He punishes himself by enduring more laps than usual during his morning run.
The flaming tightness in his chest, the shortness of breath, he believes he deserves it all.
Punishing her in that way was a mistake. Even though he didn't think much of it when he led her up to that room, he secretly enjoyed the idea of it before he even began. A secret he hid from even himself. Which is why it surprised him when he hardened at the sight of her red skin and longed for another moment with her. Another moment of her innocent submission and his sadistic control.
He takes a cold shower soon after he arrives at his quarters before heading out to his office.
The day is long and dreadfully uneventful until the very moment that havoc breaks out in the laboratory.
There is a knock on his door and he calls out for whoever it is to come in. It's one of the female staff and she looks like she's seen a ghost.
"Is someone hurt?" He asks, although there is no worry in his voice. Just a bit of irritation.
"There was a minor explosion in the science lab. Mr Gregory is very upset," she explains. He waits for her to make her point. The teachers should be able to handle this without his intervention.
"Well…" she begins, sensing his impatience. "He left for a while and he wasn't there when the equipments were destroyed. The culprit has refused to come forward. I thought you might be able to find her."
"Fine." He stands, carrying all his authority with him until he enters the laboratory. It's the senior class. Jane's class.
He looks around at their faces, all of them now horrified by the sight of him.
He checks for the extent of the damage. It's nothing too serious, but enough for the culprit to be punished severely.
"What happened here?" He asks calmly, throwing the question at no one in particular.
Jane is standing with her friends Grace and Charlie. He recognises them. The three of them look just as worried as the other girls. It's difficult to read the situation.
'This is going to take a while.'
"I left for a few minutes and found this mess when I came back," Mr Gregory explains. The headmaster glares at him, unimpressed. He should have been able to fish out the culprit while the crime scene was still fresh, and the fear of getting caught was still noticeable.
"You should all the ashamed of yourselves, making the headmaster come out of his office in such a busy day to deal with you," the female teacher that brought him in says.
The students remain silent with their heads bowed.
The headmaster soon realises that Jane is more tense than her friends. But it couldn't have been her. If not, she would have been caught by now.
She must know something. Either that or she can't stand being close to him after what happened the other day between them.
He steps towards her, the other girls moving out of his way. He stops in front of her and even her friends move away, leaving her practically shaking under his intense gaze.
"Jane," he says, the sound of her name reverberating through her body. She keeps her head down.
"What happened here?"
She takes a deep breath, knowing damn well what happened, but too afraid to say.
Her friend Charlie thought it would be a good idea to mix the chemicals without following the instructions because it was "more fun this way," and although Jane had warned her several times, even threatening to leave their group and find another partner to complete her task with, Charlie ignored her.
She's going to be in so much trouble if the headmaster finds out, but Jane will be in deeper shit if she doesn't give her up now.
Charlie could confess, apologise, and accept the punishment, instead of standing there and watching her friend shake helplessly as everyone stares at her in annoyance.
But Jane knows that she won't, and fails to realise how foolish it is to cover up for her friend.
"If you don't tell me, then everyone here will suffer. And as for you, I'll make sure you regret this day even more than the culprit."
She looks up in protest. "But…" she trails off, not knowing what to say to get herself out of the situation. He wonders if she will lie, or if she will take the fall for whoever she is trying to protect, and she wonders if it would be worth it to do anything other than say the truth.
"I don't know anything, sir," she lies. He knows she's lying. It's unacceptable.
"It was Charlie," Grace says finally. Charlie sighs in defeat, scowling at Grace before admitting to her foolishness. "It was me."
He looks at the three of them, a sudden wave of anger threatening to take over his composure.
"Thank you," he says to Grace. He steps away from them. "Class dismissed," he announces. The rest of the students leave but the three of them know better than to move a muscle.
"Mr. Gregory, see to it that she is punished adequately. I'll make sure she pays for the damage by the end of the school year," he says.
Charlie groans and follows Mr. Gregory out.
"You…" he says looking at Grace. "You're free to go." Her eyes widen and she looks over at Jane briefly before hurrying out, leaving her friend alone with the headmaster.
"You did know, didn't you?" He says with so much certainty that all she can do is nod silently in defeat.
"And you chose to lie to me? To protect your friend?"
"Headmaster, I'm really sorry. But I imagined her having to bear the kind of punishment that I suffered only a few days ago in your hands and I just felt really bad for her," she says.
He stiffens at the mention of that little incident. She clearly doesn't think much of it since she's mentioning it so casually.
"Jane, that girl does not appreciate your protection. She doesn't deserve it either." He sighs. "I'm trying really hard not to be angry at you but you lied to me."
She looks up, her eyes meeting his for the first time today. "Then… are you going to punish me again, Sir?"
Her eyes are welling up with tears, threatening to spill at any second. And slowly, his anger begins to fade, taking the form of something even more dangerous.
He looks away. "Yes."
She shifts back into his vision, needing their eyes to connect again so that he can see the sincerity behind hers.
"I understand that lying it bad. But I don't think I should be punished for my friend's irresponsibility *again*."
The way she's timid and helpless one moment and fearless enough to defend herself the next almost confuses him.
"You brought this upon yourself," he says. She knows he's right. But she has to try.
"I'll stay out of your sight from now on. You won't see me or hear about me because I'll be good. One last chance. That's all I ask."
This isn't just about reprimanding her for bad behaviour. She lied to him. He's hurt that she lied to him just to protect her silly friend.
"Do you think your friend would have lied to me to protect you?" He asks. She doesn't need to consider it for more than two seconds. "No," she says. Because Charlie would have given her up immediately. Not necessarily because she doesn't care about her, but because she's childish and would have found it funny.
"Then…" he reminds himself to breathe. "Listen. I'm not letting you go out of pity. But because I would be letting my emotions in on this."
She frowns. His tone has changed and so has his expression. He's no longer cool, calm and collected. He's almost seething with anger.
"What does that mean?" She asks.
"It means…" he wonders if he should stop himself from saying anything else. Anything else that could make this ridiculous situation worse.
"It means that I'm not a horrible person. I wont punish you because I'm angry. I can only punish you when it doesn't have any kind of effect on me. Anything else would be inappropriate."
She think she might understand, but she's too worried about getting out of here to think too much about it.
"O-Okay."
He storms out.
And after a few seconds, just enough time to recollect herself, she leave the laboratory too.