Seriously...

Seriously... I Don't Know

How had things changed so quickly? How did everyone find out about she and Adam?

All through her dates and visits with him, they'd never met anyone they know or who would be suspicious of them.

What on earth was happening?

That's what the HOD asked her when she sat behind his desk.

The office was dark despite the lights blazing through the windows.

The older man, gray haired and with his mouth set in a thin line, watched her every reaction carefully. She wasn't sure if what he was thinking, but she knew it wasn't anything good.

Tabitha's phone was already blarring with calls from her family members who'd surely heard what'd happened. This university was the most popular in the country, it was no surprise.

Which meant she was doomed.

She closed her eyes, unable to bear the tense silence of her boss, then she said, “Are you going to fire me?"

“Why do you ask that?"

She reopened her eyes to look at him. He still didn't seem angry, just… quietly studying her.

Her voice quivered. “Because… I'm a terrible employee who was with your son–”

“Did you sleep with him?" he interrogated.

Her eyes widened. She'd considered saying the truth, explaining what really happened. But something stopped her from doing that.

She denied it.

“No," she exclaimed, her voice sure. “I'd never sleep with a student."

This is for survival.

He nodded. “You're going on leave for a bit, until we can find a solution to this. If we can, really… This is bad press, you know.” He tapped the table on autopilot. "Well, I'll talk to Adam already so I'll reach out to you later."

He waved her away. “You can go home now or even later today, if you're still feeling overwhelmed."

Tabitha sat in place, her thoughts all over the place. Her racing heart had cooled down, but for a different reason.

Dread. Worry. Uncertainty.

Mr. Ayoola raised a brow. "Miss Uduak?”

Tabitha hastily got up, out of her reverie.

“Oh, you must be wondering why I'm being so calm about this." The man smiled for the first time since she'd been here. “You're not the first person to be in such a… scandal. Scandals are a norm in this school.” He gestured the door. "If we're able to fix the issue, you'll get your job back. If we can't… well, we'll see…”

Which meant she was hanging by a thread.

*****

Tabitha spent the entire day in her office. She couldn't leave for home out of fear. The stares were all too real now, and even words of comfort from her friend and family weren't enough.

She didn't have the confidence to speak to her family on the phone, ashamed. But they comforted her, telling her how much they loved and trusted her.

Azuka, who came to visit her office with some food package sat on the floor with her, force-feeding her.

“You look like you cried all day," she commented.

“Yeah," Tabitha mumbled, the food tasteless on her tongue.

"Adam still hasn't called?” Azuka asked, concerned.

Tabitha sighed. It wasn't something that was going to affect him. He didn't have to reach out, it's not like they were in a real relationship. He'd probably gotten his feel of ‘conversations.’

“Do you think he was the one who did this?”

Tabitha gave her best friend an incredulous look after swallowing down her food. "Why would he do that?”

Azuka shrugged. "Why wouldn't he?”

Tabitha thought about it. Then shook her head in denial. "He has nothing to gain or lose from such a thing.”

A few hours ago, she'd been angry and blamed him, but she'd gotten over it–mostly because she was too sad to blame anyone anymore, it'd make no difference.

Azuka gave her a look. "Are you sure he has nothing to lose or gain from exposing this to the country?”

Tabitha groaned. "Azuka, please, let it go. We both know that's true. He's not some evil mastermind. Even the way we met was unexpected.”

Azuka hummed. Her brows were still furrowed, but she said nothing more. She forced the food down her friend's throat.

Her words though, made Tabitha internalize everything she'd been through since with Adam. She had to admit that she knew next to nothing about him. And she wondered why he didn't even text her.

Didn't he say he cared about her? What was going on?

*****

The ride home at night was quiet and somber. Tabitha was drowsy in Azuka’s car and waved her friend off when she'd offered to take care of her for the night.

She just wanted to be alone now.

