𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒆

𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝑹𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅

During the entire day, My mind was rotting hour by hour because the thought of him with someone else just irks me. Hearing the way that she talked about him made me sick to my stomach. While my students did work in silence, My hand rested on my forehead while my pen tapped against the desk at a slow pace. I straightened up when Irene came around my desk to show me her pretty drawing.

"I drew you a flower because you looked a little wonky today. What's wrong?" She said, whispering to me so the other kids wouldn't listen in and start asking questions. 

"I'm doing okay. Just getting a little overwhelmed here and there." I said back then carried out with a sigh. 

"Well, if it makes you feel any better then my daddy has been talking about meeting you a lot since last night."

I found myself smiling at what she said but I decided to put my guard up. I can't handle another cheater, one-sided love, or som toxic. I should just be a mature woman about dis and back off. If she fell for him then it's not my place to be mad at it. It's petty if we being honest. I was stuck between calling off the coffee hangout so they could get closer without no typa problems.

"Irene.. I was thinkin' about it a-"

She cut me off by crawling onto my lap, laying her beautiful drawing on my desk to take both of her hands to cover her mouth then whisper into my ear. 

"Don't tell him I told you, but he gets nervous because he thinks that you think he's too big and scary-looking."

Behind allat toughness, he's a sweet guy. I've never seen somebody who looks like that, be so openly vulnerable without shame.

"First of all, he's neither of those things. That's all imma say mkay?" I said back to her, shrugging it off with a warming smile that was hard to cover up.

After I had gotten my students to turn in all of their assignments, then handed out their graded work (𝒇𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉) 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝑰𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆.

𝑰 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓.

"𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐?" 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔.

𝑰 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔.

𝑰𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.. 𝑳𝒐𝒖𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑴𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒉. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝑰𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆.

"𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑮𝒐 𝒂𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅" 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒇. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒚.

"𝑩𝒚𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒆.. " 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏.

𝑨𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅, 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑳𝒐𝒖𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝑱𝑼𝑺𝑻 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕..