NOVEL NEXT Chapter 304: Teachers Office.
The next day we were back in class… And after class, I once again ended up in the teacher's office. I wasn't nearly as nervous or awkward as the last time though, sense at least this time it was more familiar and Isy wasn't teasing me. Although, for once I was being a good student. The class was on Krakens and how we hunted them with our ships, which I found fascinating, so I was even paying attention and everything…
Just like last time, I walked inside and he closed the door, coming in behind me… That part still made me a bit nervous, but I was more confused than anything. I sat down and waited for him to walk behind his desk. 'Sense I'm here… I might as well say a few things while I have the chance…' "You should know I'm ditching class next week."
He paused, stiffening up as he sat down, taking a moment to think. "I'm not that boring, am I?"
I stared at his surprised expression, a hint of sadness and confusion peeking through. 'Great… Now I feel bad…' "No, it's… Well, most of the time. You usually only talk about things I already know, I've already read most books in the library. So boring to me at least… But, I didn't mean you were a boring person or anything…"
He cleared his throat, relaxing a bit as the surprise wore off. "What's your reason?"
"I'm going to get kidnapped in a few days." I lifted my fingers up, calculating time in my head. 'I found a map and had Mo show me where her house was. Judging from travel time, and assuming it will take maybe a full day to resolve things afterward, not to mention the events themselves… "I shouldn't be gone more than… Maybe four or five days?"
I looked up at his face, once again surprised and slightly confused. "Is that so…"
'What else was there… Oh yeah.' "Not to be rude…" I suddenly became deadly serious. "But how do you know so much about me… When talking about dire wolves you knew I had fought them before… And somehow you knew that I got fevers, and came to check on me…"
He gave a nervous smile. "Suddenly it feels like I'm being interrogated."
'That's because you are… Information is always dangerous… And I need to know how much you know… And stop you from learning too much…'
His attempt to lighten the mood was met with dead silence, so he simply let out a sigh. "Well… I'll say this much, you certainly keep me on my toes…" Slowly standing up he walked over to his window and stared outside, clasping his hands behind his back. "What I'm about to say may make you uncomfortable… Judging from my experience with you so far at least."
"Well… I asked the question… I might as well hear the answer…"
His arms tensed slightly, keeping his hands folded, but clearly wanting to fidget with something. "My mother took it upon herself to try and help me find a wife… I'm 17 now so… Well that's not important. To answer your question, my mother's choices are ranked fairly similarly to the rankings the students here have… With you at the top of said list, That in mind she began to write your mother… Who then also began writing me… And they both seem rather excited about the idea, or in other words, have been supplying me with said information."
'Well… I can't say that was entirely unexpected…' "So that's how it is…" I leaned back in my chair. "I figured as much… Although I'm surprised my mom would write you more than she wrote… me… Uh… What about my father…" 'If it's My family providing the information I don't have to worry about it.'
After hearing the ease in my voice he turned around again and relaxed. "He never came up and If I had to guess… Doesn't know…" He smiled nervously again. "My own agreed to stay out of this sort of thing… So I'm sure he doesn't either… You're taking this rather well. Are you feeling alright?"
"What… No, I'm fine… This is actually how I usually behave…"
"Your personality seems wildly inconsistent…"
"What the…" I growled. "Alright, so is that why you wanted to talk to me? To Pra… Pra…" 'dangit. I've been doing fine so why am I getting tripped up by silly little word!' "Why am I here…" 'He's not right? If he was going to do something like that he wouldn't be trying to distance himself so much…'
His smile became less nervous and more genuine. "Ah, so that's how it is."
"What…" I growled again.
"Well, to be honest, I thought you knew all that, based on how strong your reactions have been toward me…"
I tried to growl again but ended up squeaking instead as I inhaled, starting to feel my face heat up. 'It's fine… He's just telling it like it is… He doesn't have any context, so what was he supposed to think…'
"At any rate, it's good that you know what's been going on… We should probably leave it at that for now… You're mother… You're mom told me that you are incredibly shy, so I will try to respect that… And… From previous experiences… I think it would also be best for me to refrain from entering your room… So I'll just give you medicine for Mo and have you take it to her. That's the other reason I called you here."
