012

012


Gaia
I wasn't going to waste more time than necessary in his office today, those were the words I whispered to myself, even though a part of me feared it would've exactly be easy.

I didn't want to be in the same space with him, unless it was necessary, not after what happened last time. I was just going to go in there, do what I was supposed to do and get out again. Easy peasy. Right?

Wrong. I was yet to see the man, but something tingled in my guts that things wouldn't go how I wanted them to.

I cringed, mentally replaying the events of our last meeting, over and over in my head as I walked down the now familiar hallway of the lecturer’s block on campus. I was currently on my way to the hellspawn's office to complete my newest assignment. That should be his new nickname; it suits him really well.

It'd been a week since our last argument and the whole Chief saga happened and Cassian hadn't been in school either. After the mini accident, he was admitted to the hospital. Chief briefed me on what had happened and it wasn't exactly nice.

The agent with him that night unfortunately didn't make it. The hellspawn on the other hand, escaped with a little gash to the side. If it were up to me, I'd have driven a bullet straight into the bastard's heart without even flinching. Everything in my life had been going haywire ever since he walked right back into it after that night.

If I had my way, I wouldn't get to see him again, but part of Chief's orders was to guard him even while he was in the hospital, which I did.

And not with the purest of hearts, mind you.

It didn't help that he had no idea I was anywhere near him either. It was pure torture having to make sure he was okay, when I wanted to hurt him myself.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts, just in time to see I'd arrived at his door.

“Here goes nothing.” I muttered underneath my breath.

"Come in." He grunted immediately I knocked on his double doors. “Who's there?"

"Your favourite person." I beamed taking in his sour expression as I walked in. I knew being annoyingly cheerful would rile him up so that's what I did. And it worked, because his scowl deepened the moment he laid his eyes on me. “What's up Prof?"

"What are you doing here?" He growled. Literally. “I'm not supposed to take your class today."

"How sweet of you to think I came to remind you of your duties." I smirked smugly, plunking casually into the seat opposite his desk. While sitting, I took a good look at the man in front of me.

He was wearing his signature hairstyle and his glasses perched loosely on the bridge of his nose. His blue orbs on the other hand, seemed brighter today. His deep blue shirt had some buttons undone with both sleeves rolled halfway upwards, giving me a good view of his strong muscular arms.

I could swear I saw a tattoo peeking out, but I wouldn't know unless I got a better glance. His shirt wasn't tucked in to his pants because his shirt was bunched up on his right side, exposing an injury and part of his toned abs spilled out from the open fabric.

My eyes involuntarily skidded lower to where his torso made a V way further down. Only when my cheeks heat up in embarrassment did I realize what the hell I was doing and I jerked my focus back to his face.

To my biggest surprise, the idiot was smirking. Of course

"Why are you here then?" He grinned, his dimple popping out." You want another go...."

"Please stop." I shut my eyes immediately, trying my hardest to wash away memories of that night. “Just stop."

"Or what?" He cocked his head to the side, his eyes searching my face for any sign of a threat. I peeped open and his face was dangerously close, mischief dancing in his eyes.

“He must really think I can't hurt him. I sighed. “If only he knew.”

"I'll do this." I purred, biting down on my lower lip and pulling it in gently. I watched his Adam apple bob up and down as he swallowed immediately, his tongue running over his lips.

We stared at each other in anticipation, at least waiting for one person to make a move. I watched his gaze flick from my face to my lips continuously, as if asking for permission.

Slapping myself out of the trance his eyes seemed to pull me in,I made a beeline for his side and poked him directly where he was hurt.

"Are you mad!?" He yelped out of my face in pain, his breath smelling faintly of mint and scotch. “What'd you do that for?"

"That was a warning." I said in between a laugh and a frown. “Don't ever tease me again."

"You're a psychopath." He winced, pressing his hand to where I'd poked earlier. “You still haven't told me what you want."

"Good." I nodded, resting my chin in my hands. “I have a proposal for you."

"I just resumed." He groaned., like he really didn't want to be here. “Couldn't you at least cut me some slack?"

"I'm not the one who asked you to meet up with your mystery lover at night in a secluded park." Only when the words had tumbled past my lips did I realize what I'd just done. He wasn't supposed to know I knew anything about it.

Damn it, Gaia.

"How do you know about that?" His raised his eyebrows in pure suspicion. “What do you know?"

"Nothing." I plastered the best stoic expression I could make up. “That's what the school buzz updated."

"What's that?"

