Contract marriage with my professor

CHAPTER TEN

Rain…….

It had rained the night before, and till now; in the early hours of the day , rain still drizzled freely, the clouds were depressingly grey and the grounds were wet and slippery, but of course that didn’t stop the day’s activities. Students made their way around campus with umbrellas hanging over their head, the multiple colors of the umbrellas only managing to make the morning a little less depressing.

At exactly 8:47am, Catherine walked into the lecture hall, unlike the last time she had been here by this time, the place was packed, almost full; a sign that the professor’s warnings had been heeded. It appeared that everyone here was willing to put in their best to pass the course. She took her time to scan around the empty seats in search of one which was significantly hidden from the professor’s podium, and just when she spotted the perfect one…..

“Cat!”. Rena’s cheery voice drew her attention to where she was seated with the full group. She gestured for her to come over when their gazes met.

Catherine was somewhat reluctant to join them, after all she had promised herself that it would only be a onetime thing, and at this point in her life she was sure associating with members of the school fraternity wasn’t the best choice. But on seeing striking blue eyes watching her, she decided to go over, after all sitting with them wouldn’t hurt.

She wove her way through the roles and columns of seats till she got to where they were seated. On a cold and rainy day when everyone was dressed in thick hoodies and all, she found Rena, Camilla and Steph still had the gall to bare their legs, all three girls wore miniskirts with lace leggings underneath, in truth the leggings were quite useless since the whole thing seemed like thin thread merely stitched together.

Though they wore turtleneck tops and leather jackets she had a filling they would be cold nonetheless.

“Hi”. She said on getting to them.

They all responded warmly except Camilla who barely responded at all.

“Cat, good to see you again”. Asher said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

She felt it was too early for this.

“You’d be surprised to know that he attended lectures because he was looking forward to seeing you”. Nick told her.

She chuckled.

“Must be disappointed though, not the Cat he had been expecting”. Camilla said as she toyed with a lock of blonde hair.

Catherine shrugged her backpack of before settling into the seat beside Rena.

“Yeah?”. She said simply.

“Actually I am not, Cat looks perfect, not the little temptress I had expected but I already know what’s underneath all those clothes”. Asher said, to which Steph, Nick and Rena snickered.

“When you talk like that it sounds as though you’re familiar with every curve and edge”. Cam spoke at last.

Asher snickered.

“But you are”. He said.

Catherine cleared her throat quietly.

“Yeah we heard about your little dance”. Camilla said, her cold eyes penetrating Catherine’s.

That urge to spite her returned, stronger than before.

“So what of it?”. Catherine asked. “It was a party, people dance at parties”.

Cam snickered.

“If that’s how all dances at parties are gonna be from now on then I wouldn’t wanna miss any”. Nick said.

The others laughed, the others except Camilla of course. She forced on a subtle smile before saying:

“You’re right, people dance at parties, things happen at parties, it’s no big deal”.

“What things?”. Catherine asked.

“Why don’t you find out? Friday night, at my place, I’m throwing a party”. She answered, a saccharine smile curving her lips.

“I don’t think she’ll come, she did say partying was a onetime thing”. Cam said as he shifted his gaze to meet Catherine’s.

“Oh that’s fine too, just encourage her to miss out on all the fun”. Camilla said.

“He’s right though, I don’t want to make going to parties a habit”. Catherine said.

She had passed the age for that, perhaps if she were a teenager trying to navigate her way around life she would have succumbed to partying and all, in the end she would have outgrown it and called it a ‘dark phase’.

Camilla shrugged.

“If you change your mind, heard you’re friends with that chick, what was her name again?”. She turned to Asher who supplied Tessa’s name. “Tessa. I’m sure she’ll be there, feel free to tag along”.

Catherine nodded though she knew she wouldn’t be going, plus it all seemed shady, one moment the girl’s bitching on her and the next she’s inviting her to a party at her place.

“Great”. Camilla said, yet another saccharine sweet smile on her lips.

Catherine said nothing more, holding long conversations had never been her thing. She glanced at her wristwatch, it was 8:57 now, it was almost time. Once again her heart began to pond and she began to sweat regardless of the cold, she tried to brae herself, she tried convincing herself that things would go smoothly, she wouldn’t have a panic attack and she wouldn’t make a fool out of herself.

