'Brother?' Violet turned her attention back to the man who was still frowning at her. 'Oops, they are years apart though, anybody would've thought the same.' She justified herself, still glaring at him.
"Haha, yes. Twenty five years apart but we're brothers, long story." Prof. Matthew smiled, his dimples forming. When he saw her frown, he sighed. "Was he rude to you? He's been having a bad week so do forgive him."
Violet let the frown fall off her face and turned to Professor Matthew. "I brought all the assignments sir, the only ones missing is that of Cherish and James. They said they called to inform you about it." She sighed.
"Oh yes, I did hear from them, they had family emergencies."
Violet held in a smirk. 'Sure, family emergencies.' She recalled seeing them in the background of one of the pictures her mom had sent during the week of her shopping at the mall in the city they moved to. "Okay sir, I'll be heading out now so-"
"Oh, I was hoping to get your help in arranging the second year score sheets." The Professor gave her a smile.
Violet inwardly groaned before smiling softly. "Well hopefully it won't take too long."
"Better knock on wood." Prof. Matthew's brother scoffed as he'd been silently watching his brother converse with the 'girl' as he thought of her. She looked young and he guessed she was around nineteen years old, one of those rushed education type children. The thought made him want to roll his eyes.
"What?" Violet asked when she didn't catch what he said, but he ignored her, taking his phone out and opening one of the Instant Messaging apps.
She scowled before turning to Prof. Matthew who turned away to hide a smile. "Where do we start?"
***
5:50pm
"It took quite a while didn't it?" Professor Matthews smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry about that and as a thank you, I got you the Conrad Textbook." He reached inside one of the files cabinets and handed her a big textbook.
Even though Violet was beyond exhausted and hungry, her eyes lit up when she saw the textbook and she grinned, collecting the hard-to-get textbook from the lecturer. "Thank you sir." she bowed. "Oof." she let out a breath when the book landed in her hand. it was heavy, only to be expected as it was the only textbook in recent times that covered a wide range of psychology topics and could be used throughout the school year. More recent textbooks divided their content by class so you had to buy different ones. Smiling at the fact that she actually finally got the textbook, she said thank you again.
"You're welcome." Professor Matthew sat in his chair again, looking over at his brother who had moved to the sofa while they were working. "Hey Deon, can you stop playing that game and help out?"
Violet made a mental note, thinking 'Oh, that's his name.' But she started packing her bags so she could go home and get something–instant noodles–to eat.
"What's there to help with, aren't you done?" Deon gave a guilty smile as it finally seemed to dawn on him that he should've helped out.
Violet let her eyes wander to his face before scoffing. 'Oh so you just know now that you should've helped out. Pfft'
Professor Matthew shook his head before turning to Violet. "He's not always like this I promise."
"Sure, sure." She nodded disbelievingly.
The Professor chuckled. "Since you didn't do anything, you wouldn't mind taking her home would you?"
Expecting him to refuse, Violet quickly spoke. "No need I can still catch the 6 o'clock bus."
"It's already 6:05pm." Professor Matthew shook his head. "Plus, you'll have to walk quite the distance when you get off the bus. Actually, Deon recently moved to your area. If I remember correctly, you live in the Grey Area yes?"
Violet held on to the straps of her crossbody bag, nodding.
"He moved into Timber Street last week, that's only a walk from yours yeah?" When she nodded, he continued. "Great, he'll drop you off, but he'll get you dinner first. Won't you?" he directed the question to his brother with a raised eyebrow.
Deon stared at his brother before nodding. "Sure."
"Okay, off you two go, I have to tidy things up here and go home. My wife and kids are waiting."
"Goodnight sir." Violet waved softly while Deon nodded at his brother. Once they were outside the office, Deon walked off towards the car park with Violet right behind him.
Violet only had a moment to take in his nice car before she had to enter and he drove off. Not like she knew cars anyway, all she knew was that it had a nice interior end shiny black exterior. That's how much she knew cars.
Knowing it was a thirty minute ride, she braced herself for the awkward silence that was already settling in. It was only when she sat in the comfortable passenger seat that her fatigue really set in. Without her permission, her body relaxed into the seat and ten minutes into the ride, she fell asleep.
Deon reached a red light and stopped, looking over at the girl who had been quiet for over 15 minutes. His eyebrows shot up when he saw that she was asleep. "Idiot." he murmured, shaking his head. "Why would you fall asleep in the presence of a stranger and in his space too." He sighed.
Immediately the lights turned green, he moved, after a while, he turned off the road into the parking lot of a restaurant. Not making too much noise, he left the car and went to get food for both of them, locking it behind him.
