In these 3 last chapters, we see the various paths that the relationship between the two heroes passed, as well as the obstacles they found until they finally come together.
In chapter 10, Anna appears very upset in Nick’s office as she was in a dilemma because she doesn’t know what to do with her life. Nick, who is trying to help her, urges her to communicate with a friend of his, Kleanthis, who had helped him in the past. But then, he shows quite anxious if Anna will eventually go with him to Athens. So, he decides to meet her in her room, where there is a generally comforting climate. In his attempt to console her, he describes his personal story, when he had been depressed for a long period of time. He even confessed his heart problem, but that, made Anna to be more concerned and to want to protect him. But however, Nick seems to take care of her more like her father. At the stage of development of events, there follows their common journey. During their flight there were strong emotions, but the characters didn’t follow their manifest. Later, during the preparation of Anna’s presentation, the odds of meeting alone were continuously decreasing. However, at the presentation, Nick admired her and slowly started being stunned by her and as a matter of fact her got closer to her. During the period they spent together, people thought that they were a couple, but they didn’t admit it. There were some romantic dinners, which had a pretty charged atmosphere. At one point, Anna started touching his hand and Nick did the same, although at first he was somehow reluctant. After that, even though Anna confessed her feeling about him, Nick sunned her indirectly and continued the conversation by talking generally. But although he tried to deny what he felt, now he realized that it was too late. The climax came with a sudden and brutal change in their relationship, when they both eventually admitted the passion that united them. Finally, they postponed their trip in order to be able to live their love free.
In chapter 11, Anna is presented to live her first years in America working on a new project. There she meets a new colleague, Dimitris, where through his appearance she recalls Nicks’ image. That means that she replaces him in her head indirectly with Nick. Although her relations with Dimitris ended up to be vey close, eventually Anna on her trip back to Greece, was thinking of them both and she realized that she couldn’t overcome Nick.
In chapter 12, while Nick was reading the letter that Anna had sent to him with all the things that had happened, he didn’t know if he should react positively or negatively at all that she described and he was trying to find answers to his questions. At his meeting with Anna, although they where discussing Nicks’ plans and ideas on the creation of the new laboratory, they were avoiding with embarrassment about Anna’s letter and focused in their work. Of course, despite all the work, Nick’s question was still torturing him, but he didn’t want to talk about it. Later, Anna had to fly with him on a professional issue. But Anna was frightened and she had misgivings about the flight, because she had a bad feeling. Instead, Nick wanted to convince her in every way to come, but he respected her decision and agreed to cover her at the meeting. But when Anna took the decision, went to the meeting and appeared suddenly, she and Nick where quite embarrassed. There followed some business dinners where they were not together and even though they wanted to stay alone, they couldn’t. But finally they found the opportunity to communicate. At the end of all the meetings and the upcoming trip to return, they didn’t follow the others, but they stayed behind alone. After that, they went for a dinner in a restaurant just for the two of them. At first, Nick started talking and he asked her why she wrote that letter. In their discussion, Anna explained that she understood that eventually Dimitris, the character of the story, wasn’t a real character but behind him was hiding Nick’s real life story. Simultaneously, she noted that she wrote it in order to help him overcome the grief he felt. Furthermore, in the intense atmosphere that prevails among them, Anna confessed without fear her love for him and she argues ever word, but again, Nick tries to prevent her from what she feels. In the end, they result approaching closely, remain together and their story seems to end calmly and that their feelings will last a lifetime.
Through a comprehensive look at the history, we conclude that the main purpose of the book is to teach us that true love between two people can’t be prevented neither by the passage of time nor by the social positions and constraints that exist in the world. At the same time, it shows us that true love doesn’t understand neither the mental borders nor the age. But although, through the relationship that the two characters built up and their strong emotions, we also realize that even though Anna told him many times that she loved him, he never said it clearly, because he’s stuck to the social perceptions that existed for a teacher and a student, and we can end up logically that from the title <<I’ve taught you everything, but a word>>, the author means that from everything Nick learned to Anna, he finally forgot to tell her the most important word, “I love you.”