She was pleased when Azuka gracefully backed off, but not before she could almost suffocate her with hugs and kisses and tearfully wish her a nice night.

Tabitha felt Azuka stare at her from the moment she got out of the car till the moment she disappeared into the building.

Inside her house, she laid on the couch in silence, staring at the ceiling.

“Looks like I'm going to be relying on my allowance again," she mumbled.

She glanced at the family's group chat and didn't bother responding. She didn't want to deal with this today. She just wanted to wallow in pity.

A loud knock on the door snapped her out of her mood.

Annoyed when the person didn't stop knocking after she'd ignored them, she got up and peeped through the peephole and gasped.

“What the f**k?!" was the first thing she said as she opened the door. “Are you f*****g with me? It's nighttime and I went through absolute s**t since morning! No call, no text. Nothing!"

Leaning on the side of door while dressed in a black hoodie and cargo pants, Adam smiled gently at her.

“May I come in?" he asked after she was done ranting.

She let out another string of curses and moved out of the way and back to her couch to lay down.

The door was closed with a click.

“I apologize for not reaching out," he said, flickering on the room light. “I was trying to solve the situation."

“Well, I haven't seen any evidence of that,” she mumbled.

"Didn't you speak to my Dad?" he questioned curiously.

She frowned, sitting up to look at him. Then she paused.

Blinking, heat overtook her body reactions to his appearance. This was something she'd tried to ignore constantly, but this young man was hot as hell. His lips, his eyes… even his exposed fingers that were long and appeared rough were so…

She shook her head.

She wanted to talk to him, but she also didn't. She was too tired.

So Tabitha ignored his presence and leaned on the couch, almost giving in to the sleep until she was startled awake by Adam's ongoing speech. It was like he was talking to her, but also not.

She tried to rub the sleep out of her face. “Wh- What?"

Adam had an almost tender look in his eyes, then a light flashed in his eyes.

He let out a breath. “You're so beautiful, you know… Sexy too.”

Tabitha gave him a look of suspicion. She was going through hell and these were his thoughts?!

She ignored him, lacking the strength to even address his words. She tried to close her eyes again, then he said something.

“I'll have to apologize to you, though." He leaned back on the wall. "I did that out of haste. It's just… your reluctance was starting to piss me off."

She'd nodded, but froze when his words dawned on her.

“You," she whispered, shocked. “You did this?"

"Sorry.”

He offered an apologetic smile, though the twinkle in his eyes showcased something different.

“My father always told me… if you want something that seems unreachable, you have to put in effort to get it,” he began, cool. "You're not easy to reach. My method wasn't working, so I tried something else. It worked didn't it?”

It was all so unexpected. He admitted it without any guilt, without even thinking about his words. He sounded indifferent as he smiled at her.

Azuka's speculation haunted her now.

Why had she thought this was a good guy?

What was wrong with her?

She felt a trail of tears roll down her eyes. “Why would you do that? Why didn't you just–"

"Because…” he tilted his head to look all over her. "Because… I want you."

She instantly shook her head, getting on her feet and ready to run despite the weakness of her body. “No. No! You… you ruined my life because you want me?!”

Her heart rate was hard and fast. She wanted to leave this place right now.

He shrugged. "I wouldn't say I ruined your life. I can fix it with the snap of a finger, I just… I still like you, Tabitha.” His voice got lower as he stepped away from the wall, his figure towering her the closer he came. "I haven't gotten you out of my system yet and so… I think there's one last step left.”

She gasped, understanding dawning on her as his gaze were fixed, unflinching on her.

Against her wish, he roughly grabbed her arm and then kissed her.

She whimpered. She hated how she'd missed his touch like this, her body excited of the prospect of what they were about to do.

What was this? Was she some sort of w***e?!

Why would she feel like this when he'd just admitted to ruining her f*****g life?!

Adam breathed heavily after breaking off the kiss. His smirk was dark, his eyes filled with desire she couldn't imagine.

“Let me show you."