The Transmigrated Professor

Chapter 41: Regrets Never Said Out Loud

It was finally the night before Ryder's birthday party. Despite Rachel's insistence that she didn't require any assistance, Mike, Izzy, and I decided to help with the decorations.

Since cooking was Jacob's expertise, he offered to lend a hand in the kitchen. Emma was initially a bit skeptical about letting him into her kitchen but relented once she tasted his skills.

While the rest of us began setting up for the party, Ryder was pushed over to my house to play with Ryu and Yuna.

Since Ryder didn't want anything fancy, Rachel decided to plan the birthday as a late-night drinking party/sleepover with lots of snacks and games.

As midnight approached, we began to set the table. I set down the dishes and Deus arranged the cutlery. Jacob and Emma were putting up the final touches on the cake.

'Ding! Dong!' Suddenly the bell rang.

"Are you expecting anyone, Rachel?"

"Oh, it's probably just my grandpa!"

Goosebumps erupted all over my arms as soon as Rufus was mentioned. "Y-your grandfather is coming?"

'Of course, he is coming. It didn't make sense that Rufus would miss his grandson's birthday.' I cursed myself for my lack of planning. 'Well, he didn't do anything to me at the hospital, so he would at least stay civil.'

The problem was that he might not let me give the Potion to Ryder. I should have handed it to Ryder before he left.

Sensing my nervousness, Rachel tried to reassure me. "If you are worried about Grandpa threatening you, don't be. Your family might be under suspicion, but he knows you aren't associated with them. He won't do anything to you."

I was about to breathe a sigh of reply, but then Rachel lightly coughed. "Ahem...probably."

"Hello! Who might you be?" Emma greeted the stranger as she opened the door.

Rachel leaned out to see who was standing at the door and rushed to the front when she realized who it was. "Miss Misa! What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you, Rachel! How are you doing?" Misa greeted her back. When she looked at me, her eyebrows furrowed momentarily. "I didn't know you were here too, Ray!"

'Hmm. Is it me, or did she frown on seeing me?'

"I was just helping with the decorations." I replied, dismissing the momentary change in her expression. "Anyway, why are you here? Did something happen?"

"Oh, I just had a message from the President." She turned back to Rachel. "Your grandfather is sorry but he will be running a bit late today. Some important documents were suddenly sent to the office that needed urgent verification."

Misa looked apologetic, but Rachel brushed it off. "He could have just sent a text message."

"He didn't feel it was appropriate to send the message through text."

"Well, anyway. Do you want to come in? It would be wrong of us to send you away when you came all this way.."

"Um, sure, why not! Do you guys need any help?" Misa offered.

"Don't worry about that. We are almost done with all our preparations anyway."

Since the couches were filled with decoration leftovers, Misa pulled out a seat at the dining table and sat beside me. She gave me an awkward smile as I finished setting up the plates.

"I wanted to thank you again. I heard you took over my classes back at the Academy." I decided to make small talk.

"Oh- what? Uh, that's fine. You didn't have many classes anyway, so it doesn't matter anyway." Misa stuttered, clearly avoiding my eyes.