With a night of fitful sleeping Shew returned to the school next day feeling more tired than usual.
The icing on the top was her monthlies showing up at the time when she was already going through a hard time.
Her talk with Lisa had brought nothing but agony and the memories she could do well without. Combined with hormone-induced emotions, her exhaustion made matters worse.
Within the first half of the day- in school- she had scared three kids to tears using her death glare for being lousy and noisy. The kids were for the first time introduced to a scary side of their sweet and ever-smiling teacher. The boys who had developed a crush on her instantly gave up fearing for their lives.
Thanks to all her endurance training from past few years, she had learnt to keep her emotions under check. Otherwise, she would have left behind a dead English teacher before the day ended.
The man wasn't taking the hint and giving up chasing her. From day one he was pestering her to go out with him. She had even looked at him as if he was retarded because he couldn't understand a 'no' for an answer.
After the lunch break, she was on her way to the principal's office to get some documents regarding the school picnic signed. She was thinking of grabbing a cup of coffee in her next free period but she didn't know that a shock of a lifetime was waiting for her.
Shew knocked on the door and heard a soft come in. She opened the door and saw Principal Kim wasn't alone in the room. There was another person with him and at a glance, it looked as if the Principal was close to this person. He was both courteous and smiling from ear to ear.
"Oh! I am sorry sir, I didn't know you were in a meeting. I will come back later." Shew quickly apologised to the principal and proceeded to turn back and leave the room.
She was about to leave when the principal stopped her with a short laugh, "It's ok Miss Parker. Come in, by the way, you do recognize Mr Timo here?"
On being addressed the man whose back was facing her turned around to greet her. At that moment the time stopped for her. Shew momentarily froze on the spot. Of course, she knew who Timo was. She never knew that she would run into him again so soon. He was the same handsome man whom she had met on that terrible day. His eyes still held that mischief and tenderness in them along with she saw something pass across his face for a flicker of second but it disappeared before she could even decipher it. With a polite smile, he greeted her, "Hello Ms Parker."
Shew was still frozen but her reflexes were good. She somehow managed stumbled through the greeting, "H-Hello."
Shew's rational side kicked in. There was no way he would remember her. She was insignificant in his life. Getting her act together Shew fully entered the room, she pointedly ignored Timo and didn't give the impression that she had met him before. She kept her face blank and calm but her mind was a mess. It also didn't help that his gaze was trying to burn a hole in her face. She placed the papers in front of the principal but was interrupted by the hateful man again.
"Principal Sir, I never knew that Science teachers could be this beautiful." Throughout the shameless statement, Timo's sweet smile never wavered. It was as if he was calmly discussing the weather. Inside his mind, Timo was cringing at his lousy and shameless sentence. He was helpless whenever he saw her. His mouth operated on its own.
To Shew, the sentence sounded like a challenge. He was testing her endurance. Her eyes narrowed dangerously but her ears were a little flushed hearing the compliment.
She wasn't the only one but the principal was also a little flustered. In his position, he couldn't comment on his staff's looks and it was morally wrong. With a bowed head he just replied a small, "Yes sir."
Shew behaved as if she never heard anything. With a slight frown between her brows, she sorted the papers in front of her superior, "Sir if you could sign these papers for the school picnic." She badly wanted to flee the place and save some face.
The principal was glad to have some distraction and he quickly picked up a nearby pen and buried his head in the documents.
"Have we met before madam?" Timo was still not done. He was quite desperate to hear her voice again. He wanted her to look at him. He didn't like it that she was ignoring him like he was air.
Shew couldn't evade the question this time. She didn't look at him but shook her head in negative followed by a polite, "No sir, I don't think so."
All the while Timo wasn't taking his eyes off her. He was a thirsty man and vision of her was like nectar to quench his thirst but she was behaving as if he was like any other stranger to her.
After the Principal signed the papers she had brought, with a word of gratitude Shew left the office- more like fled it- as if she had committed a sin by just being there. Timo just couldn't understand this behaviour of hers. He was used to girls throwing themselves at him. She reacted as if he was a lice in her silky, shiny curls.
Just like any typical smitten person, the more she ran from him, the more he was drawn to her.
On the way out Shew had looked back for just a span of microsecond at him and their eyes had met. Her eyes showed all her feelings in that small fraction of time. As if he was taken back to that fateful day years ago. Strange he thought because the whole time she had kept a straight face not even a flicker of emotion appeared on her face. If he didn't know any better he would have thought her to be a statue- rigid and cold. In that brief time, it was as if warmth had returned to her before vanishing again.