Contract marriage with my professor

CHAPTER EIGHT

She wasn’t sure if she was dreading meeting him or anticipating it, all she knew was that her heart was going to give up on her soon enough. Very slowly, she let her hand settle the handle and she twisted slightly, the door opened easily as the lock clicks. It felt like she would have a heart attack at that particular moment, still, she pushed the door open and took the first step into his office.

Catherine had never been the shy type, conserved; yes, but never shy. Never conserved enough to dread an encounter with a person, never conserved enough to stumble on her words when she tried to speak, never conserved enough to want to turn around and run, never conserved enough to feel as she felt right now, never conserved enough to freeze under the scrutiny of a person’s gaze.

From where she stood she had a clear view of the professor siting behind his desk, his cold gaze scrutinizing her, judging her, she could feel it. she just stood there, her gaze cast to the surface of the dark mahogany desk the professor was sat behind, unable to meet his gaze, unable to move till he spoke.

“Step in and close the door behind you”. He ordered, his tone slightly irritated.

She complied fast. She stepped in fully and closed the door behind her gently, she stood there a moment longer before she summoned the courage to look up at him. She found him watching her, his dark gaze pinned on her like there was nothing else to see, it made her uncomfortable, self-aware, it made her fidgety.

She adjusted the strap of her backpack on her shoulder and shifted on her feet uncomfortably, her gaze slowly returning to the desk.

“Miss Haydens”.

The sound of his voice was like a blow to her guts, it knocked out the breath out of her.

“Y…yes”. She answered quietly, then she remembered they were at school and he was her professor, so she added “Sir”.

“Step away from the door and sit down, I believe communication will be better when I don’t have to speak to you from halfway across the room”. He she nodded once before she began walking towards the seats in front of his desk.

She wasn’t sure why she was being like this, she had spoken to him before, however frightening the encounter had been it hadn’t been as bad as this, then he had simply been the man she had been sold to, now however, he was her professor and she was his student, and between them was a relationship too complicated for her to handle.

On getting to the seat, she carefully shrugged of her backpack and eased her small frame into it, her gaze still cast down so she didn’t have to look at him.

“I believe you know why you are here, Miss Haydens”. He began.

She did. She nodded.

“Words”. He prompted. “And look at me”.

Very slowly, she raised her gaze to meet his, his eyes gave out nothing, gave her no hint on what he was thinking, they were just cold, dark and cold. She cleared her throat quietly before she said:

“I do, sir”.

When he said nothing, she took it as a cue to elaborate.

“I was running in the hallway”. She added quietly.

It hard to be that, if he wanted to speak to her about everything else he could have done so yesterday when she had deliberately lingered after his lesson: when she had a bit of wits left.

He leaned back into his seat. His dark gaze not leaving her emerald ones.

How he wished that was simply the matter at hand, how he wished he had summoned her to his office merely because he wanted to chastise her for running in the hallway. There was something about her, something that hadn’t been there the first time he had spoken to her, then she had merely been uncomfortable and a bit flustered, now however, she looked scared, genuinely scared, she seemed to be unraveling, bit by bit.

In the outfit she was dressed in he could see how young she truly was, unlike when he had seen her in a full wedding dress, she was dressed in an oversized hoodie, the soft blue color only enhanced her youth. And with her hair held up in a loose bun over her head he could see her face fully, he could see the high cheekbones, the soft curve of her nose, her small but full lips, he could see her doe eyes wide with panic, he could see that she was indeed young, too young to be involved in a situation such as this.

“Did you know?”. He cut to the chase. Deep down he knew she hadn’t known, she had seemed every bit as shocked as he was.

He watched her think about what he had said before realization dawned on her, She averted her gaze from his shaking her head subtly.

“I didn’t”. she answered quietly.

“And if you had known?”. He asked her.

If he had known she was a twenty year old student, his student, he wouldn’t have gotten involved in this.

She cleared her throat quietly, though her gaze was cast down he didn’t miss the tears welling up in her eyes.

