Golden Sunset (On Hold)

Chapter 14

"Oh my God, oh my God. I am so finished today. Sir is going to kill me if I don't reach my class within 5 minutes before the bell rings," Scarlett blabbered incoherently while managing to walk as fast as possible after parking her car.
"Thank you so much God for helping me by scheduling English as my first class of the day," she added sarcastically looking up at the sky.
She was not yet completely comfortable in her high heels and thus she couldn't even run. But she knew very well that she was already late.
Her inner self asked her while tapping her foot.

And whose fault is this that you are so late buddy? Ya ya tell me Scar.

'Hey, It was not my fault. You know how I was stuck in the traffic.'

Really? Are you sure darling?

As her stupid inner self looked at her with one raised eyebrow, she rolled her eyes.
'Okay okay fine. I agree it was a little fault of mine too. But I didn't hear the ring of alarm buddy. So I woke up a little late today.'

And then it was me who really took her sweet time to dress up before going to college. Isn't it? Huh. Duffer.

Scarlett sighed and thought, 'You see my little inner beauty. What is my fault here? I took only 20 minutes to be ready. Being a girl I deserve more than 30 minutes for dress up and make up. But I took less than that time. Not fair. I need a minimum time to look pretty afterall.'

Ya sure. Then don't come to me crying when your beloved master will jump onto you as you enter his class and...

Scarlett became red imagining his beloved teacher jumping onto her. But she shook her head to get rid of the dirty thoughts.

Woah. Woah. Woah. Hold your horses baby. Where are you going with your imagination level? Have you forgotten he is your professor? Do you really think he will risk his job for the sake of you? And this forbidden way even leads you to the road of disaster. You may get expelled if your biggest wish ever comes true. Now tell me. What is the need of the change in your personality, your attitude, your dress up? It will not matter to him if you are a nerd or a cheerleader, a sexy goddess or a hot bitch, a scholar or a failure. Guard your heart before it breaks into million pieces sweety. I am warning you. And the most important thing. How can you forget the sight of him in the hospital? He has a girlfriend. A smart, hot, sexy one. Who are you? You are an innocent little stupid child who has crush on her professor. Nothing else. Be aware when there is time.

Suddenly Scarlett felt like someone poured cold water on her as the realisation dawned upon her.
Since the day she had felt the huge amount of attraction towards her new English professor, Steven Hopkins, she was not herself anymore.
She knew in her heart that it was not any stupid little crush. In fact it was more than that. And she was afraid that deep down in her heart she was already falling hard for him. She behaved like a love sick puppy whenever he was around. She knew very well that he was in forbidden zone and she had really tried a lot to avoid her feelings but she failed. She just couldn't help it. She even decided that she would keep her feelings to herself until her passing out from the university. Then she would meet him and confess her feelings to him as there won't be any problem or any risk for them anymore.
Although yesterday, all of her hope was crushed when she saw him with another lady in the hospital, she didn't miss the concern in his eyes looking at her upset face. It gave her new ray of hope. So like a stupid little girl with a hope in her heart, she had dolled up a little this morning with new expectations.
But her fate seemed to be always against her happiness. One of the few things that Mr Steven Hopkins loathes, is tardiness. And he was never late himself.
She began to pray inwardly that he should be late too in today's class so that he wouldn't notice her late coming but deep down she knew very well God wouldn't show his mercy upon her this time.
Walking and running, she somehow managed to go in front of her class door and unfortunately she was right. She didn't need a single soul to inform her that the class had already begun a few minutes ago.
Sighing audibly while praying in her mind, she knocked on the door of the classroom before entering the class. The first thing she noticed after stepping in the class was the pin drop silent atmosphere and she felt that everyone was gaping at her as if she was some sort of alien. Yes. Nobody dared to come late in this class because none was interested to face the the violent wrath of the master. But the sweet little fool Scarlett decided to taste his wrath once. Huh. How clever she is !
Note the sarcasm.
She didn't dare to look up at her favourite teacher but she could feel his hot gaze upon herself.
Before she could move further to take a seat, she was blessed by Steven's booming voice.
"You are improving very fast Miss Torcelli. I must appreciate your effort of wasting your time in your precious sleep. Or should I admire you for almost missing your class and investing your time in make up and dress up?"
The sharp edge of his sarcasm stabbed her heart and she lost all of her hopes once again. She had always been a nerd in the school. Nobody had taken any interest in her and she didn't mind either. For the first time she felt the need of looking beautiful. It didn't mean that she had neglected her studies. She might have tried to change herself for the first time and yes she was enjoying every bit of it. Who doesn't want to feel beautiful? But she had not compromised her study, her dream and ambition for this sake. She would never do it.
Yes. Now she thought that she made some mistakes. It was her mistake that she tried to look beautiful for him.
Yes it was her mistake that she wanted to have a social life.
Yes it was her mistake that she was so sad last night that she couldn't remove the image of him together with the lady from her brain and it caused her the almost sleepless night due to which she woke up late for the first time.
Thus his accusations hit a deep point. She felt so humiliated in front of the whole class that for a moment she couldn't find her voice.
It was really shocking for everyone present in the class. Mr. Steven had always scolded students for coming late in his class, but he had never humiliated anybody in such a cruel manner before. He never had such venom in his voice which he spitted on the poor Scarlett for the first time.
After a moment of silence Scarlett finally regained her voice and meekly apologized in a croaking voice, "Sorry sir. It won't happen again."
She didn't even look up at him once. How could she? She just wouldn't be able to hide her tears if she looked at his eyes. Suddenly she felt like she was the most unfortunate one in this world. The loneliness that she felt for years, began to crawl back at her heart again. But she tried to blink back her tears so that she could regain her strength and her calm posture.
After a few moments of silence when she didn't hear his reply, she decided to step further but once again she heard his cold voice, "Meet me at my office after this class. Now take a seat and stop wasting my time."
.
.
.
to be continued...