Echoes of Desire

5. CONFUSION

As the days passed by, the tension between Armond and Anya simmered beneath the surface, a potent mix of desire and denial that threatened to consume them both.

Despite Aanya's best efforts to suppress her feelings, the magnetic pull between her and Mr.White only seemed to grow stronger, drawing them inexorably closer with each passing moment.

For Aanya, the memory of the intense moment they shared together the other day, haunted her every waking moment, a constant reminder of the forbidden desire that boiled in her heart.

After that fleeting sensual moment , she skipped her classes because Aanya was not in her right mind. She kept walking aimlessly on the road carrying her thoughts along with her.

She saw a park and walked over there to give her racing mind a stop. She couldn't believe what had happened , she couldn't believe what Armond actually did and that too on the college grounds .

She looked at the time before her wild, confusing thoughts started racing again and realised that it was already time for her shift in the bakery. She wanted to go home, if she could, but it was her first day on the job and didnt want to make a bad impression.

As soon as she entered the bakery, Aanya saw that the shop was already filled with a lot of customers and without wasting anymore time she went to Violet and greeted her. Violet smiled in relief when she saw Aanya and handed her a cute apron and told her to take over from there. She started greetings the customers and went on with her afternoon.

After a busy afternoon it was time to head home, the busyness of the bakery actually kept her mind at ease atleast for some hours. She walked home after bidding Violet goodbye, and when she reached home it was already 7p.m.

She decided to take a shower after such an eventful day and stood under the shower and started shampooing her hair to relieve some of the stress but her mind was already consumed with the disturbing thoughts of her morning.

Aanya found herself adrift in a sea of confusion and uncertainty, struggled to make sense of her feelings, grappling with her conflicting desires that pulled her more towards her professor.

She knew that getting involved with him would be a dangerous game , one that could only end in heartache and she didnt need that right now. Not when there was already so much going on in her life, yet she couldn't shake off the excitement that was coursing through her veins.

Meanwhile Armond wrestled with his own demons, torn between his overwhelming desires for Aanya and professional responsibilities. He knew that crossing the line with a student was not only unethical but there was the risk that could make Aanya hate him.

Aanya didnt need these conflicting feelings to weigh her down more as her mid-terms were already approaching. So she put a stop to her feelings and concentrated more on her papers because she didnt want a repeat of today's test. She struggled with Mr.Whites paper so she decided to start with his paper.

She studied the whole evening and there was so much that she didnt understand, she noted down those problems and mentally decided to look it up in the library the next day and went down to have dinner. Finished with doing the dishes, she came back to her room and continued studying.

She tried to bury her growing feelings beneath a facade of normalcy, throwing herself into her studies with renewed determination , but no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, the memory of Mr.White's touch lingered like a ghost, leaving her breathless. She was confused by her own feelings betraying her everytime.

The next day she got ready for her classes. It was already starting to get chilly so she dressed warmly in a turtle neck beneath and a white midi red polka dotted dress on top. She decided to wear a nude fleece leggings as well, as it would be cold when she would return home in the evening and wore her favourite pair of loafers with white socks and got on with her day.

She made her way to her class and scolded herself to not be effected by Armond's intense eyes but she knew that it was of no use, she would always drown in his gaze.

She saw Blake already sitting beside her seat and smiled at her. Aanya didnt smile back as it was very awkward for her and wondered how Blake could so easily forget about whatever he did the previous day.

Before she could ponder on more about her thoughts , her breath hitched when she felt the dark aura that overfilled the room and she knew who had entered.

Armond entered the classroom and he was already in a dark mood when he saw Blake and Aanya sitting together.

Yesterday when he returned to his company, he found his mind was consumed by the raging thoughts of her, her flustered images burned into his mind like a brand. The memory lingered like a fevered dream, too great to restraint, tormenting him with visions of what could never be.

His assistant (Ryan)was greatly distressed when he suddenly cancelled the meeting with his very important clients, but he was definitely not in his right mind, and his assistant knew that if he persuaded Armond more it would not end nicely for Ryan.

~

When Aanya saw him glancing at her, she tried to avoid the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She tried to solely focus on what Armond was teaching but hardly could focus when he kept looking at her with those dark eyes, harbouring even darker emotions within.

The bell rang indicating the end of the class. Aanya walked to the library to look up the problems that she couldn't understand. When she got the desired books, but the books only served to deepen the confusion swirling within her mind. Those were of no use.

And she most definitely did not want to confront Mr.White to teach her these. But she had no other options if she wanted to ace her exams. It was a dreading thought, but actually meeting him would be so much more.

Before she could mull over her thoughts, she found that her legs had a different mind of its own, carrying her body through the familiar hall to her professor's office. She felt betrayed by her ownself, her heart, her eyes, her legs, her hands seemed to never listen to her mind as long as her thoughts were concerning him.

She could see the enormous varnished wooden door which would lead her inside his office. She hesitated outside the door, whether to knock or flee, now that the heaviness of the situation weighed on her mind.

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