Dirty Secret: Bound By My Professor's Desire

Remember

The next morning, Jiyya woke up with an excruciating headache. It seemed she had drunk far too much the night before. It had been another one of her attempts to bury her embarrassment and forget everything, but the effects were only hitting her now. Her body swayed when she tried to stand on her own two feet. She succeeded, but her body was clearly unwilling to cooperate this morning.

“Jiyya, breakfast is ready!” a very familiar voice called from the kitchen of the boarding house where she lived.

She had even forgotten that Silvana had probably stayed over after picking her up from the bar the night before. Honestly, she was not in the mood to see her today, because Jiyya knew that noisy woman would spend the entire day pestering her with ridiculous and leading questions.

Instead of responding, Jiyya simply turned away and headed for the bathroom to wash her face. At the very least, water was the first remedy she needed to refresh herself before moving on to the hangover soup already waiting on the dining table. Jiyya looked at Silvana, who seemed a hundred times more cheerful than usual this morning. Whatever devil had possessed that woman, it was obvious to Jiyya exactly why she looked so delighted. That troublesome woman had undoubtedly heard something about the night before. Yes, something like Jiyya revealing another side of herself to Sir Joan, babbling nonsense, and exposing just how pathetic and desperate she really was. It had been a complete disaster, and Jiyya knew it.

But as soon as her memory replayed the events involving Sir Joan, her whole body trembled.

“s**t!” she cursed, immediately drawing the attention of her friend, whose expression changed at once.

“What’s wrong, Jiyya?” Silvana asked.

Jiyya did not answer. Her mind was far too full of Sir Joan. How could it not be? She had acted completely out of character, and now the thought of facing that handsome lecturer filled her with dread. How was Jiyya supposed to face Sir Joan now? How could she possibly behave normally around him without feeling embarrassed and awkward? She knew she had been foolish, so foolish that she had spilled everything in her mind to the very person who should never have known any of it.

What would happen to their relationship now? What had once been nothing more than the ordinary bond between lecturer and student could never be the same again. Making love with Sir Joan had been impossible from the very beginning, unattainable, and something that should never have happened. Yet he had responded to her foolish rambling with what she clearly remembered as a serious offer, proposing the idea of making love to her as though it were the simplest thing in the world. Had Sir Joan always been that kind of man? Jiyya truly could not comprehend it.

“Hey... Jiyya, listen. Sorry, but even though you may have gotten the sexiest lecturer on campus, the fact remains that Silvana was clearly the first one to make a move,” Silvana said, as usual, feeling the need to be ahead of everyone else. She was, after all, fiercely competitive and did not particularly enjoy being outdone.

“Go away!” Jiyya shouted back, half trying to chase Silvana off. But the moment she raised her voice like that, her head throbbed painfully. She winced and immediately crouched down, trying to ease the pain.

“Hey, are you okay?” This time, Silvana was genuinely worried. She had never seen Jiyya this severely hungover before.

After all, Jiyya was her friend, the one she considered rather innocent, certainly not the type of wild girl that Silvana herself was. Yet it seemed Jiyya was dealing with problems of her own, even though Silvana had no idea what exactly she was going through or what had caused her to become so distressed. In truth, Silvana was deeply curious, but she held herself back from asking.

“If you left, that would make me feel much better,” Jiyya replied sarcastically after a rather long pause. Though it sounded harsh, Silvana was already quite accustomed to her best friend’s behavior.

“Aww, how mean. Is that how you thank me for helping you get home? You were quite a handful last night, you know.” This was Silvana’s way of coaxing Jiyya into talking. She deliberately brought up the topic to uncover more information. More accurately, she was extremely curious. And seeing Jiyya’s unfriendly demeanor only made her even more eager to know.

“Yes, thank you, my dear friend,” Jiyya said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Silvana immediately let out a small laugh. She reached out her hand, helped Jiyya to her feet, and then carefully guided her into one of the dining chairs. As Silvana helped her stand, Jiyya suddenly noticed something unusual about her friend. There was a scrape on Silvana’s knee. Jiyya frowned slightly. For some reason, the wound seemed rather peculiar and immediately caught her attention, so she could not stop herself from mentioning it.

“Silvana, your knee is injured!” She pointed at it with her index finger. “That looks pretty bad. What exactly were you doing to end up like that?”

Silvana glanced down at her own knee. She looked surprised for a moment, but then she simply giggled to herself. What was wrong with her? Had she gone crazy? Her knee was bleeding, and yet she was laughing.

“Eat first and take this hangover medicine. Once you’re feeling better, then we can talk, okay?” she replied, while arranging a few things on the table.

Jiyya grumbled a little, but she accepted everything and obediently followed Silvana’s instructions. Silvana truly was the perfect friend. Though she was noisy and incredibly extroverted, she always knew how to adjust her energy around Jiyya so that Jiyya never felt exhausted trying to keep up with her.

Just like now, Silvana understood the situation and allowed Jiyya to sit quietly, replenishing her energy before speaking. They did not say a word until Jiyya had finished her meal and taken her medicine. After waiting for a while, Jiyya finally began to feel as though her body was willing to cooperate again.

“So, what is that? Some kind of souvenir? Are you showing it off to me as proof of your casual encounter with some unfortunate man?”

Silvana wagged her index finger, signaling that Jiyya had guessed incorrectly. Then she gave her a sly grin. “Not quite, darling. Take another guess. Remember what I said earlier?”

Jiyya froze instantly. Her mouth fell wide open. “Silvana, no! Don’t tell me that you—”

“I did,” Silvana said proudly. Then she rested her chin in both hands and flashed Jiyya a mischievous smile. “Or rather, we did. My charm simply never fails to capture any man I want. You agree with that, don’t you, my dear Jiyya?”