TAINTED HEARTS (ENGLISH)

TAINTED HEARTS 12

Chapter 12

“See you in the classroom.” He gave me a loud kiss on the lips before letting me leave his car.

We were touching and kissing inside and outside the school grounds. We were practically breaking the rules, and my dreams were on the edge, but I set aside the reasons and let myself be with him. Here inside, we could only exchange glances. Sometimes, when there was a chance, we met in hidden places.

Just a few minutes after I entered the classroom, he arrived. We separated at the parking lot. He lingered there for a few minutes so we wouldn’t come in together. We thought that with that, no one would suspect us.

“Everyone, keep your gadgets and check lesson sixty-nine in your textbook!”

“Laptop instead, sir—”

“No. I forbid using gadgets in my class,” he said with finality. “Now, it’s either get your textbook or get out.”

Like everyone else, I pouted as I obeyed his strict command. When I turned to face the front, I smiled at his wink when our eyes met. I covered my face with the book I was holding because I couldn’t help but smile.

I bit my lower lip hard when I lowered the book again to peek at him. He was smirking, playing with his lips. He carefully moved his head to signal the door. I raised my brows at his signal, which meant he wanted me to go out.

“What?” I mouthed.

“Out,” he mouthed too.

I cleared my throat and quietly closed the book in my hand. I fixed my hair and glanced at my classmates, who were busy reading. I stood up and walked toward his desk. Our eyes locked as I walked. I stopped in front of him.

“May I go out, sir?” I asked while biting my lower lip.

“Where to?” His eyes darkened.

“Bathroom, sir.”

He faked a cough. “Okay. Just hurry back.”

I went out, and when I didn’t see anyone around, I entered his office. As soon as I entered the room, the door behind me flew open again immediately.

Without a warning, he quickly pulled my head for a deep kiss. He groaned when I kissed him back. My arms automatically circled around his neck. While kissing me, he pushed me against the wall, and with one hand, he started undoing the buttons of my blouse. I let him and continued kissing him.

“Part your lips properly.” His wish was my command. I slightly parted my lips, just enough for him to slip his tongue inside.

We sucked each other’s lips alternately. Just like the first time, his lips were always wet, warm, and soft. It was like chewing marshmallows that wouldn’t melt. Like food that didn’t fill me up, yet I kept craving to eat.

I gasped loudly for air when he let go of my lips. His wet lips went down to my jaw. Lower, to my neck. His lips quickly traveled from my mouth to my neck. He licked and gently bit the skin on the side of my neck.

“Lennox, don’t leave marks. I still have classes,” I reminded him hoarsely.

Sometimes he would get carried away and bite or suck too hard. It would leave marks that lasted for days. It was fine if it was in hidden parts. But if on my neck, it would be hard to cover, even with a scarf uniform. And at home, it would be difficult to hide.

“Hmm . . . right,” he answered me with a groan, then he kissed down the valley of my breast.

He had already undone the buttons around my chest and pulled down the lace bra I wore. I moaned and closed my eyes when I felt him suck on the tip of my breast. He would suck and bite, then pull it with his teeth. He teased them alternately. Each time he let go of one, the other would take its turn. I lowered my gaze and kept watching what he was doing there.

“Lennox . . .” I bit my lower lip while my hand tangled in his hair.

When he stopped, my chest was already red and slightly swollen. There were even traces of his bites. When he raised his face, he looked at me. We were both almost closing our eyes because of the languidness in them. He kissed the tip of my nose, my forehead, and then my lips again. It was deep, searching, and hungry. After a few more wet kisses, he stopped. He buried his face in my neck, breathing heavily and trying to restrain himself.

“I f*****g want to kiss you forever,” he cursed in frustration.

“Lennox—”

“Don’t. Don’t move, and talk for five minutes to calm me down. No. I just need two minutes. Just two minutes.”

We couldn’t stay long because he was in the middle of class. He buttoned up my uniform again and fixed my hair. I knew he wasn’t completely calm yet, but he had already tidied me up. He stole one last short kiss before leaving.

Later, I went back to the classroom. The others had finished reading. Some looked up when I entered. Lennox wasn’t there. Maybe he was in the bathroom or somewhere, still calming himself down. I breathed deeply as I sat in my seat.

“We’re done, but he hasn’t come back yet! Maybe he met up with his girlfriend!”

I turned to the group of Abigail and her friends nearby. They were talking loudly.

“He doesn’t even have a girlfriend!” Abigail rolled her eyes and glared at her friend.

“Who knows? If he doesn’t have a girlfriend, he might be into someone else; that’s why he’s ignoring you!”

“Why do you like him anyway? He’s handsome, but he’s our professor,” friend number two asked. “In case he likes you too and becomes your boyfriend, aren’t you afraid of being caught?”

Abigail smirked. I bit my lip when I realized they were talking about Lennox.

“Not even a bit. Instead of being afraid, I was more thrilled.”

