After class, Tristan approached me. He wanted us to eat together, but I was uncomfortable with the way other students were looking at us. He chatted about various things until we reached the cafeteria.
"Lau, I'm going to the restroom," Tristan excused himself. I just nodded and watched his back as he headed towards the restroom. We were almost done eating, so the cafeteria was not as crowded.
I was sipping the last of my milk tea when someone suddenly pushed me, causing my lip to get pricked by the straw.
"Oh, God! I'm sorry!"
I touched my lip and saw it was bleeding. The sudden jolt had caused a quick cut.
Four girls were staring at me, and when our eyes met, all I saw was disgust.
"Your lips are bleeding! Wait, I have a tissue here," one of the girls in uniform said. They seemed to be tourism students.
The girl approached me and pressed the tissue against my lip a bit too hard, so I pushed her hand away.
"Ouch, you're scratching my skin!"
I furrowed my brows. "You pressed the tissue too hard. I just pushed your hand away, Miss."
"Let me see, girl," they also looked at the girl's hand and gasped. "You scratched her! Look, oh!"
I couldn't clearly see the supposed scratch because she wasn't showing it fully. To my surprise, she started crying dramatically.
"My mom will be mad at me! She never even made me do any chores, and you have the nerve to scratch me? How dare you!"
"Wait, scratch? I didn't scratch you intentionally," I responded, confused.
"You ruined my perfect skin! This is unacceptable!" She pointed at me. "I just wanted to help you, and this is how you repay me? I didn't mean to push you earlier!"
"Okay, I get it. I'm sorry." Even though I was puzzled, I apologized, but it seemed like this girl was really looking for a fight.
"Do you know how expensive my skincare routine is? My mom will freak out! Sorry won't cut it. I'll make sure everyone knows about this!"
Suddenly, one of her friends slapped me.
I was startled, but it wasn't too hard, so I quickly looked back at her. "Why did you slap me?"
"How dare you hurt our friend! You should pay for this!"
Just because of a scratch, I got slapped? What's gotten into these girls?
"What's going on here?"
I felt nervous when I heard a familiar voice behind me. The girl pointed at me. "Professor, she intentionally scratched me! Look at my hand!"
I felt embarrassed as more people started looking at us. "Professor, that's not true. It was an accident, and then they suddenly slapped me."
Professor Zaiden came over and looked me over. His gaze landed on my lip. "Your lips are bleeding, what happened?"
I looked into his eyes and was surprised because they were a different color. I felt a pang of regret. "Ah, well, I was pricked by a straw earlier. They accidentally pushed me. Then the girl pressed her tissue to my lip, but she pressed too hard and it hurt, so I pushed her hand away."
The girl frowned. "She's lying! She scratched me first!"
I furrowed my brows. What's wrong with this girl? She was the one who started it, why is she trying to turn it around? I looked at her friends and they were now smirking and pretending to be innocent.
So, they did this intentionally?
Professor Zaiden approached the girl and took her hand. I frowned when I saw the girls secretly blushing, including the one who supposedly got scratched.
"Your scratch isn't fresh, Miss."
She stopped smiling. "What?"
"It's healing. This means, you already had it before. You probably just didn't notice it earlier."
The girl embarrassingly pulled her hand away while I glared at her. They flirted with my Professor.
"What about what you did to my lips, Miss Tourism?" I asked sharply. They all looked at me. "You are even lying so you can talk to the Professor like that. Why, because he'll take your side since you're pretty?"
"Enough of this drama. It's clear that there was an accident, and this situation is getting out of hand," the Professor said seriously, but I didn't stop.
"So, what's the real deal here? Trying to get attention from the Professor?" I said sarcastically.
"I don't need to lie! She scratched me intentionally!" I rolled my eyes at her statement. She still wasn't done lying.
"Miss, I already checked. Your scratch is not recent. Now, let's address the issue calmly." Professor Zaiden said firmly.
"Maybe she hurt herself just to frame me, Professor."
