Work (It) Out

Chapter 5

Eve just signed the divorce papers. 

She didn’t know how to feel as she sat across from Niko, who refused to look at her, as they signed their names on a billion sheets of paper. They didn’t speak. Well, Niko didn’t. Eve tried to say something as she finished signing her name one more time, but before she could get any words out. So, Niko stood up and left the room. Without a word.

She didn’t even know what she had wanted to say. ‘Bye?’ ‘See you soon?’ Would she see him soon? Was this the last time she’d ever see him? She didn’t know. They hadn’t spoken in person for months and if they did, it was over text to confirm something one of their lawyers said.

Eve sat for a few minutes, trying to process everything. She knew there wasn’t any animosity between them because she believed Niko just wanted to move on. No anger. No hatred.She wanted to move on too, of course, but it wasn’t that simple. Yes, they’d been separated for months but now they were divorced. Along with that, she decided not to keep Niko’s name. It’d been 10 years of being ‘Eve Polastri’ and she didn’t feel like a Polastri anymore. She wasn’t a Polastri anymore. The Polastri that was in her life wasn’t in her life anymore. Eve knew Niko would always be a part of her, she spent most of her adult life with him, but she couldn’t share his name anymore. She was Eve Park… again.

It was Friday and she had her graduate class in an hour and today they had a special guest lecturer. Dina Lewis. She was an old student of Eve’s. Well, not old, she only graduated last year, however, she’d been one of Eve’s favorite students other than…. Oksana. But, technically, Oksana wasn’t one of Eve’s students. The brunette had just been the TA, so she doesn’t count.

Dina had been interning at MI6 for the past year and was just offered a permanent job. Before deciding on becoming a professor, joining MI6 was what Eve had dreamed of doing. However, when she discussed this with Niko, he refused to even let her apply. He said it was too dangerous and would only put them at risk. He’d drilled this into her brain so deeply, that she eventually gave up this idea. She decided on becoming a professor, and after some time, she didn’t hate it. When she met Oksana, however, the blonde helped her fall in love with the job. Obviously, she wasn’t a professor yet, but the younger woman encouraged her, supported her, and made her feel like she could truly change the world when she did become a professor. Niko never did that. He did the opposite, actually. 

Eve emailed Dina a few weeks ago and they set up a time. She was still living in London and the professor needed a guest lecturer. She always tried to include one in her graduate class, usually toward the beginning of the second semester since it allowed the students enough time to consider their options before they actually had to act on anything. Most of them had no idea what they wanted to do after University and Eve wanted to present them with as many choices as possible. A guest lecturer usually helped as they discussed what they did and how they got there. And to Eve, Dina was exceptional. 

Granted, she was already very successful, being accepted to an MI6 internship and then for a job, but the young woman was smart, kind, always contributed in class, and was very attractive. Not that the professor was thinking about how her students looked, but Dina was very good-looking. Eve could tell. She had light brown skin, long wavy dark hair, and her eyes were this blue-greenish color that Eve couldn’t describe with words. She reminded her of Oksana... or should she say Villanelle? Were they the same person? The professor didn’t know. Regardless, Dina was also upfront, straight-forward, and gave you tough-love when you needed it. 

However, nothing against Oksana, but Dina was very mature for her age. When Eve first got to know Oksana, she saw that the younger woman was very impulsive, highly intelligent of course, but she never thought about the consequences to her decisions. Dina, on the other hand, was very thorough and thoughtful. Eve guessed her age to be around 29 now, a couple of years older than what Villanelle would be. Eve couldn’t help but compare them since they were similar and different in so many ways. She also met them both here but at completely different points in her life. Eve started to wonder what would’ve happened if she had met Oksana/Villanelle now, rather than 8 years ago… 

Dina strutted in the office 10 minutes before the lecture was set to start, while Eve was at her desk looking through past exams and notes, preparing for other classes.

“Eve!” She yelled, the professor instantly looking up and recognizing the slight English accent. 

