The Teacher's Pet | Slowburn MJ FanFic

• | Chapter Seventy-One | •

With his back to the door, Michael was arranging a row of desks before he heard the sound of running feet approaching him. Turning around, he nearly lost his footing as Riley bombarded him with a bear hug. At first he wasn't sure who she was until he heard her familiar voice.

"Thank God. You're okay." She sighed in relief, burying her face into the center of his chest, then deeply inhaling his signature cologne she missed so much. It felt surreal to feel his warm, slim body embraced in her arms.

He smiled as he eagerly returned the hug. If it wasn't for his healing wounds, he would've scooped her up instead and spun her around. "Of course, Ry. The school didn't tell you guys?"

"No, they only told us you were in critical condition and in the ICU. I had to depend on the news website to keep me updated. You don't understand how happy I am to see you right now." She practically said in one breath while tightening her grip and he chuckled before wincing.

"Ry, you're hugging me just a little bit too tight." He said and she immediately loosened her grip.

"Oh! Sorry." She flushed with embarrassment, finally letting him go only to end up wrapping her arms around him again. This time she was more gentle. He laughed softly and held her for a while until they finally parted ways. "I actually went by to see you a few times."

"Really?" A small smile lingered on his lips. "I remember a nurse informing me that you came by when I was in ICU."

"Yeah, the first two times you were still asleep. After that, you had already been discharged. So, I stopped by your house and you weren't there either. I thought you were mad at me and trying to avoid me."

Michael shook his head in disagreement and took her hand. "No, I was never mad at you. You didn't ask for Javen to show up and start unleashing bullets on people." He sighed as he sat down on the edge of a desk behind him and caressed the surface of her hand tenderly with his thumb. "I was staying with my mother for a bit until a few days ago. I got your new number, but of course I had to somehow lose it."

"Life throwing some curve balls, huh?" She gave a half-smile while he chuckled.

"Yeah, you could say that. I missed you, though. Thank you for the flowers and the card." He smiled as she bashfully looked down at her shoes with a soft smile. "How's everyone else doing?"

"They're doing fine. They were worried about you, though. All of us." She sighed at the memory before suddenly laughing. Michael looked a little confused. "After you went to the hospital, I got so much hate-mail from your admirers."

He exhaled while running a hand over his face. "Seriously? I'm so sorry you had to deal with that on top of everything else."

She shrugged and smirked. "I wasn't worried about it. Your health was my priority."

She slowly glanced around before he could utter another word. The warm-colored walls were decorated with several uplifting posters, the alphabets, and numbers while from the ceiling hung tissue paper pom-poms that ranged in a variety of colors. Along one wall were his students' names written on large crayon stickers. At the front of the classroom were about several groups of desks arranged to his liking. Their first day lessons were written on the board and next to it was the calendar and agenda. The other half of the room was split between an art area and a music area.

"So, this is where you work now. It's adorable." She complimented.

He blushed and stood, letting go of her hand. "Thanks. I wasn't expecting you to be stopping by, but I'm really glad you did." His words formed another smile on her face.

"Yeah, well my baby cousin is starting school here soon and I saw you while walking down the hall. How long have you been here?"

"Not long, actually. I just got hired and I don't officially start teaching until sometime in August, but they wanted me to go ahead and get set up while meeting some of my students before their first day of school."