"You've got to be kidding me." I shook my head in exasperation. “I've been here for probably two weeks now and I know a lot more about this school than you do. Isn't that sad?"

"Don't sass me." He snapped, his ego obviously bruised. “What do you want?"

"A proposal.."

"You said that already." He huffed. “What's the proposal?"

"I'm offering to be your TA." I took in the way his face morphed from pure shock into sadistic laughter. “What's funny?"

"You're joking right?" He wheezed out loud, stray tears escaping his eyelids. “Oh my God, you're hilarious."

"I'm not joking." I pressed my lips into a thin line. “I want to be your TA."

"Oh, you're actually serious." He chuckled lightly, before the expression on his face turned dark. “Aren't you?"

"Do I look like I'm joking to you?" My blood was boiling. I was being serious and all he could do was laugh it off. “I don't get what's funny."

"Well, honey," he started and my scowl deepened. “I'm not in need of an assistant right now, and you'd be the last person I'd give it to even if I didn't have one."

"What's that supposed to mean?" My head snapped towards him, anger dancing in my orbs. “Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Well, I didn't say that." He smirked. “But there's no way to test your academic capabilities as the school year just started. I'll have to take a look at your class attendance, your test results, your GPA and a couple of other things before I can begin to consider your proposal. So probably come try again in a year or two. Adios."

"I don't believe you." I jerked to my feet, anger and panic flowing through my veins. Anger because he was indirectly calling me stupid and panic because I'd be in serious trouble if I didn't get it. “You're lying to me. You just don't want to give me a chance. I can take a test or anything. Right now, just to prove it to you."

"Look Miss..." He stuttered, trying desperately to recall my name. His smug smile faltered and his eyebrows creased together, a faint WiFi symbol popping up. It could have been my imagination though. “That's weird, I don't even know your name."

"Ga..." I stopped myself. “Mila Sanchez."

"Mila?" The words reverberated strangely on his lips. “I thought your name was Gaia. That night, you said your name was Gaia."

"Hmmm." My stomach did a double flip, praying that my widened eyes would go by unnoticed. Taking deep breaths instead, I smirked. “Who's stalking who now,eh?"

"I'm not stalking you , Mila." He emphasized on the name ' Mila '. “I just don't believe that's your real name."

"Don't try to change the topic." I raised a finger to his face. “You're going to make me your TA right now or ....."

"Um, Mr Corvin?" We both turned to a petite figure, who was standing awkwardly in front of what seemed to be the door to another office. “Is everything okay? I heard you yelling and I came to check."

"It's fine, Penny." He smiled, and it was genuine, unlike the half sided smirks he usually gave me. Something churned at the pit of my stomach as I watched the friendly exchange between both of them. “I was just having a word with Miss Mila over here."

"Who's the chick?" I quipped, my voice harsh and bitter and I did nothing to hide it. I gave her a quick glance and to be honest, she was actually pretty. She had jet black hair and big eyes like that of a puppy. She had a moderate stature making her look like a lingerie model. "Another one of you one night...."

"Penny here is my assistant." He cut me off immediately, shooting daggers at me. “My teaching Assistant to be precise and I must say she's the best thing that has happened to me since the beginning of this semester."

His eyes darted back and forth between us, the mischievous twinkle in them riling me up the more.

"It's nothing, sir." She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Yup, miss petite here definitely has the hots for hellspawn over there, and for some stupid reason I felt anxious about it.

"Are you okay Mr Corvin?" Her chirpy voice brought me back to reality as she made her way towards Cassian who was wincing again. “Does it hurt a lot?"

"I'm fine." He shot me a side smirk, as if noticing my dilemma and I wanted nothing more than to slap that smirk off his face. “ An ice pack or something should do."

"Let me see it then." She peered closer and I was tempted to push her face into the wound, let her lick his wounded skin since she was so eager to jump right into it. Cassian on the other hand, took her hands in his and placed it directly above his cut, his eyes never leaving mine. “It's bleeding a bit."

"It's fine, I just..."

"I'm leaving now." I banged my fist on his desk, rattling a few pens and markers. “But this conversation isn't over."

I didn't spare him so much as a second glance as I sauntered out of his office, making sure my hips were swaying to an imaginary beat only I could hear. I stormed out of the lecturers block unable to flush the image of two of them pressed against each other and the smug smile Cassian was sporting through out.

If little things like this bothered me so much, then being his TA would be much harder than I'd anticipated .

Great. Just fucking great.