"Co on, Bruce, I know you haven't been feeling great lately, but you can't push yourself this hard. It won't hurt to take a break for one night. Whatever work you have can wait till tomorrow..."
Selina moved a chair and sat down next to Bruce, placing her hand on his shoulder. She blew on his cheek and said, "We haven't seen each other in days; do you really need to be busy right now?"
"Analysis of specifics in Anxiety Disorder...haven't I written on this topic before? I think it was last month's subject...I made a mistake in my word count estimate, I fear I have a sixty thousand-word thesis to write..."
"What did you say?" Selina didn't hear Bruce mumbling. She straightened herself, looking at him from top to toe scanning like a machine, then stopped at the middle part of him.
Slowly, Selina crossed her arms, squinting her eyes as she said, "Maggie once told if your man suddenly loses interest in you, it ans he's found soone else!"
"Bruce Wayne!" Selina slamd the table and said, "What's gotten into you recently? You're such a jerk!"
After saying this, with an indignant snort, she rose to leave, only to find that even though she had taken two steps away, Bruce was still sitting there motionless.
Selina was almost driven mad. Wouldn't a normal couple typically spend a few hours of sweet ti together after not seeing each other for so long? Especially since she rarely showed patience in comforting Bruce, she was just worried his recent pressure was too great, and his ntal state was abnormal. Turns out it seed like she was performing a play for the blind; he didn't care at all.
Although Batman was always cool to others, he was gentle enough to Catwoman. Both had their own lives, occasionally separated for a while, and when they reunited, it was inseparable. Even Batman would sacrifice his ti of fighting cri to date Catwoman, spoke about how special she was to him.
But today, Selina was on the brink of sitting on his lap, but Bruce remained stoic, seemingly untouched by the temptation.
"This is unbelievable!" Selina muttered, assuming that Bruce was just having another off day. She tossed her head, prepared to depart, but at that mont, Bruce spoke:
"Selina, wait, co help with sothing."
Selina ca to a halt; she put her hands on her hips and turned her head, her eyes narrowed looking at Bruce. The expression on her face said, "If you're about to say sothing nonsensical, we're through."
Instead, Bruce pointed to the pile of docunts next to him, "Could you help sieve out docunts related to anxiety disorders? I urgently need them."
Looking at Bruce's serious face, not seeming like he was joking, Selina made a puzzled face. She walked over, flipped through the stack of papers and then covered her eyes. "What is all this???"
She picked a docunt up from the top of the pile. Looking at the words she said, "...What does this word an? And this psychological...what psychology? What does the word before it an?"
Bruce stood up, picked up a docunt, saying, "You don't need to understand these; look at these words...'Anxiety Disorder'. You just have to find all files that include these words for , that's all."
Selina fiercely threw the files in her hand onto the table and said, "Bruce! Have you lost your mind? Late at night, instead of taking a drive, going to a pub for drinks, or even going on a date, you're here going through this ss of docunts???"
"This isn't a ss of docunts." Bruce rested his hand onto Selina's, "If I don't submit my sixty thousand-word thesis by tomorrow morning, you might not see after tomorrow."
Selina widened her eyes, being jolted back. She said, "No way! You're playing on my fear again. What happens if you don't submit it? Will school fire you?"
With that, she waved her hand before her face, revealing a smirk, "You're just trying to scare . The school would love it if rich folks like you graduate late, but how could they possibly expel you early?"
"And, what do you an by can't see you? If you don't turn in your howork, will soone really co to your house? Even if they do, they can't possibly stand against you, can they? What are you scared of?"
Selina stared at Bruce with wide eyes. She was quite certain her point was valid. Such a great ti to live in, why not enjoy it instead of writing assignnts in here? But soon after, she heard Bruce speaking:
"I'm pretty sure if I don't turn in my thesis tomorrow morning, soone really will co to my place, and moreover, I won't be able to beat him."
This shocked Selina even more. She stared at Bruce and asked, "Is your ntal state really okay? You're starting to talk nonsense. Is there anyone you can't beat in this city? You're not referring to the guy we saw flying in tropolis, are you?"
"No, it's scarier, it's my psychology professor..."
"Who?"
"Schiller Rodriguez."
"Enough said, where are the docunts? I'll help you look right now; you better start writing."
Ten minutes later, Selina crawled out from the pile of docunts burying her behind the table, tampering her tousled hair, then saying, "No, Bruce. It's impossible; you won't be able to write that thick stack of thesis within one night!!"
Without raising his head Bruce replied, "I'm trying to make the impossible possible. Now quick, help find the docunts with the keyword 'loneliness disorder'..."
Selina looked at the jumbled papers in her hand and said, "Wait, I saw it before...let find it. Ah! No! I've scattered them!"
