The Sight Beyond The Haze

Chapter 7: The Professor

Sunday passed in a slow manner that it almost bored me to death. I do not have anything better to do, but to just hang around my dormitory roon. I do not want to go to the library, because I knew Zachriel Legrand would be there for certain. His face will just remind me what his friends told me about.

"You are too much, he can never be enough for you."

It was still befuddling me just to remember those things she had said. What exactly did she meant by those?

"Just like the others."

Bianca did not seem to want me to know that she was noticing my depression so she cheered me up with little things such as bringing books in our dorm room that I might which I never really managed to ever open or talking to me nonstop. I know she was doing everything she can in the false pretense that I was sad because we never did found anything useful in our exploration. In reality, it was never about that, but because of what Haziel Imbert and Hermes Run have both said, and Bianca does not need to know that.

"Hi, Sera!" Layla called to me.

When I looked back to her, she was waving her hands on me when we were in the common rom. The common room was an enormous hall inside the dormitory building that students and teachers alike could hang around in. It was different from the dead stark white walls of the classroom wings of the academy that was bare and naked from any decorations, except from the occassional portraits and certificate of excellence and even from the formal looking great hall, where we all eat our meals, simply because the great hall looked ready to hold a royal banquet.

I was just about to sit down in a crook in the common room, when Layla, along with her group of friends who were just about to leave, suddenly called me over.

I smiled politely, but there was a certain sourness on that smile. At Layla's right was none other than brown-haired Haziel Imbert. It was fine to me that Haziel was here, but does Zachriel and Hermes have to be here at the same time too?

They were talking, not minding me. Well upon gracing them my stare, Hermes was minding me after all, his ferocious eyes turning to me every once in a while. It made my eyes twitched thinking of how he handled my request. Did he already tell Zachriel? Was he doing anything? Or what if he changed his mind?

And it made more nervous when Zachriel's eyes darted towards me and squinted, but that just lasted for only a few second. I sighed secretly, but Haziel looked at me smuggly and raised her eyebrows as if to say 'remember what I told you'.

So I just ignored her and Hermes and, though it was hard, even Zachriel, that was now minding me and looking at me intently, and just greeted Layla back.

I sat down at one of the comfortable ottoman there and waited for Bianca to come back from her school service.

"Lonely?" I almost jumped and turned around to the back as a familiar voice suddenly asked me.

Caspian Cashel's golden brown eyes met mine, his lips was in a lopsided smile. Again his nose grazed my cheeks and his chin-length hair prickled the side of my face because of our closeness.

I leaned backwards.

Up-close, he was indeed very handsome. He was very tall that he had to bend awkwardly so our eyes could meet. His cheeks, very red, were dusted with the faintest of freckles. His brown eyes were ringed with gold, very soft and at the same time hard and fierce.

He was very familiar and I got again the feeling I get whenever I am looking at Zachriel. So familiar yet so alien.

But instead of answering him, I just stared. There was something else on him that made me think that there must be something odd about him.

Then I was brought back to the reality by Bianca's fake coughing. I turned my face away from Caspian and leaned away. His face showed signs of disappointment and amusement. The contradiction of his expression confused me.

Why was he disappointed? And amused?

"I guess not," he whispered to me and I almost thought that he will kiss me in the way he leaned forward more, closing the inch or so distance between us, but instead he just tucked a loose hair behind my ear and whispered more silently, barely audible in the noisy common room, "see you around."

My face crumpled as soon as he finally got away from me. If I was being played at, I was almost certain, but that was too blatant, was it not?

I was still pondering over it when Bianca, who was standing in front of me, suddenly spoke.

"What was that?" Bianca sat opposite me, wide-eyes and I just shrugged, still looking at where Caspian had gone.

I hoped I can just shrugged off that feeling I felt. It made me shiver and my breathing slowed. Though my heart was not racing that fast, I can still feel the effect that vision gave me.

"I thought you guys—!" Bianca whispered-shout at me but she did not continue any longer. "The way he was leaning to you? My. God! It was so intense that the two of you just attracted some really nasty stares."

"We were not," I contradicted her, "he just leaned forward to shock me or maybe prank me."

Annoying, I thought. I opened my book to a certain page, but I could not concentrate at all. The words kept on floating around the pages, I could not catch even just a whole sentence.

I put it down with a harrumph.

"Wehh?" Bianca poked fun at me. I shook my head at her.

"Of course," I said and rolled my eyes.

He intrigued me. Why is Caspian Cashel taking an interest on me? That was definitely not a random interest.

"Wait." I looked up to Bianca when she suddenly spoke. She was standing behind me so I have to turn a hundred and eighty degrees. "Have you seen Haziel Imbert?"

"What?" I asked.

I have not spoken to Bianca yet about what Haziel Imbert told me and most part of me do not want to because I already know Bianca's moves well. She would just say that Haziel was wrong and that she does not have any right to speak to me like that. But Bianca doesn't understood anything too, much less than I did.

I mentally shook my head and slapped my face. I cannot afford to believe Bianca's forthcoming good words, she was my friend, yes, but she just saw the good parts in me that she probably wanted to see.