“Are you thrilled even if liking him means getting expelled?”

Abigail grinned widely.

“You know that my father can handle that.”

They all nodded in agreement. It seemed Abigail’s father was influential, which was why they agreed. One of them suddenly stopped nodding. I stared at her because she seemed to remember something.

“I’m possibly wrong, but this is what I hear. I heard that sir is living with someone!”

They all huddled together, interested in what she said.

“Who told you about that? He’s so private that we don’t even know his family name!”

I became interested in what they were discussing too. My pen pressed on the clean paper as I pretended to write. I just scribbled anything.

“I heard my parents talking about him and . . .” She paused.

“And?” Abigail was very curious. “Stop beating around the bush! Just tell us quickly!”

“And they found out that he was teaching here. They recognized him because they mentioned the name. There’s only one Lennox teaching here—”

“What name did they say? What’s the surname?”

Her face went blank for a moment, as if she was thinking, but in the end, she just sighed.

“I forgot! It was long . . . ow!” Her friend hit her head with a book.

“You’re rich but dumb! You should’ve remembered! We could’ve stalked him online!”

“But I really forgot! They stopped talking when they saw me . . . but . . .” she trailed again.

She bowed her head. Her friends one by one leaned closer again to listen. They huddled once more. I stopped scribbling too.

“I heard from my parents that Sir Lennox hates his father . . .”

“His father? What about his mother?”

The one telling the story frowned. “It wasn’t mentioned!”

They all rolled their eyes and went back to their seats. But they returned when their friend bowed her head again, signaling she had more to say.

“I don’t know where his mother is, but I heard the name of the woman he’s living with!”

“What’s the name?” they all asked in unison.

“Addisson! The name of the woman he’s living with is Addisson!”

There was more, but it got cut off, and they instantly scattered when they saw Lennox entering. He was smirking as he fixed the collar of his shirt.

After glancing at him, I bowed my head. I looked at the paper where the tip of my pen pressed hard. It was about to tear from how hard I pressed.

He’s living with someone? Is that true? Addisson? It felt like . . . I had heard that name before. I tried to think carefully where. Then I shook my head and let go of the pen I was holding.

He spent Christmas and New Year with me. He slept at my house then. If he was living with someone, why would he come home to me during such important occasions? Aside from that, he was at my house almost every day. I couldn’t sit still, and the things they talked about kept nagging at my mind. Even if I wasn’t sure, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I smiled and tried to push away what I had heard. Lennox was staring at me when my eyes landed on him. He sat and leaned back casually in his chair. His legs were spread wide apart. He looked at me while playing with the ballpen he always carried.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t erase Abigail and friend’s words from my mind. Until he drove me home, that was what I was thinking. Absent-mindedly, I opened the car door. I was about to enter the gate when I looked back after hearing him get out of the car.

“You’re not going home yet?” I asked curiously.

My hand was already holding the gate bars to open it. He didn’t answer. He just stared. I smiled when his gaze lingered. I opened the gate and faced him.

“Do you want to come in?” I offered.

He slowly nodded and walked closer. Before I could step toward the door of the house, he had already pulled me by the waist from behind.

“I missed you,” he whispered.

I laughed and removed his hand wrapped around me so I could face him. We looked into each other’s eyes.

“We were together all day and night!” I giggled.

My laughter faded when I noticed how serious he looked.

“You weren’t with me minutes ago. You were so quiet. It was like I had no one with me in the car.”

I fell silent but quickly recovered. I smiled at him. Maybe Abigail and her friends were wrong. He wouldn’t be like this to me if he had someone else.

“I was just sleepy,” I lied, pouting.

He narrowed his eyes at me and laughed. He shook his head and pulled me into his arms. He seemed convinced, especially since I pretended to yawn earlier in the car.

“My sleepyhead,” he teased. I giggled when he bit my ear. “Go inside. I’m leaving now so you can rest.”

“Okay!”

I turned around smiling. He pulled me back again to crush our lips together.

“Never forget my goodnight kiss.” He chuckled.

He let me go and motioned for me to go inside. I shook my head and pointed at his car, telling him to get in first. He laughed and pulled me into the gate, closing it himself.

“Go ahead. I’ll leave when you’re inside.”

I pouted as I walked toward the door. The house was quiet, with only a small light on in the living room. I faced him, still at the gate. When I opened the doorknob, I waved at him. He nodded and walked back to his car.

As I closed the door, I heard his car start and leave. I stayed by the door. I turned around and leaned against it. I closed my eyes. I placed my hand on my chest to feel my heart.

I didn’t know if what I was doing was still right because it was the first time I felt this way. My mind knew it was wrong, but my heart felt it was right. I couldn’t get a decent answer because they contradicted each other.

The question came back to my mind—why did he approach me first? Maybe it was just a coincidence that he was also attracted to me the first time he saw me. Or maybe he had another reason. And I could only hope that when I finally found out his reason—if there was one—nothing would change between the two of us.