A few minutes later, Selina sadly hoisted a stack of docunts in her hands, "I feel like I can't even recognize English anymore! I've never seen so many words in my life!"
She let out a deep sigh and stopped for a mont, squinting one eye and twisting her mouth to one side. It was obvious from her mischievous expression that she'd co up with so cunning plan.
After a while, Selina put both her hands on Dick's shoulders and pointed to the study room door through which a beam of light was filtering out, "Bruce needs help now, but I really can't help. I think you should be able to."
Dick, who had just finished telling Aisha a story, was completely confused by Selina's sudden enthusiasm. He rembered that Selina was always cooped up with Bruce. Dick had to be very careful not to disturb their world-for-two.
Originally, after telling the story, Dick had planned to go back to his room and sleep imdiately. He was just worried about hearing sothing he shouldn't. But now, according to Selina, Bruce was actually doing howork???
Even though he was only in middle school, he knew one thing. After not seeing one's girlfriend for a few days, the main content of the first-night reunion is doing howork???
With considerable bafflent, Dick was shoved into the study room by Selina, where he then noticed papers resembling a sea of colorful waves.
"Dick, are you here?" Bruce didn't even look up, he said, "Help gather all the materials on the floor, yellow folders on the left, blue ones on the right, all textbooks put over here..."
Bruce pointed to an area on the floor by his feet. Dick glanced at his preoccupied figure and didn't utter a word; he imdiately began arranging the materials.
"Don't leave, where's the book on child psychology? Refer to the keywords I ntioned earlier and flip to the corresponding pages..." Bruce continued instructing without lifting his head.
Selina, who was sneakily tip-toeing away, instantly wilted like a frostbitten eggplant at his words. With a sigh, she resigned herself to her fate and dived into the ocean of docunts.
After a while, Dick stretched his stiff neck. He saw Bruce beside him, busily writing. His ink was already half depleted but, judging by the stack of completed papers next to him, he seed far from finishing.
Thinking of the sixty thousand words long essay, Dick swallowed nervously. Piercing a glance at Selina, who was still rifling through docunts, he sidled up to Selina and muttered, "I'm absolutely not going to apply for that college!"
"You want to go to college?" Selina quizzically asked, "But didn't you say that you detest howork?"
As she spoke, she glanced at Bruce and said, "Look at him, even a wealthy man like him is driven insane by college howork. Do you think you can write a sixty-thousand-word essay in one night?"
"Of course it's impossible, it's impossible for anyone!" Dick said at once, but imdiately realized he was a bit too loud so he lowered his voice, "I feel like, since one can't finish it anyway, why not just not write? The consequence of 'not finished' and 'not written', are they not about the sa?"
"Ahem..." Bruce coughed twice, silencing them both.
The three of them were absorbed in their work in the room while little Aisha, left alone in another room, was not at all pleased.
Dick had finished telling her stories, but she wasn't sleepy yet. At least one of the three adults would usually stay with her until she fell asleep.
Aisha, who would refuse to sleep if no one coaxed her, jumped down from her bed. Stumbling towards the door, she pushed it open. Seeing the dark mansion corridor in front of her, she was not afraid at all. Her yellow eyes glowed faintly as she ran out into the corridor.
In the vast mansion, almost all rooms were dark except for one, where the door was not shut tight. The light spilling from the crack drew Aisha's attention at once.
Perhaps due to her inherited part of Batman's genes, at a tender age, Aisha had already learned so anti-surveillance techniques. She tiptoed towards the room while consistently looking left and right to check if soone was watching her.
The people in the room were quite busy. Selina was tirelessly rummaging for specific docunts, Dick was sorting the files, and Bruce was racing against ti to finish his assignnt. None of them noticed the tiny figure peeping through the door.
Aisha didn't understand what 'work' and 'howork' ant, she only knew that the three people in the room preferred playing with these papers over playing with her.
The little girl was very angry for not being coaxed to sleep. Pushing the door all the way open with all her might, she stood at the door screaming.
But the three people in the room were so engrossed in their work that they didn't even hear her. Selina was already frustrated with all the jargon in the papers, Dick was feeling guilty for upsetting Bruce earlier, and Bruce was terrified of falling behind on his assignnts.
Under various emotional influences, they were so engrossed in their tasks that none of them heard Aisha. Aisha realized that for the first ti, her shouting wasn't getting any response.
She was incredibly angry. She squatted down, gathered her strength, and, with a leap, landed in the pile of docunts.
In an instant, papers flew all around the room like snowflakes. Between the fluttering papers, Bruce's peering face colored a light grey with shock.
The next morning, Shiller knocked on the empty desk and stared at Bruce, "Where's the howork?"
"Aisha ate it."
"...And where's Aisha?"
After a brief pause, Bruce bent down and picked a little girl from under the table.
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