'Mom said I'm shy? I mean… I guess I am, around strangers at least…' "Uh… What exactly did my mom say about me?" 'it wouldn't be about how bratty I am, would it? Then again… If it's all good things wouldn't that mean she's expecting us to actually get married? I don't know which is worse…'
"I'm not sure how to answer that…"
'He's having trouble saying? So it's bad then… But that would mean she's hoping we don't get married right?' I let out a soft sigh of relief. 'That makes my life less awkward.'
He lifted a hand to his chin. "Do you really want to know?"
"Those who have the capacity to learn should know very well there isn't a thing not worth knowing."
He slowly nodded, "You could have just said yes." Opening a drawer and pulling out a letter. His eyes slowly scanned several lines as he read through until he found the part that presumably mentioned me. "Both my daughters are beautiful and lovely girls. My little Lu is still a little scary when she gets mad, but she's patient, and often slow to anger. Siya on the other hand is quite the opposite. You probably know this already, but she gets annoyed rather easily. However, instead of being scary, when she gets angry it usually turns into an adorable pout, rather than a fight. Your mother seemed much more focused on Siya though, so I'll talk about her. She is in your class, so these things might help you regardless."
'Ok… A little embarrassing… But there's nothing wrong with that… It's more formal than I would have expected. I guess this is probably a normal thing.'
He paused, looking up at me for a moment before continuing. "She has scars over her whole body. And I mean her WHOLE body. Well, except for her chest. She doesn't have much of one so we thought it would be a good idea to protect what she does have. There are plenty of scars on her stomach too, but don't worry, none of them go deep enough to reach her womb, so she will still bear children just fine. Although, she is a little small, so hopefully her children aren't too big when they're first born. She's incredibly shy and—" His voice suddenly cut off and the paper lightly scratched against the desk as he lay it down. "Right… I assume you've heard enough… You can read it yourself if you want."
At some point, I slowly covered my face and leaned forward to stare at the ground through my fingers, feeling exposed, as if I weren't wearing clothes at all.
"NO! N-no that's fine…" 'Mom… Why are you like this…' "Can I… Go now… Please…"
He sighed… Yes, of course. Don't forget the medicine though.
I grabbed the box off a small table at the side of the room before turning back to him, although I couldn't look him in the eye. "Just checking… But… Uh… You aren't… Treating me differently than the others… Because of this… Are you?" 'Why am I even asking…'
"To be perfectly honest with you, I haven't seriously considered getting married at all to anyone… Maybe in a few years, but for now you're all just my students… And kids for that matter…"
'That's not really what I meant…' I peeked inside the box to see two meals along with the medicine. "Do you always bring students yummy food and medicine just because they got a little sick?"
"Yummy?"
My face heated up again as I turned away. 'It's a word… What's wrong with it!'
"I do. It's a part of my job to train you, and that includes keeping you in good health… From what I understand you're the type that doesn't eat much when they aren't feeling well. Mo is mostly the same. When you get embarrassed I try to not push and make you any more uncomfortable. Which is why I left the medicine at your door the last time instead of waiting for you to finish changing. I also helped treat the burns on the boy's face that nearly melted, although he enjoys cooking, so I didn't bring him food. Does that answer your question?"
"That's good then… So you just thought I was changing…"
He stared at me blankly, making me more embarrassed. 'What's wrong with me… Why did I say it like that?' I bit my tongue to try and snap myself out of it. But froze as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Not that I don't enjoy your company… But from the looks of it, you really want to leave now… And are struggling… Even though you already said goodbye. So here's what's going to happen. I am going to open the door. Then, you are going to walk out the door, and lastly, I will close the door. How does that sound?"
A part of me wanted to yell at him to not patronize me… But he was more right than I wanted to admit…
"And… I feel like I should tell you to not get kidnapped… But you don't seem worried, so I'll just wish you luck instead." Just like he said he opened the door, although he had to nudge me before I remembered I was supposed to walk out of it.
I turned around to say a proper goodbye, and he patiently waited, instead of closing the door like he said he would.
"You really… Shouldn't be so nice teacher… Or I might actually fall for you…"
He smirked. "Goodbye, Siya. Make sure you get that medicine to Mo for me."
Suddenly I realized what I said… And that it wasn't goodbye… I felt as though my head turned into a puff of smoke as I froze stiffly for a full minute before I could so much as blink.