Gingerbread Latte

Chapter 4 - Valerie

"Valerie -V is for valiant, the way you approach life."

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One Week Later...

Valerie's POV

I walked out of the exam hall, hugging the books tightly to my chest as my gaze drifted around, trying to focus on the loud shatter consuming the inner walls of the building instead of the nerves eating up at the base of my stomach. It was taking every ounce of me not to hyperventilate over the fact that midterm week was finally over.

I can finally have some decent sleep. Yay.

Tanya, my classmate, and practically my best friend here, waved a hand, smiling and ushering me to join the rest of the group. I smiled back, walking closer to her side as everyone went on discussing the exam, checking their answers with each other. Accomplished fists got thrown in the air, while others cursed, storming off to complain to the professor. Microbiology was no piece of cake alright, looks like I am not the only one struggling.

A low tired sigh parted my lips, my eyes burning and almost dropping down from exhaustion. I just wanted to leave campus and go back home. Thankfully, Aubrey was considerate enough to give me the rest of the day off. I wouldn't be able to work anyway, I desperately needed to rest, my body was screaming at me to do it some justice and take a teeny tiny break.

I excused myself, mumbling to Tanya that I will be texting her later before I turned around and headed down the stairs. A yawn parted my lips, I covered my mouth with the back of my hand and my eyelids fell down under the fatigue's heavyweight. I shook my head, prying them wide open and kicking myself back in. That's when my gaze fell on him, leaning his back against the wall at the end of the stairs, a hand tucked into his pants front pocket as he went through his phone.

Lines etched my forehead at his presence and when I reached the last two stair's steps, his eyes flickered up from his phone to me. He immediately straightened up, pushing the phone back into his pocket, and giving me his full attention, "So, how did it go?" He asked.

Confused still, I turned around, looking behind me to make sure he wasn't talking to someone else. I looked back, my eyes suspiciously narrowed at him; was he waiting for me here?

His eyebrows raised in questioning, genuinely curious about my exam performance for some reason. He is probably here to make sure his teaching skills payed off. The guy is so full of himself, that it leaves me rolling my eyes more often every day.

Although, I can't deny that he is doing me a solid favor. Since we made our so-called deal, he had tutored me every day, both at my noon break and after my classes, but the thing that is bothering me the most is that he didn't accept anything in return. He said he was gathering the hours I owe him for later, and that was making me more anxious.

I don't want to owe him or anyone anything. But passing this course is more important than my pride so I must suck it up for the time being.

He impatiently waited for my answer and it felt only appropriate to bother him some more. If I have to lose my pride, I might as well get a kick out of it. My face twisted into a sad expression, my eyebrows pulling closer, almost like I am about to burst into tears and my shoulders slumped down, my gaze flickering to the ground.

He read my negative energy right away and nervously shifted on his feet, slightly edging forward and his head tilting to the side in pure worry, "Was it that bad?" He whispered, his voice turning softer.

A low breath of defeat left my mouth, nodding my head and my lips formed a very small pout. Jesus, he looked genuinely worried, it left me baffled for a second or two. I felt like he would just inch closer and hug me tight to soothe my pain away, so in order to avoid that, I broke the act.