The brunette loved accents, but there were some that were hard to understand. However, Dina’s was very elegant and Eve enjoyed hearing it. It was also refreshing how since she wasn’t technically a student, she didn’t have to be called ‘Professor Polastri’ or I guess, ‘Professor Park’ now. She would have to figure out how to change the name on her office door.

“Dina, it’s nice to see you,” Eve stood and smiled, “How are you?”

“I’m really good!” She squealed, the brunette appreciating the happiness that radiated off this woman, “How’s professor life?”

“It’s,” She looked around the empty lecture hall and laughed lightly, “It’s tiring but worth it.”

“Because of students like me?” Dina smirked, and leaned her hip on Eve’s wooden desk, across from the professor. This was one of the times where Eve saw Oksana in Dina, and, in all honesty, she didn’t mind it.

“Hmm,” Eve pretended to look up at the ceiling in deep thought, “Not sure.”

“Oh stop,” She waved her hand in dismissal, pretending to be hurt by Eve’s comment, “I know I was your favorite.”

“Ok, fine, maybe.” She rolled her eyes.

Dina only smirked in response, happy with the professor’s confession.

“So, are you excited about your job at MI6?” Eve sat back down, Dina following suit and sitting down across from her.

“I’m buzzing for it, honestly. I’ve been studying violent female psychopaths over the past few months and,” She shook her head, grinning, “It reminded me of one of your best lectures.” Eve blushed.

“Oh yeah,” The professor looked down while remembering. She’d always been fascinated by what drove females to kill and when she gave that lecture, she loved every minute of it and obviously Dina did too, “I really liked giving that lecture.”

“Did you always want to be a criminology professor?” She asked, leaning back on her chair. 

“Well, funny enough,” Eve was going to avoid discussing her now ex-husband and his disapproval of the job she wanted so long ago, “I did consider applying for a job at MI6.”

“Oh wow,” Dina smiled, now leaning forward to the desk on her elbows, “Why didn’t you?”

“I don’t know…” She did know, but she wasn’t going to tell her ex-student about it, “I guess I liked the idea of shaping the minds of those who were passionate enough about criminology.” She shrugged, trying not to think of the way Oksana used to talk about Eve’s choice in profession. She’d almost quoted her from something she’d said 8 years ago.

“I think that’s quite beautiful, Eve,” Dina purred the professor’s name, which made Eve feel something, “It’s very selfless.”

“Mmm, I don’t know about selfless,” She tried to sit back, now noticing she was also leaning forward across her desk and was a bit too close to Dina, “I enjoy it but I don’t know how much the students do.” She laughed, trying to make a joke but her ex-student’s face dropped.

“Eve. You wer- you are my favorite professor. Honestly, you made me realize what I could do and you supported me every step of the way,” The professor couldn’t help but smile. The last person who’d made her feel this confident about being a professor was Oksana, “I can’t thank you enough for that.”

“Dina, I’m just doing my job, you really don’t have to thank me.”

“No, I do,” She stood up, the professor now realizing that students were starting to enter the lecture hall, “I still work part-time at a bar down the street and you should come, the first round is on me. As a thank you.” She winked with Eve, feeling her heart flutter, for some reason. She’d never felt this way… well, she had, but not in years.

“You really don’t have to--” Eve started but Elena burst through the doors.

“DINA!!!” Elena ran up and bear-hugged the woman. She and Dina had been in a few classes while they were both at Imperial and had continued to keep in touch since Dina graduated. When Eve told her assistant that she was the guest lecturer, Elena was very excited.

“Hi, Elena,” Dina stepped back, grinning, “How are you?” 

“Tired because of this one,” She pointed toward Eve who was now looking down, slightly embarrassed, “But I’m alright. How are you, agent Lewis?” She smirked.

The older woman laughed saying she was fine, shoving Elena lightly. 

“We should probably get started, right Eve?” She turned to the professor, brown meeting those blue-green eyes. Eve was feeling heavy deja vu, but for some reason she was enjoying it.

