Marina didn’t ask any more questions. She just looked at her carefully.
“You know,” after a pause, she said, “our studio is actually looking for an intern. Mostly paperwork, but it’ll help you get back into the business. If you want, of course.”
Anna felt her heart start to beat faster. A little bit of hope stirred in her chest, a cautious, almost unnoticeable feeling.
“I… I’ll think about it,” she said, taking the business card. Back in the kitchen, while unpacking the groceries, her eyes kept going back to the little cardboard rectangle with the design studio’s logo on it. It was a chance, a fragile and uncertain one, but still a chance to change her life.
“You’re nobody without me.”
She took a deep breath and dialed the number. Her voice shook, but her words came out strong:
“Marina? It’s Anna. I’ll take it.”
The “Kontrast” studio was in an old building, but inside, the atmosphere was totally different. There were high ceilings and huge windows that let in a ton of light. Anna stood at the entrance, her fingers feeling cold. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Behind the glass, people were running around in a hurry, you could hear voices, and the coffee machine was making a soft noise. After so many years of just being at home, this world seemed really far away and strange.
“Be brave,” Anna told herself and pulled the door open.
The first week of the internship was really tough. The computer seemed to be making fun of her. The programs wouldn’t do what she wanted, and her colleagues were so confident and professional.
She felt out of place among these young specialists whose fingers flew over the keyboard faster than she could think. Every evening, she’d go home and just cry quietly, curled up on the couch.