Entering the restaurant, he moved to the counter adjacent to the windows so he could keep an eye on his car, or so he told himself. As he kept glancing at his car while making an order for rice and soup, the cashier also shifted his eyes to the car.
"Your girlfriend?" the young bald cashier asked with a smile.
"Who?" Deon frowned before realising that the cahier was referring to the girl in his car. "Ah, no." he quickly replied, giving him a weird look.
***
"Hey wake up." Deon gently shook her shoulders when he arrived at the Grey Area.
Violet slowly came to, realising in horror that she had slept off in his car. "Oh." She touched her head as if to ask herself if she was alright. "Oh just drop me off here, my house isn't far from this junction."
Deon gave her a flat look. "Just give me directions, I'll be dropping you in front of your gate."
"Your tone is so very rude did you know that?" She folded her arms, turning to give him a glare before turning to the window, involuntarily pouting. "Why do you want to drop me at my gate anyway, are you a stalker?" she muttered.
"Who in their right or wrong mind would stalk you?" he scoffed. "Besides, it's convenient for you to talk about something like that when you slept off in a strangers car." he shook his head.
"Turn left here." she interrupted, not wanting to receive any other lecture on an empty stomach.
Deon turned, letting out a breath of annoyance as he did. 'Why am I even arguing with a college kid."
Still pouting, she recalled that Prof. Matthew told him to get her food but he didn't and now she had to use the last of her energy to cook instant noodles and sleep in order to wake up early. 'Man! Why did I have to be the course rep?'
"That's my stop." she pointed at the black picket fence they were approaching.
Deon stopped at the fence, undoing his seat belt and leaning over.
Getting the wrong idea, Violet immediately raised her fists in defence, as though she knew how to fight.
Deon raised an eyebrow, looking from her fists to her face. "Who taught you to punch like that?" Leaning over into the space between their seats, he said, "You'll only hurt yourself if you do it like that, at least untuck your thumbs." He grabbed one of the white plastic bags from the the back seat and leaned back. "Here, it's rice and chicken soup." He stretched it towards her.
"Ah." Violet's mouth opened briefly before stretching into a wide smile. "Thank you very much." She said enthusiastically, opening the door and getting out. "Thank you for the ride and the meal." she bowed, the smile lighting up her tired face.
"Yeah okay" he murmured, putting the car in reverse. He drove away slowly, looking through the rearview mirror to make sure she entered her house safely. Once he was sure she did, he started to look away but caught his reflection in the mirror to see that he was smiling. 'Well, she did have a contagious smile.'
***
12:40pm the next day, Violet walked to class slowly and with smile, feeling less burdened than the previous day and glad the lecture was moved from twelve o'clock to one o'clock. As she walked past the car park, clad in a white tank top, long-sleeved jean jacket and black shorts, she caught sight of a familiar car backing out. "Oh. Isn't that Professor Matthew's brother's car?" Shrugging it off, she made her way to the professor's office. "Good morning sir." She greeted with a smile, poking her head through the open door.
"Good morning Violet. You look better today." Professor Matthew smiled, clad in a plain white shirt and Black trousers.
"Heheh, I was able to eat something that wasn't instant and sleep quite well yesterday."
"He didn't pick on you in the car did he?"
"Professor Matthew!" she frowned. "I will not tolerate you speaking to..." she trailed off, forgetting his brother's name.
"Deon." Professor Matthew provided with an amused smile.
"Yes, Mr. Deon. I will not tolerate you speaking to Mr. Deon that way." She grinned.
"Why the change of attitude, you seemed to not like him yesterday."
"Blasphemy sir! Heresy." her eyes widened, mimicking a horrified look. "How dare I be angry at someone who fed me? The truth is he's definitely a good person, he was just having a bad day yesterday." she grinned wide.
Professor Matthew laughed, shaking his head. "Well I'm glad you have a favourable impression of him, he stopped by a few minutes ago."
"Oh, I thought the car looked familiar." she internally recalled seeing the familiar car being driven out of the park. "Please thank him for me when you see him again." she grinned, to which Professor Matthew retained his smile, nodding. "Oh yes. I came to ask if you'll be fixing a class any other time during the week."
"Let me check my schedule." he took out a diary, flipping through the pages before stopping on one. "Yes, let's fix one for Friday, 11:00am."
"Yes sir, I'll inform the class." She nodded, nodding goodbye and leaving the office, as she walked to her next class, her phone vibrates in her jacket pocket. "Hello, Violet Woodsen speaking."
"Hey Vee! I hope you have forgotten the blind date–"
"Hello, hello!
"I know you can he–"
"Hello, Lucy Love, I can't hear you, let me call you back, Hehehe." Violet grinned as she hung up, only to turn the corner and see her grown haired friend, arms akimbo, glaring at her. "Hehe..."
*
*
*