The Art of Forbidden Romance (Student x Teacher)

Chapter 43

"Wait!" I called after Chuck. He kept walking away from me, his pace faster than I could manage in heels in my current state. I cursed under my breath and quickly popped off my shoes. I sprinted across the quad after him, heels in hand, hiccuping every few breaths.

"Wait!" I said again, grabbing Chuck's arm as I got close to him. He stopped walking. "Why? Why did you do this?" My heart pounded in my chest as I swallowed the urge to hiccup.

Chuck turned to look at me. The orange lights that illuminated the quad casted unfamiliar shadows across his face. Our eyes met and I lost myself in them, finding myself reminded of all the ways he made me feel. I softened my grip my hand fell from his arm.

"Why did you do this?" I asked again but my voice was softer this time.

"I knew you were bluffing when you said you threw them away," he said.

"Why does that matter? You ruined my paintings," I told him. "You're the one that lied to me and led me on, and I'm supposed to just look at those paintings for the rest of my life?"

"Winona, please let me explain," he said.

"Explain why your divorce wasn't finalized and why I had to find that out from your ex-wife or why you ruined my paintings?" I shot back. Chuck took a deep breath.

"I should've told you the divorce wasn't final, but it wasn't because of me. She didn't want to finalize the divorce last minute," he said. "She was worried immigration would investigate if we got divorced so she never signed even though she wanted it."

"So she just happened to be at your place in your clothes for what possible reason then?"

"I know how that looks. We didn't sleep together or anything like that," he said. "Her fiancé found out about the divorce not being final, for obvious reasons, and they had a huge fight. She came by to get it finalized. She was drunk when she arrived and helped herself to my clothes to sleep in."

"But all of that doesn't matter," he said. Chuck gently reached for my hands. "I should've called you to explain before you even came over, and I'm sorry for what Paloma said because it wasn't true - I wanted the divorce and I want to be with you. I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you."

I nodded, unable to respond with my mouth having gone dry. Chuck gently squeezed my hands.

"When I was gone that day I went to speak to my attorney - we refiled and it's finalized now," He said with a soft smile. I half smiled back at him and nodded again, unsure what to say.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm sorry," he replied. I turned my eyes to the ground, unable to look at him. We stood there in silence for a few moments but I could feel Chuck's eyes on me the whole time. Chuck's hand found my chin and tilted my head back up to him.

"Is everything she said not true?" I asked, blinking away tears that threatened to spill out. Chuck nodded softly and pulled me into him, wrapping me in his arms. The smell of his cologne enveloped me in a comforting hug of its own and I breathed him in deeply. I missed his embrace. I missed him. The anger and hurt inside me slowly subsided as he held me.

"I would never, ever, use you, Winona," he said softly. "Minus the divorce, everything else she said is a lie." Chuck rubbed my back gently before slowly letting me out of his embrace.

"Why didn't you talk to me about this?" I asked.

"You weren't exactly eager to talk to me," he said with a soft chuckle. "You've ignored every call, every text, and every time I've been in the same room as you. The last thing I wanted was something to happen in class or where we could get in trouble."

"I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be apologizing," he said.

"You never answered my first question," I said. Chuck raised his eyebrows at me. "Why did you do this?"

"The gallery?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, the gallery. Why did you ruin my paintings?"

"I didn't ruin them," he said as he tried to hide a mischievous smile that played at his lips.

"Why though?"

"I know how hard you worked last semester," he said. "I couldn't have you risk failing the panel."

"I would've been fine with the food theme," I said, challenging him. Chuck shrugged.

"The food theme was subpar and lacked everything your original paintings had, and you know it."

"Andy seemed to like it," I told him, not buying his reasoning.

"Andy doesn't know what he's talking about," Chuck scoffed. I shot Chuck a dirty look. "Okay, that was rude - but he doesn't know you the way I do. I knew you were lying about throwing them away the minute he told me."

"So what? I lied about throwing them away! What does that have to do with you scraping away my new paintings?"

"Your exhibit is called Food for the Soul, but your soul was not present in those paintings. Your soul is the most beautiful thing I have ever had the honor of experiencing," he said softly. "I couldn't bear the idea of it being covered." My heart skipped at his words and I opened my mouth to say something.

"Win! The panel is done!" Jackson called from the gallery. Chuck pulled his hand away from my face quickly and tore his eyes from mine, glancing over my shoulder.

"I'll be there in a second," I called back. Chuck turned back to me and I smiled softly at him.

"Can we talk more tonight?" Chuck asked me. I nodded, butterflies filling my stomach.

"I think we should," I said. I slipped back on my heels before heading back to the gallery.

I entered the gallery, followed by Chuck a few moments later. Mel's eyes widened as he entered and she shot me nervous looks. I gave her a quick smile, hoping she would know everything was okay. Andy gathered papers from the panelists and thanked them for their time.

"Winnie, anything you'd like to say before we end the night?" Andy asked me. I glanced around the room at all my paintings, each one reinstilling some of the passion and love I had lost over the last few months. Instead of feeling overwhelmed I felt rejuvenated for the first time in months.

"Just thank you," I said. "Thank you everyone for their love and support."