Suicide Watch

Chapter 29

Isa's POV

The walk to class the next morning is pleasant. The sun is out, and the weather is slightly warmer today.

Temi is walking next to me in silence, but there's a ghost of a smile on her face. It makes me smile seeing her appear so at peace, so restful.

"I'll be here waiting after class," I say once we arrive outside of the building of Temi's politics class. I don't know exactly why I say this. It's not as if this is a new arrangement.

"Yeah, sure," Temi says, a bit nervously. She pushes a braid behind her ear.

"See you Isa," Temi quickly says, before offering me a small smile and rushing into the building.

I watch after her for a few moments, a huge smile dancing across my features. I'm definitely still getting accustomed to this new side of Temi: the shy, genuine side of her. Not the hard exterior she had been putting up previously. I love it and it fills me with a strange sense of warmth.

For a moment, a strange feeling of guilt passes through me. Temi is vulnerable right now. The truth of the matter is that she is still healing the death of her best friend. Is it really appropriate for me to be feeling the way I do about her? What more, I am her bodyguard and I am here because I have a job to do.

My thoughts are interrupted when I notice the blonde woman from the day before. She is standing a little distance from the politics building and seems to be on a phone call. Like yesterday, she has on shades that seem to conceal most of her face and bright red lipstick.

A feeling of unsettlement comes over me. For a moment, I wonder if she is a student. But she looks a bit too old to be an undergraduate, so maybe a graduate student?

With no delay, I make my way over to the woman.

"Hey," I say, once I'm within earshot.

I watch how she whispers something into her cell phone before turning around and flashing me with a pearly white smile.

"Hello, can I help you?" She asks. Her accent sounds American, but there's a hint of another accent that I cannot quite place.

I put on an innocent smile on my face.

"I'm lost. I just transferred here." I lie easily. "I was wondering if you know where the Economics building is?"

I study the woman as I ask, but she's hard to decipher, as most of her face is hidden behind her sunglasses.

"Oh honey," she says, "unfortunately, I'm a professor in the politics department. I just started working here, so I'm not familiar with this huge campus either."

She laughs then, and I laugh too, not because I find the situation amusing, but because it's the most natural thing to do.

But I'm not done with her just yet.

"That's really cool. I'm thinking of taking a politics class next semester. What class do you teach?" I ask, trying to sound as casual as possible.

There's a brief hesitation, but the woman quickly recovers.

"I teach European Politics," she says breezily, "you seem like a great student, I'll love to teach you someday. I'm Professor Murphy."

Her hands are outstretched to me, and she has a courteous smile on her face. I take her outstretched arm and shake it, putting a warm smile onto my face as well.

We exchange a few more words before she says something about an appointment that she needs to attend and walks off. I watch her retreat for a few moments, not really sure what to think.