Coffee

Coffee
Vinorca Jona POV

“I am sorry, sir.” Damn it. Why today of all days? Mistake after mistake, stacking until my head felt too tight to hold them.

Nothing wanted to fall into place.

“What is so important that you forget basic manners in front of a teacher?” Masen’s voice carried a low, irritated edge that lifted goosebumps across my arms.

I pulled a breath in, hoping it would steady the nerves jumping under my skin. “I didn’t mean to behave like this. Usually, I’m not like this.” It was true. No teacher had ever accused me of disrespect. Yet here I was, tripping over myself like the universe wanted to see how fast I could unravel.

“Oh?” he drawled, amusement sour enough to sting. “You’re being disrespectful because we met in the club yesterday? So now you don’t consider me a teacher?”

His words hit harder than they should have.

Why was he suddenly so… sharp? What happened to the polite gentleman from last night?

“Did I do something wrong yesterday?” The question slipped out before I could second-guess it. “I was drunk, but I remember everything clearly. If I crossed any line, I’m really sorry.”

He set the tablet on the table with controlled precision, then walked toward me. Each step tightened the air until he stood only inches away.

“Yesterday, I met you as a stranger who was drunk and needed my help,” he said, his voice quieter but no softer. “Today, I’m your teacher. And whatever happened here… I’ll handle it through my responsibilities.”

“Please don’t call my family. I am an orphan; I don’t have a family, and my guardian… I don’t want to disturb them,” I begged, choosing each word like it might decide my fate, my heart jumping all over the place because the last thing I needed was Dante walking into this mess.

He studied my face, and I caught the shift—the small softening at the edge of his expression. “I didn’t know you don’t have parents.” He sounded almost guilty. If guilt could stop him from making that call, I wasn’t above accepting it.

I hated how sick it made me feel, using my parents’ death like a shield, but they would understand. They had to. I was cornered, and in a situation like this, it was either act or suffer, and I had zero intention of suffering any more than I already did.

“Now you know, so please don’t call my guardian. I’m really sorry. I won’t disturb any classes or anything… just give me some grace this one time.”

“Okay.”

The moment he said it, all the air I didn’t realize I’d been holding rushed out of me, warmth flooding my chest so fast it made me light-headed. I clung to the relief like it was the only steady thing in the room.

Masen watched me exhale, and something unreadable flickered through his eyes, like he wasn’t expecting me to break that hard over something so simple. “You’re really that scared of someone coming here?”

I swallowed, too aware of how raw my voice might sound if I spoke. “You don’t understand,” I replied anyway, quiet but steady. “My guardian… he doesn’t take things lightly. If he comes here, it’ll turn into something none of us want.”

“Understandable. Yesterday too, you were so on edge,” he muttered, almost like he’d only now connected the dots.

I bowed my head slightly. “Thanks for understanding me now, and thanks for helping yesterday. I didn’t get to properly thank you, but I really appreciate it all.” I meant it; last night could have been worse without him, even if today was turning into a disaster of its own.

“If you want to thank me, how about having a coffee with me?”

Did he just ask me for a coffee after all this mess? My brain stuttered, tripping over the shift so hard it almost felt unreal. A teacher who’d just threatened to call my guardian was now casually suggesting coffee like we were two normal people with nothing complicated between us.

Masen didn’t look away. If anything, he seemed mildly amused by my stunned expression, like he already knew I’d freeze.

“I mean right now,” he added, his tone light but fast, as if the offer wasn’t a boundary minefield waiting to explode for both of us.

My fingers tightened around the strap of my bag. “Right now?” The words slipped out before I could shape them better, because what was I supposed to say? I’d barely survived the panic of him almost calling Dante, and now he wanted to… sit and drink coffee with me?

He nodded once. “Yes. You look like you could use it.”

And damn it, he wasn’t wrong. But that only made this whole thing more confusing.

I still couldn’t deny it all. “Sure, but it will be my treat for the thanks.” I could have coffee with him and head to my librarian job from there, per se, and nothing about that sounded dangerous in theory, even if my nerves disagreed.

“No objection at all.” He smiled, and for a second I found the same gentleman I had seen yesterday. Maybe he was right. As a teacher, of course he would behave strictly when needed, and yesterday wasn’t a classroom, so the version of him I met there belonged to a different setting entirely.

We stepped out of the staff room together, the hallway too quiet for my liking, every step making me more aware of how real this was becoming. I tried to convince myself it was just coffee, nothing more, nothing less, but my stomach still flipped with the kind of unease I hated admitting.

Masen walked beside me with an ease that made it impossible to guess what he was thinking. “There’s a café near the west gate,” he mentioned, his tone neutral enough that I couldn’t read whether this was casual or something else. “We can go there.”

I just nodded my head, having no will or energy to reply with words.

“Let’s go then.”