When the Stars Burn

Chapter 5: πέντε

Chapter 5

The faculty office was teeming with students. By the time she reached her desk, she was a sweaty mess. It was a particularly hot day and she had to run under the sweltering heat back and forth as she processed some documents for the artefact in the museum. She heaved a sigh of relief the moment her neck touched the headrest of her chair.

“You okay, Lei?” Regine asked from her desk adjacent to Lea’s.

She nodded and gave her a small smile before diving back into the pile of documents stacked atop her desk. She grabbed a folder and started going through her student’s essay dissecting Perseus of Macedon’s quest. She was pouring through the work, extremely engrossed at the writing when she caught Regine moving towards her in peripheral.

“Lei, alam mo ba na may bagong Prof for classics?” Regine asked in a low tone.

Lea shook her head and set down the paper she was reading to face her friend. “Really? Sino daw?”

Regine shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know yet pero from what I’ve heard, he’s from Tor Vergata.”

Lea’s forehead scrunched up as she pulled up her iPad to look up the said university. “University of Rome?”

Regine pulled her chair next to her and looked at the screen. “Why would he leave Tor Vergata for this school?” she asked in confusion, gesturing wildly at the office ceiling which needed to be fixed.

Lea sighed. “Why are we staying at this school?” she murmured and handed Regine the device before leaning against the back of the chair. “Sometimes I don’t think we are getting compensated enough for the stress we are getting.”

Regine nodded but halfway through, the corner of her lips turned upward, a teasing grin plastered across her face. “But hey! You gotta admit na, atleast, you met Ian here,” she teased while waggling her eyebrows.

Lea rolled her eyes and playfully slapped her arm. “Shut up.”

“Your face is heating up! Oh my god, THE Lea Defensor? Blushing? What are you—18?!”

“Regine, isa!” she warned with squinted eyes but the latter only laughed harder.

Before she could bite back, however, the door of the office swung open and Ian came in. Regine bit back her laughter and backed off, sending a wink towards her direction and a nod at Ian’s before burying herself in her own paperwork, looking so pleased with herself.

“Hey,” Lea greeted as Ian trudged towards her direction.

“Are you done for the day?” he asked as he set his briefcase on her desk and bent to plant a kiss on her temple.

“Just about,” she answered with a small smile. “Upo ka muna,” she said while pointing at the chair on the opposite side of her desk.

He nodded and settled across the desk, leaving her to her readings while he fiddled with his phone, occasionally glancing at her while she worked. The sight of her was enough to assuage the storm boiling in the pit of his stomach. He wasn’t the most optimistic person, not after everything he’d been through. He had been extremely happy for the last two years that he spent with her but the entire time, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Palaging may bawi.

He just finished sending an email to his student when she declared that she was done. He gave a small smile as she gathered her things. He helped her with the gigantic tome she was taking home for the day. Lacing his hand with hers, they walked to the parking lot where his car was parked.