My studies, my cross and my calvary: everything is possible

Chapter two

Gabie hesitates for a moment and finally decides to open the car door. She gets in and lets out a weary sigh. The professor winked at her unhealthy wink and heads for their usual hotel in Bois-Verna. The girl glued her gaze to the door, doing her best to avoid the man at her side.

- How was your day my angel?" said the professor in a final attempt to create a semblance of conversation.

- Not bad," said the teacher in a final attempt to create a semblance of conversation. Answer dryly, Gabie.

- Come on! Don't be such a killjoy. I spent the whole week thinking about you. You can't imagine how much I missed the way you smell.

- I'm sure you did; you testified to it in front of the whole class. You know I'd never be late for any of your classes. If that wasn't enough of a consideration, you could have saved me the trouble of thinking about my smell.

The teacher doesn't notice the attack. They arrive in front of the hotel less than ten minutes later. The building looks more like an old motel with a dilapidated facade that has been in need of repair for years. Several vehicles were parked in the small parking lot. The entrance was illuminated by a simple naked light bulb that spat out a weak and oscillating light. At the first hall (bar-reception-restaurant), only one young man was serving.

- The usual room, the professor asked.

- Ah, sorry, it's already occupied. But there's another one at the first one that's identical to it.

Why hesitate? asks the professor. They must all be identical, in such a building.

- Alright, bring me up a Guinness. What do you want, darling? he said towards Gabie. As usual?

- As usual, the girl answers shyly, her bag tightly against her chest.

The operator-barman leads them to the said room and hurries down to execute the orders. It is in a sweat that he comes back up with the drinks a few minutes later. The teacher thanks him and gives him a ticket. Gabie, always silent, puts her bag on the only chair and consults her Smartphone. She discovers a small message from Jeff, her lover, and smiles.

- Would you like to share your joy with me?" says the teacher.

- It's all right. It's nothing. It was Jeff who texted me to ask if I made it home okay.

- Ah! Nice of him! Why don't you take care of me now? suggests the professor by taking another sip of his beer.

The young woman gets up and rushes to the bathroom. She removes the pins that were holding her hair and undresses completely. The mirror above the sink, broken in two, reflected a double image to her. Like the double-faced girl she is. On the one hand, her fiancé is gnawing his fingers to see if it was safe to go, and on the other hand, her teacher is waiting for her behind this wall for an extra game of sex. On the one hand, she has great ambitions and dreams of completing university to ensure a life free from want; on the other hand, she is a sexual object for a man with long arms; her bridge to the situation she wants. She refuses to accept that she is the same person in every situation. She won't give up her projections, and for that she has to keep this married man, a high-ranking civil servant, an honourable teacher at the State University on hand. Not even! Under her fingernails she'll keep him. Figure out who can.
She measures her smiles, adjusts her underwear, ruffles her hair and goes out to find the old man. He was naked, lying on the bed, waiting for Gabie. His bottle is empty at the foot of the bed. He's detailing Gaby from head to toe like a wildcat in front of his prey. He takes his time to appreciate the curves of his student, whose breasts pointed like two cannons. Professor Sauveur extinguishes the cigarette he was perversely grilling in an ashtray on the bedside table while staring at it. Gabie approaches, raising her firm bust, arching her body to offer a gait that she wants to be enticing. And it works! The professor reacts to the game. A game that she decides to play to the worst. To "punish" him for the affront in front of all his classmates, she tells herself that she will make him suffer a long wait.

What was said was done! It was after midnight when Professor Saviour returned to earth.

- My God! My wife is going to put my head in the sack!

- You're dropping me off quickly and you're leaving? Gabie asked in a voice she wanted to be discourteous.

Uncomfortable, the professor tries to find a valid excuse to get to the conjugal home as quickly as possible.

- I won't have time, my love.

- What's the matter? Is this a joke? Do you know what time it is?

- I really won't have time to drop you off at Carrefour-Feuilles; my house is on the other side of town... Try to understand; my wife is going to make a scene that only she has the secret.

- What am I supposed to understand? How am I supposed to get home?

- I'll give you some money and you can pay for a motorcycle taxi. Said the professor as he searched his purse.

He got five thousand gourdes worth of it in mint condition. Gabie takes them and says:

- What about my paper?

- I'd completely forgotten about it. Come by my office tomorrow and drop it off. I don't have time now. Good night, huh?

He was still talking when he ran up the stairs, checking if all his buttons are properly closed. Outside, his car purring proudly before he left the parking lot.
The young man at the front desk comes up at that moment. The professor hadn't locked up behind him.

- Are you taking two more hours, madam? he asked politely.

- No. I'm going to leave. I'll just take a shower and come down.
However, she didn't move. She was following the noises of the street. No motorbike passed by during the half hour she spent nailed to the bed.
She tries vainly to remember how this whole thing started with the teacher. The first equivocal remark, the first date, the first time they went to that crummy motel... She sighs a long time. The professor becomes more and more intrusive. Especially since for some time now he's been demanding unprotected sex from her. What if one day she gets pregnant? The thought makes her shiver. All of a sudden her eyes sting and tears start to fill them. She chased them away from the back of her hand, got up and ran straight to the bathroom. She needs a good shower before she can get the hell out of the damn building. However, facing the mirror this time, the double reflection speaks to her differently. One party wanted to continue the game and another was tired of selling itself for so little. Judging by the situation, the professor clearly hadn't promised him anything so far. In any case, what would a promise from this man's mouth be worth? Hadn't he promised, sworn before God and men, to remain faithful to his wife?