Her senses were overwhelmed at the moment, from just sitting there and talking to him, she felt as though she would faint. She tried blinking back the tears that had pooled in her eyes to no avail. She shook her head slowly. She didn’t want to have this talk, she knew she would end up a crying mess and she hated that more than anything, she hated showing her emotions to anyone.

“I…I had no choice”. She said quietly. “My mother and I, we needed the money”. She accepted the bitter truth.

Even if she had known earlier, she would have been able to do nothing, in truth, if the choice was hers she wouldn’t even be here having this talk with him ‘cause she wouldn’t have agreed to marry him in the first place. She was powerless. The first stream of tears went down her cheek and she wiped it quickly.

“I had no choice”. She said again.

She sniffled quietly as she used the thick sleeve of her hoodie to wipe her eyes, the faint remnants of the eyeliner from the night before staining the fabric. She hadn’t expected him to slide a well folded black handkerchief across the desk, but when the gallant handkerchief came into sight she accepted it wholly and picked it up, after drying her eyes she raised her gaze to meet his again.

“I’m sorry”. She apologized for the somewhat dramatic breakdown and the inconvenience she had caused him by being his wife.

He shook his head simply.

“There’s no need to apologize, you were in need of financial assistance and I was in need of a wife”. He said.

She said nothing, what could she say to that? She wasn’t sure she could say anything else at the moment, it was all too much.

“Now that we find ourselves in this…..situation”. He began. “I’d like to avoid any sort of complications, I want it to be clear that within the premises of the school we are nothing but professor and student, nothing at all”.

She nodded.

“You can speak Miss Haydens, use your words”. He said, a subtle reprimand.

“I understand, sir”. She said, her voice quiet and hoarse, but he was satisfied.

He was satisfied with her level of compliance, if she was always this compliant then they wouldn’t have a problem, they would pass the two years she had left in the school smoothly, and perhaps when she had a well-paying job she would want a divorce, they would get divorced and they’d go their different ways.

“I have arranged for your transportation”. He told her, they obviously wouldn’t be going or coming back together.

She shook her head.

“I…I won’t be needing it”. She said quietly. “I would like to stay in my dorm room”.

He thought it through.

“Are you comfortable there?” . He asked.

She nodded.

“I am”. She answered.

He nodded.

“As you wish”. He said simply.

He watched her dab at her moist eyes with the handkerchief he had given her, she looked pitiful, truly pitiful.

“Will there be anything else?”. She asked quietly.

That was it for now, he had nothing more for her, except….

“It had been late when I called yesterday, you must have been asleep”. He said.

He had expected her to call back, it was the reasonable thing to do.

It was then Catherine recalled seeing a missed call notification on her screen when she had woken up, she had been too busy trying to get ready that she had completely forgotten about it.

“I didn’t know it was you”. She began explaining. “I had intended to call back but I had other things on my mind”.

“I see”. Was all he said.

She stared down at her fingers for a while before she said:

“You called……why?”.

Surely he didn’t want to discuss such crucial matters over the phone right?

“It was late, and you weren’t home”. He answered.

She nodded as she processed what he had said, perhaps she should have made it known that she wouldn’t be going back to his house yesterday, perhaps she had been a bit….daft.

“I’m sorry”. She said quietly. She wasn’t sure what exactly it was she was apologizing for, but she apologized nonetheless.

He arched a brow questioningly didn’t wait for a reply before he spoke first, he seemed too have made peace with it.

“That would be all for now Miss Haydens, you are dismissed”. He said.

She nodded once before gently pushing back her chair and getting on her feet, hanging her backpack on her shoulder she turned around and began walking away but stopped when she remembered she still had his handkerchief clutched in her hand, she turned around to face him again, his arched a brow questioningly but said nothing.

“Your handkerchief, sir”. She said.

He shook his head.

“Keep it. Have a good day Miss Haydens, see you tomorrow”. He said.

Tomorrow? It was then she realized that attending his classes wouldn’t be a one-time thing, far from that in fact. She nodded before she turned around and walked away, once she exited his office she headed back to her dorm room, her next class was in an hour, she could do with some rest before then, she was spent, emotionally, mentally and physically.