ROWAN At the beginning of this class, my biggest problem had been figuring out how Professor Adrian Ashford had somehow ended up in my life and how I am going to avoid him no matter what.
Now, as the class was coming to an end, I had a completely different problem.
How the hell was I supposed to get to his office?
Why did he have to tell me to see him?
I wasn’t the only person who wasn’t paying attention, was I?
I was almost certain there had been several other students staring into space throughout the lecture.
So why was I the one he noticed?
Of all people.
I had even chosen the farthest seat I could find, hoping I could stay invisible for the entire class.
Yet somehow, even from the other side of the lecture hall, he still managed to notice me.
This wasn’t fair at all.
Seeing him in my class was already more than enough for one day.
I wasn’t prepared for the added embarrassment of sitting in his office and having an actual conversation with him.
What was I even going to say?
Hello, Professor.
Remember me?
The guy you had a wild night with?
Absolutely not.
I would rather disappear from the face of the earth.
I kept wishing that his lecture would somehow never end.
If the class didn’t end, I wouldn’t have to go to his office.
Unfortunately, that was probably the stupidest wish I had made all day.
The class was obviously going to end.
And it did.
“And that brings us to the end of today’s class,” Professor Ashford announced with a small smile.
I sighed quietly and regretted it because I still had to see him.
He looked around the room.
“Is there any question for me?” He asked and there was no answer.
Silence filled the room.
I stayed quiet too.
Professor Ashford raised an eyebrow.
“You know student about my class.
I do not believe in not asking questions.
Since you aren’t asking me any questions.
I guess I am going to do the asking.” He said with a smile and started asking questions.” Surprisingly, almost every question he asked was answered by someone.
I looked around in disbelief.
Were these people actually listening?
Apparently, they were.
Maybe his class really was interesting because everyone seemed to know what he was talking about.
He praised the students for participating and encouraged them to keep doing the same.
I barely heard half of it.
My mind was already focused on the dreaded office visit.
“I’ll be on my way now,” he said eventually.
“If you have any questions you can’t find an answer to, you can reach me through my email or come to my office.” Several students nodded.
“Please, that doesn’t mean my office should become crowded,” he added, and a few people laughed.
“Only come to my office if your question wasn’t answered through the email or if you don’t understand the answer I gave you.” They all nodded again.
I, on the other hand, just sat there looking like some sort of dummy.
Because unlike everyone else, I had no academic question to ask him.
I had a whole different problem.
And unfortunately, I couldn’t exactly put that in an email.
Professor Ashford gathered his things and left the lecture hall.
The moment the door closed behind him, I released the breath I’d been holding.
Finally.
I leaned back in my chair.
“Thank God.” For approximately three seconds, I felt relieved.
Then reality came crashing back and that made my heart to immediately start beating faster.
At this rate, if I were an actual hypertensive patient, I was pretty sure I would have gotten a stroke already.
My palms were sweaty.
I wiped them on my jeans but it didn’t help much.
The thought of walking into that office made my legs feel weak even while I was still sitting down.
I immediately brought out my phone to check the timetable to see if we have any more classes today so i would use that as an excuse not to go to his office but saw that there was no class until tomorrow.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” There was no other class today.
The class we were supposed to have later had been canceled.
Why did this class have to fucking get canceled?
This wasn’t what I wanted at all.
I dropped my head against the back of the chair and groaned.
Of all days for a class to be canceled, it had to be today.
Now I had absolutely no excuse to avoid Professor Ashford office.
I waited for a few minutes after the class ended, just so he wouldn’t think I was looking forward to meeting him.
I wasn’t one of those cheap humans who would immediately rush after a professor the moment he asked to see them.
“Coming from you?
You fucked him just by meeting him in less than thirty minutes.
You definitely have no right to call anyone cheap.” My subconscious immediately called me out and I rolled my eyes because why does he have to call me out so evilly?
“Screw you.” I cussed at my subconscious under my breath.
I then packed my books and the rest of my materials into my bag before sluggishly standing up.
I took one last look around the lecture hall and saw that most of the students were already gone..
I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and walked out.
…… I walked out of the hall and went straight to his office.
I was halfway through to heaven knows where when I remembered that I even didn’t know his office.
I stared blankly down the hallway.
“How the hell am I supposed to find his office when he didn’t even tell me where it was?”I complained as I rubbed my forehead.
But then an interesting thought came to me.
Maybe this was actually my way out.
I could simply say I couldn’t find his office.
That was a perfectly reasonable excuse, right?
I smiled in satisfaction.
I was already turning around when something caught my attention, making my smile disappear.
A bold sign was hanging on the wall a few steps ahead of me.
𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑭.
𝑨𝑫𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵 𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝑬𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒔 — 𝑫𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒚 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝟐𝟎𝟒 I stared at it before groaning in dissatisfaction.
“Oh, shit.
Why did I have to find this?” Of course.
The one thing that could have saved me was right in front of me.
The universe really wasn’t on my side today I walked slowly to the door of the office with my heart beating again loudly.
I am pretty sure people miles away could hear my heart beating.
My legs didn’t want to cooperate.
My palms were already sweating again.
I took a deep breath as I brought my shaky hands towards the door and knock.
Ooh lord.
Let him not answer.
Let him not answer lord.
Lord please.
I pleaded but just then he answered.
“Come in.
The door isn’t locked.” I closed my eyes as I groaned quietly in disappointment.
“All my prayers and wishes never get answered,” I complained under my breath.
I placed my hands on the door knob and I took a deep breath before opening the door.
My fingers were trembling so much I almost missed the knob at first.
I forced myself to turn it.
I opened the door and stepped in and I locked the door behind me with my heart still beating..
I kept my head lowered, staring at the floor like it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world as I was so scared to even raise my head What if he recognized me?
I wondered while hoping that he wouldn’t remember me.
The thought alone made my stomach twist.
My hands were still shaking at my sides.
I didn’t know what to do with them so I just kept them clenched tight.
…
Seconds past and he hadn’t even said anything.
It was like he didn’t know anyone was here Why wasn’t he saying anything when he was the one who told me to come in?
Was he ignoring me?
I took a slow breath and finally gathered enough courage to look up.
Immediately I raised my head.
I saw that he was staring directly at me with a blank expression.
I quickly brought my head down!
“Oooh fuck no!!!
Why was he staring at me that way!!
This is scary!!!” I swallowed hard and tried to act normal.
Maybe he was just trying to figure out why I was standing there like a criminal.
Then his calm voice finally broke the silence.
“Why does your face look so familiar?” “Do I know you from somewhere?”