Her pulse raced in anticipation as she walked through the double doors.  Her slight figure hurried through the various double metallic doors towards the room waiting for her at the end of the hallway. 

She automatically swiped her card through the necessary security stops, adjusting her glasses in slight irritation as it routinely slipped down her nose.  Her other hand was preoccupied with the necklace hidden underneath her blouse. 

Lena had never considered herself a religious person, but she couldn’t help but don the simple gold cross around her neck each morning.  For one moment, her cool composure gave way to a more vulnerable expression as she remembered the day, she received his belongings.  She didn’t want to take it, but they left his personal articles with her. 

She was the closest to family he had.

“Ah, my little early bird has arrived.”  A hearty chuckle rang out.

Lena snapped out of her reverie and flashed a confident look towards a middle-aged man who was sitting on the edge of the desk. 

“Dr. Nikolaev.”  She nodded towards him.  Hailed as a genius in the genetics field in Russia, he was specifically sought out and offered a prestigious opportunity in South Korea for the first advanced development in DNA replication. 

His wife was a brilliant scientist like himself and was working on a similar project in the same building.

“Big day, yes?”  He asked, a grin on his face. 

His hair was peppered with grey and many creases found their way in the corner of his eyes as he raised a coffee cup toward her.  Lena gratefully took it as she sat on the edge of the desk beside him. 

Now that she had arrived, she no longer felt the impatience to see the project unfold.  She found herself feeling the exact opposite, wondering if there was any way to delay the inevitable.

Lena half-heartedly nodded, sipping at the cooling coffee.

Carefully watching her cool expression and reading the uncertainty and worry underneath.  “I know you are worried, Elena,” He gently patted her hand, using the endearing equivalent of her name in Russian.  “But we have done what we can.  The rest is in God’s hands.”

Lena fought the urge to point out the irony at his earnest conviction in religion when he is considered one of the most esteemed scientists in the world. 

“We should wait another month or two.  We still haven’t perfected everything.  How can you listen to the Director when he pays attention to the money and publicity this gets more than the actual project’s success?”  She insisted her mouth twisted in frustration.

“The director must consider all options.  His own ideals forces him to do what he thinks is best.”  He solemnly reminded her, throwing the empty paper cups in the nearby trash.  “As we all tend to do.

Lena chewed the inside of her lip as she absently nodded.