin on. "They did. It was one of the happiest moments in my life, when I got all the acceptance letters and no one of them was pushing me away. But that was just the beginning, since I was going to study with 18 years old and above people in MIT, and they would absolutely look down on me."
Because she was a kid.
"That's why papa was such a crucial part in my life back then, because I felt frustrated by those grown ups, and angry by how they kept provoking me, just because I was 12. Papa began to oversee my assignments, to correct me when I did something equivocally, and to guide me on the right way. He made me confident when my confidence started to break, and by my second year there, no one had the audacity of mocking me. After all, I had gotten first place in everything, and they were losing for a child, so, they treated me like a mascot," she chuckled.
And as she chuckled, I found myself appreciating the sound of it. It's a rare sight, extremely rare, for her to chuckle and laugh and smile, without it being menacing, mean, vicious, dreadful, or mischievously. The way her lips curled up was more entrancing than I want to admit.
I'm glad everyone is looking at her while eating or it would be awkward.
"From then on, as their little smartass mascot of luck, everything got easier and the team projects went heavenly smooth. As crazy as it is, they put me as the leader of the projects, and hopped on whatever I said, on all of my ideas. We would brainstorm ideas together, then I would quickly come up with a finalized concrete idea of it. I would go to the apartment, build a basic prototype on my own just to help us, papa would watch me, and I would bring it back on the other day."
I know how it feels, though I was 18, it happened to me too, in my course.
I may not be as much a prodigy as she was, but I'm sure I'm the smartest out of all my siblings. That is for sure. That's why even my oldest siblings look up to me in a funny way, and why when we all play together they always followed my lead.
"Papa would pop up in MIT every day to get me, and everyone who knew him, like all the teachers and masters, and some of the students, would gawk at him as if he was a deity that had come to earth. It was funny, until it wasn't. Then, after he passed, the headmaster told me to stay there and to try another Engineering course, which I did. As I was 16 when I started the other one, I was way more respected."
She tilted her head, "And those who knew me from Mechanical Engineering looked up to me even more. But they stayed away, as they should. It was easier since papa had trained me for years in coding, and as prodigy, I had it even easier. But even then, I did my best. I bled out to show my potential, because that was what papa would do, what he would tell me to do. No one is born perfect, no human is perfect, we always have something to master, to get better at, no one is 100."
Well, I don't know if it's the alcohol loosing her up, but she's definitely letting us see more than she even did in her entire life. And that's because me and her were in the same school of MIT, the School of Engineering, and thought I heard lots of things about her, since everyone talked about her, she never allowed me to stay close to her there. The others who studied in MIT with us also didn't.
The little she showed, she was cold and closed off, except for Leo and Luigi who were always handing around her, like two sidekicks. Ridiculous.
But I get it why.
We did think that she was just being an arrogant bitch. I certainly did. A part of me still thinks like that, after all, I just learned her view on this, it'll take time to swallow it.
"MIT was my choice of place not just because it was the best university for what I wanted: engineering. There, I would make countless extremely important contacts, that would help me grow more powerful. And that's what I did. Even if in an introverted manner, I made countless contacts, and most of it was because they wanted to approach me."
"Papa told me that's what he did when he was there, that it was what helped the Von Barnhardt empire almost double in power in his hands. I'm ambitious, headstrong, and someone who overthinks things too much. These things can be considered bad in socializing, but in business it's good."
"You certainly sound like your papa," zia Anna chuckled.
Again her tanned cheekbones turned red and a embarrassed smile tried to curl up on the sides of her lips, and I got myself wondering how it would feel to have her smiling at me. A happy smile with teeth.
Not to anyone else, but to me.
Which is absolutely absurd.
"Thank you, mama," Zoe Maud pressed her lips together. "But as I was saying initially, I don't do stuff for the moment. I may not have played with you in my childhood and focused on my studies, but it was thanks to that, that I got all I have now. It was a long range investment in myself, that I planned from when I was 8 years old. I've always knew what I wanted in every aspect of my life, and that includes my love life," she scoffed at herself, "or the absence of it, for now," she added.