ROWAN The words refused to come out properly.
“How…?” I stared at Professor Ashford in disbelief, my mind desperately trying to make sense of what was happening.
“Ho… how?” Nothing about this made sense.
How could the man I had spent that night with be my professor?
How could my professor be the uncle of the man I had been dating?
And how the hell had I managed to walk straight into a family party without knowing any of this?
My lips parted again, but all that came out was another broken stammer.
“Wha… What… How?
Ho…?” “Uncle, meet my lover!
I love him so much, and he is the person I plan to marry.” Kelvin said it with the biggest smile on his face, like he had just announced the greatest thing in the world.
But honestly, I barely heard anything after his mention of Professor Ashford— 𝑨𝑲𝑨 𝑴𝒀 𝑶𝑵𝑬 𝑵𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑵𝑫.
—as his uncle.
My eyes remained fixed on Professor Ashford.
How the hell did I end up fucking his uncle?
How did his uncle end up being the man I had spent the night with?
Just when I decided to give the whore lifestyle a chance, of all the men in the damn world, I had to sleep with my ex-boyfriend’s uncle.
Oooh shit!
Why did it have to be me for fuck sake?
I almost wanted to laugh because the whole situation was too ridiculous to even be real.
If someone had told me yesterday that the man I slept with would turn out to be my professor, I would have laughed in their face.
But this?
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍.
My one-night stand was my professor.
My professor was my ex-boyfriend’s uncle.
And now my ex-boyfriend was standing beside me proudly introducing me to him as his lover.
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒋𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔?
I swallowed hard and tried to keep my face under control.
Professor Ashford looked at me for a few seconds before his lips slowly curved into a smile.
“Ohh, wow.
I never knew you had someone you were dating.
That is great.” That somehow made everything worse.
I stared at him, trying to read his expression.
Was he pretending?
Did he actually remember me?
He had seen me crying in my car earlier.
He had given me wipes and tried to comfort me.
He had been standing there while I broke down over the mess Kelvin had caused.
And now he was standing here acting like he had never seen me before.
Did he remember what happened last night but was simply pretending that he didn’t?
My stomach twisted.
No.
Please, no.
At this point, I didn’t even want him to remember.
I had initially been terrified that he would recognize me, but now that I knew who he actually was, I was praying with everything inside me that last night had somehow disappeared from his memory.
Because if he remembered, then everything was going to become complicated.
And I seriously did not need another complication in my already miserable life.
Kelvin suddenly grabbed my hand, pulling me out of my thoughts.
His fingers wrapped around mine in that overly romantic way that I absolutely hated.
“I am going to show my beautiful lover to everyone in our family, Uncle!” Kelvin announced proudly.
Professor Ashford nodded.
“Alright.
Go ahead.” Then he looked at me.
“See you around.” Those three words sent a strange chill down my spine.
See you around.
Why did that sound like a threat?
Absolutely not.
I did not want to see him around.
Not here.
Not at school.
Not anywhere.
I wanted him to disappear into thin air and take last night with him.
I quickly looked away as Kelvin pulled me along.
As we walked away, dozens of questions were running through my mind at once.
I needed to know more.
I needed to understand how this man had somehow managed to become connected to every terrible thing happening in my life.
Eventually, one question escaped my mouth.
“Is he like your real uncle?” Kelvin looked at me.
“What?” “Professor Ashford.
Is he your real uncle?
Or maybe he’s just like a family friend or something?
Maybe your sibling’s friend?” I desperately hoped for the second option.
Anything.
Anything but what I was already thinking.
Kelvin smiled.
“He is my real uncle.
He’s my mother’s brother, and I am very close to him.
He is like a real brother to me.” My heart sank.
So I fucked his real uncle?
Oooh heaven!
Of all the people in this damn world.
His real uncle?
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to disappear.
I wanted to go back in time and slap myself before I ever stepped into that club.
But there was nothing I could do about it now.
I just had to survive the night without completely losing my mind.
Then, for some absolutely ridiculous reason, one thought suddenly crossed my mind.
𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙔 𝙃𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙄𝙉 𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙈𝙊𝙉.
𝗕𝗜𝗚.
𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘.
𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗞.
Oh God.
Why the hell did I just think that?
Wait.
Did I just think that… or did I say it out loud?
My eyes widened in horror.
Please, God, tell me I only thought it.
I quickly glanced at Kelvin.
He was still smiling and talking about something I wasn’t even listening to.
Before I could embarrass myself any further, Kelvin took my hand and pulled me along, introducing me to one family member after another.
We went around greeting his family members, but my attention wasn’t really on any of them.
My mind was still stuck on one horrible fact.
My one-night stand had turned out to be my professor.
My professor had turned out to be my ex-boyfriend’s uncle.
And somehow, I was now standing in the middle of his family’s party pretending to be his nephew’s loving boyfriend.
It was becoming more ridiculous with every passing minute.
…….
After greeting everyone, Kelvin led me to where we were supposed to sit.
The party was already fully underway.
People were laughing, talking, eating, and moving around while music played in the background.
I sat beside Kelvin, but I barely listened to anything he said.
My eyes unconsciously searched the room.
I couldn’t find Professor Ashford anymore.
A tiny part of me felt relieved.
After sitting there for a while, the discomfort in my bladder became impossible to ignore.
I shifted in my seat, hoping the feeling would pass, but it only got worse.
Great.
I really needed to use the restroom.
“Kelvin.” He immediately turned to me.
“Yes?” “I need to pee.
Where’s the restroom?” His lips curved into a teasing smile.
“Should I come with you?” I gave him a look.
Seriously?
Was he really going to start with that again?
“You should quit the lovey-dovey act.
Don’t let it get to your head.
I am not a child.
Just tell me where the restroom is.” His smile disappeared almost immediately.
“Okay, okay.” He quickly described the direction to me.
I stood up and walked away before he could say anything else.
…… The hallway leading to the restroom was much darker than I expected.
The lights were dim, and there weren’t many people around.
My phone would have been useful right about now, but of course, I had left it.
Following Kelvin’s directions, I made my way down the quiet hallway, occasionally glancing around to make sure I was still going the right way.
Thankfully, the restroom finally came into view..
I pushed the door open and hurried inside, already feeling a little relieved.
I had barely taken another step when a familiar voice came from somewhere behind me.
“I was beginning to worry that we would never see each other alone outside school.”