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chapter ten | the wrath of a literature professor
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"Mingi, I'll see you later!"
Charlotte made her way out of the apartment in a rush. Why? The woman was late for class, and she swore that she had set an alarm the night before to wake up on time. She closed the door before getting a response from the younger male and rushed down the stairs to her car.
Luckily, she was smart enough to start her car while she was rushing to get ready. It was just beginning to snow, and it took her car a while to heat up. Mingi had offered for her to use his car for the time being, but Charlotte being Charlotte, refused. She had been saving up for a new car for a while, but being a waitress only could get her so far.
The restaurant she was working at was flexible with her school schedule, and she was grateful for that. Looking for a job while being in college was hard enough and normally, employers only wanted people who could work full time. That was something she just couldn't do because of her classes. Luckily, Ms. Kim, the owner of Kim's HotPot, gave her a chance.
Charlotte admired Ms. Kim a lot. Like Mrs. Song, she found the older woman to be a mother figure in her life. She was a woman in her early to mid-forties who didn't have a very large family— her late husband passed away three years ago, which only left her son and herself. She was no stranger to losing a parent, well in her case, both her mother and father, so it wasn't hard to bond with Ms. Kim's son.
Once she made it to campus, the woman rushed toward the English building for her literature class. If it was one thing she hated about the class: it was Dr. Huang. The man was very particular and nit-picky about how certain things went on in his classroom. You couldn't be at least a minute late, and if you were, it would count toward your attendance.
When she arrived at the classroom, Charlotte noticed that the professor hadn't started teaching yet and silently cheered to herself. She opened the door quietly and slipped into the lecture hall undetected— or so she thought.
"Miss. Rowland,"
Charlotte froze in her tracks and cursed herself inwardly. "How nice of you to join us." Dr. Huang finished, the elder man turning away from the whiteboard to meet her with a stern expression. Not wanting to irritate the professor even further, she took a seat. "Now, that we have no further interruptions," Huang began, "let us start class."
"This should be fun," Charlotte mumbled to herself.
Charlotte heard a slight chuckle beside her and turned to look at her seatmate. "It's not funny, Hongjoong," She sighed quietly. The redhead shook his head, "Huang is going to eat you alive." Charlotte groaned and propped her head in her hand in defeat.
"Now, Miss. Rowland, can you tell me the significance of Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship?"
Hongjoong snickered and muttered under his breath, "and so it begins!"
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After an agonizing hour, Charlotte was free from the grasp of Dr. Huang. The woman had a tired expression on her face as her younger friend joked about what had happened within the last hour. "Huang must have it out for you, Charlotte. He doesn't ask anyone else the hard questions." Hongjoong chuckled lightly.
Charlotte sighed, "that man is the Seed of Chucky." The woman wasn't lying either. For some reason, the man has had it out for her since she took his literature classes in high school.
Yes... for THAT long.
Once the pair made it to Charlotte's car, Hongjoong leaned his body against it. "You're still driving this thing," He asked in disbelief, "in the snow?" Charlotte scoffed at his words and unlocked her doors. "There's nothing wrong with my baby." She stated as she sat down in the driver's seat. The redhead raised a brow and crossed his arms over his chest, "Oh really?"
"Yeah!"
"Then turn on the ignition."
"I will!"
Charlotte, being the stubborn person she is, tried turning on the ignition, and in response— the car began to sputter. She groaned and turned to see Hongjoong with a smug grin on his lips. "Not funny." She muttered as she got ready to call a tow truck. "Do you want a ride to work?" Hongjoong asked. The older woman smiled sheepishly, "please?"
"I was going to give you a ride even if you said no."
Charlotte burst into laughter, "what?!" Hongjoong nodded his head and started his car from his key fob as he watched her grab her things out of the car. "Yeah! My mom isn't going to kill me for leaving her second-best employee out in the snow." The man stated. "Second-best?" Charlotte asked with a raised eyebrow.