"Yes," I said reluctantly, "they just left when you arrived."

"Really?!" she asked incredulously.

I nodded.

"Yes, why? Do you need something from her?" I turned my eyes on my book that was already placed on top of the table, not wanting her to read my eyes.

"Nah, just..." her voice trailed away, and she tilted her head, "have I ever mention to you that she's the nicest person ever? Well at least in Layla's group," she whispered the last part and I shook my head, still not looking at her directly. "Well... she is. She used to hang out with me here in the commons and she used to teach me lessons that I found difficult, so I am hoping..." She made hand gestures like she wanted me to say something.

"What?" I said innocently.

"I am hoping that I can introduce you to her and that the three of us can hang out together," she ended.

"Oh." I widened my eyes and nodded, just so she can see that I believe her. Bianca's other friends spotted us and started to join the two of us. "Was she really nice though? She does not look like it. Layla Gwen was with her, I think, how nice that must be."

"Hey!" She looked hurt rather than offended, as if I said something bad towards her. "Remember when that I told Layla Gwen dumped my artwork in trashcan 'cause mine was much better than her? And remember when I told you that Layla Gwen totally ruined my year last year when she spread rumors that I pooped on my desk? Do you remember that? She's not nice!" she whispered-shout at me. "Well...she's being nice to you. Because you're this fantastic new girl that is much prettier than her and much smarter and because there's a chance that you might replace her as the school's queen because Caspian Cashel is paying a great deal of attention to you."

I think Bianca misunderstood me and only heard what she does not want to come out of my mouth. Besides that I do not remember those events that she said, but because I was a guilty friend, I just shook my head up and down slowly to let her see that I was on her side.

"I know," I agreed with her and smiled sweetly, "I am sorry, but are you not holding such a grudge against her?" I whispered her name and looked around to make sure no one was listening to our conversation. "I mean she's being nice now. And well, yeah I think I'm being biased. Just... Haziel seems a big deal to you. Compared to her, who am I?"

"Don't say that," she cooed, and smiled sweetly too, clearly guilty of her earlier outburst. "Anyway—"

But she was cut short by some baritone voice.

"What are we doing over here girls?" Bianca, her other friends and I both looked at the source of the voice and found a very handsome man in his mid-twenties, standing in the side of our chairs.

"Sir Apollo!" Bianca greeted the man happily, her cheeks were flushed and eyes checking out the man.

I looked at Bianca signaling her through my eyes to tell me who was this man but she kept on staring and drooling over him so instead of waiting for Bianca to calm down. Just then I realized that it was eerily quiet. All of Bianca's friends were staring at the man. Wide-eyed and saliva dropping.

I faked a cough and nudged her hard which took her out of her trance.

"Sera...um, this is Sir Apollyon Hart." Bianca stood up and gestured at the man. "He is a new teacher here, uh... um ... Sir this is Seraphim Griyego. She's a transferee, Sir."

"That's a very nice name you got there, Sir Apollo," I absentmindedly said as I stared at Bianca's flushed face.

"I know where your sarcasm is going there," the young teacher said casually and I looked at him with a guilty and awkward smile as I realized that I must have said something extremely impolite. "It's seems strange, that parents would want to name their child to a demon. Well," he inhaled deeply, changing the topic, "I am actually here to teach Bianca about something she didn't get about their algebra lesson with Mr. Dela Cruz' class," he said amiably and flashed us again his dazzling smile which made Bianca's face redder or not just hers but the whole battalion of girls behind us too.

And because I was with Bianca, even I get to join their little math tutor session. Throughout the hour, Bianca did nothing but to look at Sir Apollo and pretend like she was understanding everything he was saying when, in all honesty, the topic Sir Apollo was very easy to understand.

Unconsciously, my eyes strayed on the teacher's lips. Every word he was saying was like a little lullaby by itself, singing to me a song I can vaguely remember. It was seducing with every sweep of his words out of his mouth. His tone didn't helped with the drowsiness it caused, because the register of it was low and baritonal.

He stopped and our gazes met, I shifted uncomfortably. A sense of danger was ringing in my ears so I tried to ignore it, but the sharpness in the way he stared back to me really put me in to uneasiness.

Our session ended fine, but the uneasiness in my gut was still there. On our way to the dormitory room, I suddenky decided to break the atmosphere that was created by my overthinking earlier by teasing Bianca.

"Well someone has a crush," I remarked.

"Don't get me started," Bianca muttered, pretending that she was angry but there was the flush on her cheeks and there was that shy smile making its presence aware on its face. "At least I'm not the only one who get misty-eyed whenever my crush is near, huh?"

"He is not my crush," I contradicted her and tried again to swerved the topic to her. "How did you managed to get Sir Apollo be your tutor, by the way? I'm curious."

"You know I was a student assistant, right?" she asked excitedly.

I nodded as I humor her.

"He saw me solving one of those problems for my homework, and then he offered! He offered! He offered to teach me when I didn't quite understood how to solve it! I mean, he was really awesome."

She giggled and jumped so I just decided to joined in on her fun though I do not felt like it.