I got annoyed. What the hell is wrong with this immature woman? "Seriously? I don't need to resort to such tactics."
"Enough speculations. I will look into this matter thoroughly. In the meantime, everyone, back to your respective activities."
I didn't respond and turned away, but stopped when Professor Zaiden spoke. "Go straight to the clinic, Ms. Valencia."
I took a deep breath and started heading towards the clinic. My lip seemed to have gone numb from the wound. I hadn't had a chance to check it earlier. I ran into Tristan, and he noticed my sullen expression.
"What happened to your lips?"
"Is it that noticeable?"
"Yes, you even have blood on the side of your lip. It looks pretty deep. I can accompany you to the clinic."
"No, thanks. We still have class, right? I'll just follow you to the room."
He looked at me worriedly, so I gave him a small smile even though it stung. "I'm okay, Tristan. I don't want us both to get scolded later."
He had no choice but to go ahead.
Inside the clinic, the nurse wasn't there, so I decided to take care of myself. I opened the first aid kit and gently cleaned the wound on my lip. I felt a sting every time I touched it with the tissue, but I bore it.
The clinic door suddenly opened, and Professor Zaiden walked in. He looked at me, busy cleaning my wound.
"Ms. Valencia, how are you holding up?" he asked, his voice tinged with concern.
"I'm okay, Professor. I'm just cleaning my wound," I replied, but I felt embarrassed about the situation.
"I'll take care of that," he said, and moved past me towards the sink. I frowned, unsure of what he intended to do.
I watched him as he opened the medicine cabinet. When he found the antiseptic ointment, he immediately took it and approached me.
"May I?" he asked, and I nodded in agreement.
I was surprised when he gently applied the ointment to my wound. Professor Zaiden gently touched my lip, and I felt an unusual warmth on my cheek. A strange feeling stirred in my chest, and I involuntarily swallowed.
"There, that should help it heal faster," he said when he was done. He stared at me for a moment before sighing deeply.
He was still wearing his glasses, but I still wasn't used to the color of his eyes. Had he taken off his contact lenses? I wanted to ask, but my tongue was tied. I was afraid to hear something from him again.
"Thank you, Professor Zaiden," I thanked him, and our eyes met again, but this time, it was more intense.
"No need to thank me. Take care of yourself, Ms. Valencia," he said before nodding. But I instinctively raised my hand to stop him from turning away from me.
"Prof, can I ask something?"
"What is it?"
"Why doesn't your fiancé seem to be around?"
His eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you asking?"
"Because you said last time that she would visit here. I-I haven't seen her."
He looked at me confused. Even I was nervous about the way he was looking at me. "When did I say to you that my fiancé would visit here?"
"What?"
"I didn't say anything to you, Ms. Valencia. We're not close enough for me to share that with you."
He paused for a moment and thought. He looked at me again as if he had thought of something I didn't know and sighed.
"My fiancé won't come here. She's busy preparing for our wedding."
"W-wedding? Is it happening soon?"
"Yes, it will happen next month."
It felt like something was crushing inside my heart when I heard that. The pain in my chest was like being stabbed with large knives.
"W-why?" My voice was hoarse.
"What's this about, Ms. Valencia?"
"Am I not in your heart?" My voice cracked. "Is it hard to love me, Prof?"
He furrowed his brows, clearly perplexed by my emotional outburst. "Ms. Valencia, I'm not sure what you're talking about. I don't recall ever discussing personal matters with you."
"But you told me about your fiancé visiting, and the wedding next month. You even mentioned it during our last conversation." I was confused. What's going on? Why does he seem like a different person?
He shook his head. "I assure you, Ms. Valencia, I don't remember sharing such details with you. Perhaps there's a misunderstanding."
I just stared at him, and while thinking about what happened between us, I began to doubt. His actions and words are changing. Sometimes they're the same, but sometimes they're different.
"Are you..." We looked at each other, and I wanted to know what his reaction would be to what I was about to say.
"Are you really the same guy I've been together with these past few days?"