「 The Professor & I 」VOLUME II

(177) Just Today

Charles' POV

It was certainly delightful to read her sweet words of devotion, evoking the imagination of the endearing phrase being elegantly uttered by her beautiful voice, yet it felt terribly unpleasant knowing how dearly it must have tortured her, being unable to handle gifting them to me personally any longer.

Although awfully pained by its sight, the exquisitely penned note strangely served as a form of encouragement, implicitly alerting me of her wishes for me to move on and be happy. It was undoubtedly an impossible mission without her in my life but recognizing it to be the only way that would ease, and perhaps mend, my poor girl's broken soul, it became an accomplishment I strived to achieve.

Properly storing it away into the drawer of our bedside table, I flipped off the switches and surrounded myself in perpetual darkness that finally acted well to lure me into an actual slumber.

Warm sunshine seeped through my skin, glaring even more harshly to my inadequately adjusted retinas as I weakly fluttered my eyes open and I grimaced, quickly shutting them again. Rubbing them to soothe the irritation induced by unanticipated illumination, I steadily sat myself up and slowly regained vision of our room.

Determined to get through the day as freely as she yearned, I smiled optimistically and swiftly transferred into my chair. Diligently freshening up, I casually donned on a basic collared shirt in sky, topping it up with a thick navy cable-knitted cardigan, and wrestled a pair of black suit pants over the smooth nude thermals that ensured my unfeeling legs were well shielded from winter's cold.

Jovially propelling myself down to our extravagant dining hall, I found the festively ornamented corridors to be abnormally lacking the energy it usually possessed, echoing merely faintly jingling carols within the empty aisles and the reason only became apparent as I arrived at my destination.

"Happy Birthday, Professor!" The children shouted in their adorably high-pitched kiddy tone and a burst of confetti rained from above as they wildly applauded my entrance.

"Thank you, everyone," I acknowledged appreciatively and laughed, brushing off the vividly coloured streamers and small pieces of glittery film that landed messily on my outfit.

Good morning, Professor. I'm assuming you had a good rest. You're looking a lot better today, Jean commented with a relieved smile, setting down my breakfast as I rolled myself to my usual seat, except today in my manual chair which was rather rarely seen during the school term at such a time.

I have to stop hurting her with my own pain, I remarked, giving her a confident smile and Jean grinned in genuine elation.

I'm glad you've thought it through. And I really hope she can soon too, Jean lamented in mild despondency.

Give her time, Jean. She deserves it and I'll give her everything she needs, as long as she can find her happiness again, I asserted. 

Jean frowned at me, yet with a compassionate smile, genuinely admiring the incredible magnanimity that was displayed despite the misery it brought, but solely fueled by the undying desire in returning the love of my life into the hands of eternal bliss, my suffering was definitely worth a quiet endurance.

"Let's eat," I beckoned cheerfully and the hungry youngsters excitedly dug in, rapidly gobbling down the towers of waffles dished before them.