“Yes right,” Eve turned toward the now-full lecture hall, “Afternoon, everyone. Today we have a special guest, one of my old students, Dina Lewis. She has been interning at MI6, so today she’ll be talking about what you can do with your criminology degrees. Floor is yours, Dina.” The professor gestured at her ex-student to move toward the front of the room while she sat down in one of the front rows.

“Wow, Eve, I wouldn’t say I’m an old student of yours,” She smirked at the professor who could feel her face redden, while some of the students laughed at her comment, “But, yes, I will be talking to all of you about what you can do if you graduate.” She smiled and Eve could already tell the younger woman had hooked the other students, just by being herself. Oksana was able to do the same thing. However, she did it from the crowd. 

And Eve couldn’t help but think of Oksana, or now Villanelle, all throughout Dina’s lecture.

-----------------

“Thanks, everyone!” Dina waved as the students started packing up and exiting the hall, “Be kind to Eve, please, she does too much work not to be appreciated!” She smiled and turned to Eve who was walking up to her.

“Thank you for doing that, Dina. It means a lot.” She smiled, feeling a little nervous. Why was she nervous? 

“You know, as a way to thank me, you could let me make you a drink.” Oh, that was why Eve was nervous. Dina’s drink offer. To be honest, the professor could use a good night out. She’d been working non-stop all week, had just gotten divorced, and Carolyn was still keeping tabs on her work. She never had much time to herself and if Dina was offering...

“She’ll be there.” Elena came up next to her, answering Dina’s question.

“Fine.” Eve rolled her eyes, pretending she wasn’t a little excited.

“Now come on Di, I wanna show you this new gym.” She was pulled by Elena out of the hall, Eve’s ex-student turning and giving her a wink on her way out.

--------------

Villanelle was very bored. There were no classes she had to teach today and there were only a few people in the gym at the moment. Hugo and Kenny had the afternoon off and Nadia had a class later, so she wasn’t here yet. It was just the blonde and she was losing her mind a little bit. 

She was swiveling on the chair at the front desk when she heard Elena walk in. 

“V!” Elena smiled, as the blonde recognized her.

“Elena, I’m so happy to see you, I’m soooo bored.” She actually was starting really like Elena. The more time she spent with her, the more she realized how similar they were. At first, the blonde was hesitant, knowing that she was friends with Eve, however, the woman was strikingly different from the professor, so as they spent more time around one another, she thought of Eve less. Also, let’s not forget, Villanelle was very bored.

“Wonderful, because I have someone who wants to start a membership,” She gestured to Dina who was giving the assistant a look, “This is Dina.”

“Hi,” She held her hand out and the blonde couldn’t help but find her attractive. Her hair was… phenomenal.

“Hi, I’m Villanelle.” She shook her hand, meeting very pretty eyes.

“Ah I see, so you're the owner,” Dina looked around and smirked, “V’s gym and all.”

“Creative name, I know.” Elena giggled.

“Hey! I like it, it’s simple.” The blonde laughed too, starting to pull up paperwork from the desk.

“You don’t have to start any type of paid membership today. I’ll start you with a 2-week trial so that you can get a feel for the area.” She set the paperwork on the desk, assessing Dina’s facial features. She was stunning, but not exactly her type.

“Oh okay great,” Dina furrowed her brows as she read the papers, signing where necessary. She’d been looking for a gym and this was right by the bar and MI6 headquarters. Perfect location. 

She finished quickly, while Elena and Villanelle made idle conversation. The blonde filed the papers on the side of the desk and then looked back at the women.

“You’re all set. Welcome to V’s gym.”

“Thank you.” She smiled politely, happy to be finished with the paperwork. 

“You know V, she works at the bar down the street, you should come out with us tonight,” Elena swears she forgot that they invited Eve. She swears on her life.

“I just might have to take you up on that.” The blonde smiled, her eyes not leaving Dina.