My Grace

Chapter Nine

-bonding-

Y/n's POV:

She smiled at me as I hopped off the counter,

"Now go and get some rest, I know it's still early, but I can see that you're exhausted and don't worry about your classes, you are excused for the day. I'll be here if you need anything."

Looking down to hide my distress was useless, she could read me like her favourite book.

"Why's this look? What's wrong?".

Why are my walls already taken down? I asked myself as I looked towards her again, plastering my features with the most convincing face,

"I- I -nothing really.",

"Do not lie to me.", the sweetest soul on earth and yet the scariest too.

I let a deep breath fall as I knew I wouldn't be able to escape her.

"I have nightmares, as you know. What I haven't told you is that they've been feeling much worse for a week or two now. Worse than they have been since years ago.

I am just exhausted but I can't brace myself for what I will be forced to encounter when I sleep.

I'd much rather skip the napping part.", I would have felt embarrassed but something in this bathroom, in this second, let me feel at peace.

It made me realize that I would never have to fear judgment from this woman.

Her head was cutely tilted to the right like she always does when she was thinking.

"We can't skip the napping; you are exhausted and you need a proper night's sleep. Now more than ever.

Let's think...,

what if you sleep here? I'll be here and grade a few essays and I will wake you up when you have a nightmare.", if the look on her face wasn't silently telling me that I had no choice, it would have taken a little bit more convincing.

She lent me a comfy sweatshirt a dark green one, and some joggers, so I wouldn't have to sleep in my uniform and my bloodstained shirt.

I was surprised that such a classy woman even owns something as simple as that.

I laid down in her bed, which stood against the cold dungeon wall and overlooked her entire room. The couch in front of a fireplace, her desk by the window that revealed the deepest secrets of the black lake. Her small kitchen was on the other side and I felt strangely peaceful.

I was lying in a stranger's bed surrounded by her scent slumbering in her sheets.

I was lying in my professor's bed with her clothes on and I felt okay.

What is wrong with me?

To top it off, there was this shamefully attractive woman sitting just a few feet away from me and letting me into her personal space. There was nothing appropriate left in our relationship, friends or not, but this was beyond limits.

It didn't seem to bother her, so I let go of the thought and freed myself from any anxious feelings.

A few minutes passed and I just observed her. I watched every move she made and wondered how she managed to look like art throughout it all.

I noticed her biting her lip when she wasn't sure what was missing in a particular paragraph to get it right.

How she messages her neck with one hand and plays with her feather in the other.