When Fates Entangle (The Alderidges Book 1)

Eleven: Grades

VERENA

"Why is he being so confusing?" I complained to Zahria in the morning, more like almost noon.

She passed me a mug of black coffee before taking a seat opposite me on the dining table. "He keeps stating that he is married or else I would have said that he is jealous."

"Exactly. He is married, he has no right to be jealous. He even touched me so intimately last night and the worst thing is that I liked his touch." I groaned loudly at the last part. "I feel like such a bad person."

"No. Why do you feel bad? He should be the one keeping his distance and being true to his marriage. Look, whatever crush you have on him it has to end now. You should try to stay away from him."

"I don't have a crush on him."

She hummed sarcastically and took a sip of her coffee.

"Zahria, I don't have a crush on him," I stated firmly.

"Ver, even if you did, I won't judge you for it. But now, try not to think about him anymore, okay? And stay away, go to class, study, and come back, no more interactions with him."

"Fine."

"The midterms are starting next week too. It will be better if you just focus on studying."

"Are you saying that I don't study?"

"No." She rolled her eyes. "I am telling you to study more so your mind doesn't wander to him."

Better said than done.

So over the course of the next week, I did my best to avoid him, I didn't initiate any conversations between us except for some acknowledging nods. That's it. I did see him giving me curious glances but he never said anything.

But I failed when it came to keeping him out of my mind. I studied a lot yet he managed to slip inside my mind more than ten times a day.

I often wondered about his marriage, it was weird. If he really loved his wife, he would have kept wearing the wedding ring no matter how far away he was from her. As far as I knew, she was still in England.

Maybe he doesn't love her. I don't know why but I felt happy at that thought which is so wrong of me. If my husband didn't love me, I would be fucking sad.

All these thoughts gave me a headache so I pushed them away and focused on my studies. The last thing I want is to fail these exams, especially his subject which is all theory but thanks to him, it has become a little easier.

I am going to ace this exam for sure.

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TWO WEEKS LATER...

The energy in the class was palpable, everyone was nervous and excited to see their grades.

Other professors have already shown their subject's answer sheets with our grades written on top of their respective papers.

It was Asael's turn now.

The papers were on his desk, stacked neatly, his palm rested on top of it, fingers drumming over them. His eyes roamed the class, accessing each and every student, a solemn look on his face.