Chapter 67 Shattered Dreams
Iva’s P.O.V.
A Week Later
The past days have flown by in a blur of lectures, grading papers, and late-night calls with Will. We’ve both been so busy that it feels like forever since I’ve actually seen him, really seen him, up close, in person.
And today, finally, I will.
After the last lecture, I put my things into my handbag, my heart racing with excitement at finally getting to meet him. He texted me that he passed his retest with an excellent score. I couldn’t be happier for him, and I’ve planned a little surprise for tonight.
Just as I stand up from my chair, the peon walks into the classroom.
“Miss Iva, the Dean is calling you,” he informs.
I just nod in response, and he leaves.
Why is the Dean calling me? I wonder, making my way toward the office. He never calls me like this. My pulse quickens. I don’t know why I start feeling like something is serious.
Relax, Iva. You’re overthinking. He’ll be just calling you for some routine paperwork or a new academic committee, I tell myself, but the uneasy feeling in my stomach refuses to settle.
On the way, another message from Will flashes on my phone.
Will: I’m heading home, because Dad is coming.
I just read his text from the notification bar and slip my phone back into my bag without replying, my mind too cluttered to type a response right now.
Dad is coming? That’s unexpected, he hasn’t mentioned anything about it before. I feel a strange kind of tension. Maybe it’s just a casual visit, I tell myself, but something about the timing feels off. First, the Dean calling me out of nowhere, and now Will’s sudden message. My heart thuds faster as I near the office door, and a hundred uneasy thoughts swirl in my head.
As I walk into the dean’s office, I freeze. The entire administrative team is seated inside, their expression grim.
My heartbeat accelerates even more. I’m certain now that the matter is serious.
“Iva, take a seat,” the dean says in a firm tone.
My palms grow damp as I sink into the chair across from them.
He looks straight at me and clears his throat, breaking the heavy silence. “Miss Iva, we know everything. You are having an affair with a student of this college.”
My eyes widen. They found out. Shit! No. This shouldn’t have happened. Will assured me that our secret would never come out.
God, we should’ve been more careful.
I don’t know how to face them now. And what about my job?
One teacher leans forward and snaps, “Shame on you. You are supposed to guide students, not destroy them.”
“You have stained the name of this college.” Another professor says, her tone dripping with disdain.
A man mutters, shaking his head. “You disgust us. You don’t deserve to be a professor.”
I feel like I can’t breathe.
It feels like I’m not even in my own body, just watching from outside as the world I’ve worked so hard for crumbles in seconds.
This job was my dream… my pride. I gave everything to this place. And now… they see me as filth?
How can I be so careless?
The dean asserts in a cold tone, “You are finished here. From this moment, you are out. Take your things and leave this college.”
The room spins. I try to speak, to defend myself, but the words stick in my throat.
“Shameless woman.”
“Such women ruin young men.”
“A disgrace.”
They all whisper to each other.
Shameless? If they knew my heart… if they knew what Will means to me…
I stand, numb, and walk towards the door. Their words echo relentlessly inside my head.
The moment I step into the corridor, the tears I’ve been holding back finally trickle down my cheeks. My hands tremble as I reach for my phone, wanting to call Will, to hear his voice, to tell him what happened, to just… breathe again.
But then I remember his last message. “Dad is coming.”
My heart sinks deeper. A terrible thought crosses my mind, what if his father found out too?
The hallway blurs through my tears. I feel I would faint. Everything I’ve built, everything I believed in, feels like it’s slipping away like sand through my fingers—my career, my dignity, and now… maybe even him.
I rush to the parking area, trying to control my emotions, because I don’t want to catch anybody's attention. My legs feel like they’ll give out beneath me.
I unlock my car with trembling hands and sink into the driver’s seat. As soon as I shut the door, a loud sob escapes from my mouth. I feel so shattered.
My dream… my respect… everything I worked for, it’s gone now.
I rest my forehead against the steering wheel, crying hysterically.
Was it wrong to love? Was it wrong to choose my heart?
I close my eyes, and my mind pulls me back to the day that had been one of the happiest of my life.
The day I got the offer letter.
I still remember standing at the gate of this very college, clutching the envelope in my hands with a smile on my face. My eyes had filled with tears back then too, but not like today. Those were tears of joy, of pride, of finally making my mother proud.
I’d walked into this place with my head held high, feeling like the world had opened its doors for me. Every breath filled with dreams of being the kind of professor who would inspire students, who would change lives.
God, I was so happy that day.
I’d gone home and hugged the letter to my chest.
And now… just like that, it’s all over.
That dream I built brick by brick has shattered into dust.
The tears flow nonstop as I feel unbearable heaviness in my chest.
I gave everything to this job. My days, my nights, my passion, my pride. And now, because I dared to love… they’ve erased it all with a few cruel words.
I whisper brokenly to the empty car, “Why does love always come with punishment?”
I feel so lost.