CHAPTER 11 - Lawyer's Conference Room
A file slams shut, signalling the end of the meeting. Several people are gathered around the table. A male lawyer along with Diana, who is now a 30-something year old frumpy woman, are sitting on one side of the conference table.
On the other side, Eddie, wearing a purplish, hipster business suit, along with 2 female lawyers, are sitting in similar chairs.
One of the female lawyers, the one who slammed the file makes a final comment. "The divorce is now finalized. Thank you everyone for attending this proceeding.
Eddie, Diana's now ex-husband, smiles and stands up, shaking his lawyers hands. He turns to Diana and extends his hands as well. "No hard feelings, eh. It was good, while it lasted."
Diana looks at her ex-husband, with sadness and regret in her eyes. Before she can even reply, the door to the conference room opens and a very sexy, scantily dressed, early 20-something year old woman, LULU, enters and loudly claims, poutily, "Honey! I miss you."
Lulu heads straight to Eddie and kisses him right on the mouth, much to the dismay of everyone in the room. Eddie smiles and wraps his arm around Lulu's butt.
Eddie replies, "Baby, I miss you too. Let's go celebrate," and resumes making out with Lulu.
Diana having had enough, rushes out of the conference room.
CHAPTER 12 - Lawyer's Female Bathroom
Diana stands in front of the sinks, splashing her face with water. She looks up into the mirror, assessing her face. She stretches her skin, sensing its elasticity or lack thereof. She runs her fingers over the fine lines lining her face. She runs her hands down her shoulder length hair, noting its lack of shine. Tears start streaming down her face.
The door to the restroom opens. Her ex-husbands lawyer enters. She hesitates as she sees Diana crying in front of her. Diana quickly wipes the tears and snot from her face and retrieves her lipstick from her bag. She unwinds the lipstick, only for the tube to fall down into the sink. The lawyer offers Diana her own lipstick
The lawyer passes the stick to Diana. "Keep it. It will look better on you anyway." The lawyer then enters one of the cubicles.
Diana looks at the lipstick in her hand. She places it on the sink and exits the restroom.
CHAPTER 13 - Classroom (Day)
Diana is in class, her teaching zest gone, as she goes through the routine of class. She is not as enthusiastic as she once was with her students. Some of the students are even sleeping while she teaches, but she ignores them.
CHAPTER 14 - Cafe (Evening)
Diana and some of her friends, including CARLY, a vivacious colleague of Diana's, are sitting in a café. The others are enjoying themselves, getting Diana to liven up. Diana tries to, but is not in the mood.
CHAPTER 15 - Supermarket (Night)
Diana is grocery shopping, stopping in front one of those TV dinners for one. She places several of the same box into her basket.
CHAPTER 16 - Diana's Apartment (Night)
Diana is sitting in her lonely and empty apartment, in front of a TV, eating her TV dinner.
CHAPTER 17 - School Exam Hall
The school hall is filled with students taking their exams, as teachers walk up and down the hall, ensuring no one cheats during the exam.
CHAPTER 18 - Teacher's Lounge
In the teacher's lounge, the pantry station is crowded with teacher's filling up their cups with coffee.
The 1st teacher, a matronly middle-aged lady exclaims, "I tell you, giving birth is so much easier to cope than the exam periods. Thank God it's the last day of the exam."
"You know what's even more stressful than exam periods?" a second teacher asks. "Parents during exams! I mean, my phone keeps blowing up from all these parents." A message ping interrupts the discussion. The second teacher looks at his phone. "Told you." He shows his phone screen to the rest of the teachers. "Another 'concerned' parent. Don't they know there isn't anything we can do for their kids anymore?"
Carly can't help but respond back. "Oh my god. Parents these days are the worst. It's no wonder kids turn out the way they do. Anyway, let's not talk about this anymore. What are you all doing for the summer holidays?" She asks the rest of the teachers in the lounge.
The first teacher says, "I can't wait for the summer holidays. I'm going to Singapore with my entire family, though I wish I could leave my children behind."
A third teacher, walking from behind the group, chimes in, "I'll be travelling to the Maldives. I'm going to spend the whole day on the beach, soaking up the sun, and not think of anything, except how gorgeously tanned I am going to be when I come back..... If I ever come back."
The second teacher, turns to Diana, who had been sitting on the couch, quietly sipping her cup of coffee. "What about you Diana? What will you be doing during the holidays?"
"Oh, I'll probably just stay at home, and maybe clean my apartment," Diana replies, though her voice peters out at the end. The other teachers give her a fake smile.
"Ummm, that sounds....nice. Anyway, I have to get back to marking some exam papers," the third teacher responds in answer to Diana's comment, a hint of pity and sarcasm in his voice.
Carly plops down beside Diana on the couch. She puts her arm around Diana. "You know, I'm not going to be going anywhere, so we could hang out together during the holidays, have some fun, all that jazz. Maybe find ourselves some cute guys... Too soon?" she asks, after seeing Diana's expression.
"A bit. And I don't know. I'm not exactly the fun type anyway."
Carly continues. "Don't sell yourself short, girlfriend. How about we take baby steps first. Me and some of the other teachers are going out to celebrate the end of the exam term tonight. You should join....," Diana is about to cut Carly off, but Carly continues on. "No, you will join us. And I won't take no for an answer."
Carly then bounds away, leaving Diana alone on the couch and in the teacher's lounge.
CHAPTER 19 - Teacher's Office (Evening)
It is evening, and the teachers are winding down, marking the last of the papers.
Diana is finishing up her last marking and places the final exam paper on the stack that she had built up. She then notices an envelope on her desk.
She is about to open it when Carly call for her, "Diana, hurry up. We are leaving already."
Diana quickly stuffs her belongings and the envelope into her bag and rushes out of the room.
YOU ARE READING
The Teachers Taboo
ChickLit20 yrs ago, Diana Wong, mid-20s, started her teaching career at a local school. There she meets Tyson Kang, a student in the school who develops an interest in her. After an altercation with another student, Tyson is expelled from school and never t...
