The Blind Teacher's Bait

Chapter 30. Love is

"I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE YOU actually came," I murmured, eyeing his tall form and drinking in his casual good looks. He was dressed in brown slacks and a loose black shirt, shades on his eyes. I had no doubt about it this time, I was absolutely smitten by my teacher, it was something I had come to accept fully.

"Well, I've been trying to get to you since that night to no avail." He paused, his voice seeming to drop. "I have no idea what actually happened that night and I believe more than anyone else you're innocent, I've told the cops my side of the story over and over again."

I turned my focus from him to the rows of books behind him, I chose our rendezvous point on a whim, meeting up at the book store where we had run into each other so long ago, the day Bertie literally almost took out my back. Here we were again at the same spot, no longer in a lighter mood but tensed. Bertram had graciously brought him here before leaving us alone to talk, in a way I was starting to like the queer butler.

"I know," I sighed. "They told me you held up my alibi." I sank to the floor, pulling down my hoodie for the first time since I tried getting on the bus and regarded the books on the shelf in front of me. This section was for the blind, it just consisted mainly of books in braille.

His next words came as though from a distance. "Are you okay, Julie?"

"How can you even stand there and ask me that question?" I replied, face between my legs and feeling my eyes start to fill up with water. It felt like I had been crying a lot lately and there was no one to tell about my problems. James was certainly avoiding me for some reason I couldn't fathom and now the man I was so blatantly infatuated with was asking me if I was okay.

I wasn't okay for Christ's sake!

"My aunt," I started, more to switch topics and to avoid staying quiet so the tears would stop. "She says after this case, I'm not allowed to stay here anymore. I'm going back to Canada."

I felt more than heard him sink to sit beside me on the carpeted floor. "Do you want me to talk to her? You're doing so well here, your remedial tests came out the other day, you aced them all."

His honey-like voice seemed to calm me down more than I wished and I glanced up at him from between my legs. "Really? They're out?"

"I just said that, Julie."

"Wow."

He just chuckled lowly. "I told you that you were going to pass them no stress and the exams too, alright?"

I smiled briefly, inching closer to him and reached for his face, half hoping he would stop me but he didn't. In one fluid motion, I removed the shades and looked into the sea of beautiful, unseeing chocolate browns. "You're a good teacher," I commented.

"Can't say you're a good student," he told me, his voice now humour-filled and good-natured, something that made me smile genuinely this time. "You've been a very big pain in my ass from the start, still are but I'm used to the pain now, Miss Lee Song."

"I don't want to go away." I had my face on his chest now, inhaling his sweet masculine scent and my voice came out as a quiet muffle which I knew he heard.

"You won't." He patted my back solemnly, seeming to trace lazy circles in it.

I searched for another topic, anyone that would take my mind off what was happening right now, my next words came out as a surprise to even me. "You know my best friend, James?"

I felt Jake pause in the act of tracing the circles on my back for a fraction of a second, wondering if he was thinking of my question. "Yeah," he told me quietly, a few seconds later. "You've mentioned him a lot. The British boy with the twin sister?"