Of course everything would go smoothly. He had made it clear that in the school’s premises they were nothing but teacher and student, and it’s not like it was obvious that she was married to her professor, it’s not like anyone knew, for all she knew other girls here had a scandalous secrets or two.

She sunk into her seat and heaved out a sigh. She would be fine, all her life she hadn’t exactly been ‘fine’, but this time she would be, she had to be; it either that or she would fall apart completely.

Cam and the others continued with their talks, probably what they had been conversing about before she came along, though she heard a thing or two of what they were saying she paid no attention, just counted every second as it passed, every dreaded and agonizing second until the time came….

The familiar hush traveled through the hall as Professor Houston made his way into the hall to the podium, heads snapped to face him and lips shut at once, he had the complete attention of the students, he did so effortlessly. Catherine tried to convince herself that it wasn’t only she who reacted as she did in his presence; she tried telling herself that he had that effect on everybody else, that she wasn’t the only one who was insanely intimidated by him.

“….heard he’s strict”. Steph was saying.

“Yup. Scolded Cat and I last class”. Rena said.

Nick snickered.

“Heard his assessments are hell”. He said. “He’ll probably summon Cam over to his office after gauging the level of fuckery she would have done on the answer sheets”.

Camilla scoffed while the others snickered quietly.

“Who wouldn’t summon the doodle queen?”. Asher said.

“Quiet guys, else we’ll get kicked out before the lesson even begins”. Rena said.

Catherine was glad they finally quieted. Should their noise draw the professor’s attention he would definitely see her, it was bad enough that he had to be married to a student, being married to a shitty student was another case entirely.

“Good morning”. He began, his deep voice effortlessly traveling through the hall. “Last time we discussed………”.

She wasn’t listening to what he was saying, her gaze remained glued to his face, she watched him intensely, she sat there wondering how it was possible that she was married to the flawless man standing right there on the podium, now, she should have been happy, glad or even proud, perhaps any woman would, but she wasn’t, knowing she was practically sold to him she couldn’t help but feel worthless with every passing second.

“He’s hot”. She heard Steph say quietly. “and intelligent…..I most definitely cant”.

“Sorry Steph heard he doesn’t f**k students, and he’s married”. Asher told her.

“Lucky b***h”.

Catherine swallowed hard as her heart pounded against her chest heavily.

“…….Take notes”. The professor was saying.

She blinked herself back to her senses at that moment. Quickly reaching into her backpack she withdrew her writing materials and began taking notes, she had good penmanship but due to the intense trembling of her hands, what she had written appeared rough and unkept, like a little chick merely trying to walk for the first time.

~~

Nathaniel could see the whole class from where he stood on the podium, and though it hadn’t been his intention to find his bride ,his eyes subconsciously moved to where she had been seated last time, and his gaze found her; the petit redhead scribbling on her notebook, and like the last time she was seated beside a pink haired girl, he didn’t want to judge by just seeing her but he could guess she wasn’t the best of company.

However, he chose not to dwell much on the matter, it wasn’t his business, plus he had told her to do whatever it was that she wanted. But then again, he had said that thinking she was a matured woman who could take care of herself and make good decisions, then he hadn’t known that she was a twenty year old student, and that probably wasn’t the best thing to say to a young student.

He had looked her records up, and he was glad to see that she was doing well academically, she was above the average student, not the smartest but a smart one nonetheless. Though he had wanted nothing to do with her he couldn’t shrug off certain expectations he had of her, he expected her to do better, to work harder than the other students, he wanted her to be among the best. While he may not acknowledge her as his wife here, he wanted everything associated with his name to excel, to stand above others, that was how he was naturally.

He carried on with his lesson, it was no problem for him to ignore the fact that she was in the class, he had made peace with the fact that he was married to a student, he had made peace with the arrangements they had made, he had made peace with it all, and it would be best if she did the same. His gaze flickered to where she was seated one last time and their gazes met, her eyes danced with uncertainty as she stared at him, he didn’t let his gaze linger, he averted his gaze from hers and it was the last time their gazes met during the lesson.