c h a p t e r t w e n t y - s i x
"Can I go home for the day?" Antonia asked with venom in her voice, "I don't think I can do my classes with this huge hickey on my neck."
Rhys was buttoning up his shirt while whistling and paid no attention to her. Puffing up her chest, she stomped her foot.
"Rhys! What were you thinking?" she demanded, standing naked in his office. Rhys had been exceptionally reckless today, and she was sure that if anyone had passed the corridor, had heard her whimpers at least once. Like Clementine had said, it was impossible to stay quiet when he was railing you with his royal manhood.
"What was I thinking?" He did the last button and looked at her, running his fingers through his messy hair, "I was thinking that the love bite looks really good on you."
In a flash, Antonia grabbed a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him, which he caught with one hand.
"I was just doing what you asked me to do, Antonia," he held the cushion to his chest with a hurt look in his eyes, "You know, that 'the first thing you're gonna do when you come back is take me'." Antonia narrowed her eyes and her lips formed a flat line.
"You're feeling very humorous today," she snatched her discarded skirt and underwear from the ground and started putting them on, "I wonder if something good happened."
"It did," Rhys put the cushion back to its place and walked up to her, "I am really feeling very happy today, Antonia."
"Well, I am glad," Antonia pulled down her blouse and tucked it in the skirt, then gave him a dirty look, "what am I supposed to do with this hickey?"
Rhys caught hold of her wrist and pulled her to him, making their lips meet in a gentle kiss. Then, tilting her head slightly to the side with his palms, he placed a fleeting kiss on the somewhat round red patch on her neck. The touch of his lips was so delicate that it made Antonia's body weak under her clothes and hold on to his broad shoulders for support.
"The day after tomorrow," he whispered, withdrawing his face from the nape of her neck to face her, his hands on her waist, "is my mother's birthday. Every year, the professors of the Academy are cordially invited to the celebration."
Antonia blinked and started fidgeting with the collar of his shirt, "Is this supposed to be my invitation?"
"Yes, unless," Rhys let her fiddle with his shirt, "you want an invitation card, personally written by me."
"That'd be nice," Antonia winked, "after all, I am now a permanent professor of this Academy, Mr Clyde."
Rhys grinned and shook his head, giving her a quick kiss on her forehead before striding around the table and sitting down on his chair. He pulled the chair towards the desk and took out a piece of paper, and began writing on it. Antonia fixed her dress and her hair, watching him intently write down. He was left-handed, she saw and realized that there were so many things she did not know about the man to who she had given her body.
And possibly, her heart.
She breathed in deeply, trying to get rid of the painful thoughts. How long would this go on? A few months? A year? Not more than a year and a half. He was bound to get tired of her and what if she found a man who loved her? Someone who could cherish and protect all of her along with her dark side?
Why couldn't it be you, Antonia smiled ruefully, watching the Chancellor stick out his tongue as he folded his letter in an envelope, why couldn't it be you, Rhys?
"Here," Rhys held the rectangular piece of paper in his hands and read out the words written on top of it, "to Antonia Rodriguez, you are cordially invited to the birthday celebration of Aileen Grace Clyde on the twentieth of September."
He smiled up brightly at her, making her breath hitch at the boyish handsomeness of his face and the joy in those hazel eyes. She forced a grin and held out her hand to take the envelope, tracing his handwriting on it with her fingers. It was somewhat cursive and elegant, and she chuckled at the way he wrote his 'b's.
"If you're smiling at my 'b's," he put on an offended expression, "please don't."
"I'm not," Antonia shook her head slowly, "Aileen Grace Clyde, do you have a middle name too?"
"Unfortunately, yes." he flattened his lips, "It's William."
Antonia hummed and nodded, smiling at his evident dislike of the name.
"Well, Professor Rhys William Clyde," she gave him a one-shoulder shrug, "I accept your invitation."
"Was not doubting it but," he cocked his head, "thank you for the confirmation. The address and time are mentioned there, but if you have any problem on the way, just give me a call."
"Is there a dress code?" she toyed with the envelope in her hand, "Or can I just show up in my jeans?"
Rhys shook his head. "There is no restriction on how you dress, Antonia. My mother is very...contemporary for someone of her age."
"Hmm," she rested the tip of the piece of paper on her chin, "then, I'll just wear a sack."
His laughter echoed inside the room, as he got up and walked up to her, "What can I say? Everything looks good on you."
Antonia brushed the envelope on his nose and whirled around towards the door, "I'm going home, it will be bad for the students if their History teacher comes to the class with a love bite on her neck."
"Noted," Rhys smirked and crossed his arms, "anything else, ma'am?"
"No," she opened the door and waved behind her, then shut it, "you are dismissed!" came her voice from outside the door.
Rhys chuckled and shook his head, his smile slowly transforming into a thin line on his lips as he thought about what Antonia had said about Leicester.
It was a close call, and if the professor had seen Antonia's face, then it would have aroused unwanted suspicion regarding both of them. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. Antonia had come today, ready to leave if he decided to break things off; which was the right thing to do if he had to save them both.
Then what was stopping him?
The answer was simple,
it was her.
Sure enough, she had come prepared for whatever decision he would take, but no one could miss the look of happiness in her eyes when he decided to stay. Over the past month, he had come to adore the sparkling, innocent blue eyes which carried so much expression and feelings that he could drown in them. The round, luscious lips that seemed to fit perfectly against his when they kissed, and her small, precious body which he loved to touch and hold.
He had come to adore her.
He was no fool, and he knew himself too well to convince him otherwise. The thought of giving up on Antonia somewhat scared him, and he found himself unable to imagine beyond her departure.
It's way too soon to decide, is what he told himself.
But she will leave, his subconscious pointed out, and the revelation almost hurt, she will find another man who will love her, and that man cannot be you.
"Why?" he murmured under his breath, looking at the door, "Why couldn't it be me?"
"Yes, yes, yes! Mum!" Raul groaned in exasperation, as his mother asked him for the seventeenth time if he had invited his girlfriend, "I have invited her!"
Rhys watched his brother and mother bicker about Raul's mysterious girlfriend, as he himself sipped his tea. Aileen did not seem too happy about turning sixty-five, and she whined and complained about dying before she saw the face of grandchildren.
"Oh, Raul," the aged woman held a hand to her chest, "I cannot thank you enough for finding a girl, so when are you getting married?"
Both the brothers rolled their eyes at the same time, with the younger one turning his attention back to his phone and the older one ignoring his mother's excited glances.
Seeing her two sons disregarding her, Aileen's chest fell in disappointment. She grabbed her cup of tea and sipped at it angrily, darting her glare between the two boys.
"I'm disappointed in you, Raul." she declared flatly.
"Disappointed?" Raul's voice broke, "What about your younger son? He hasn't even found a girl yet!"
Rhys furrowed his eyebrows and glared at his older sibling, clearly not liking his input on his private life. However, to their surprise, Aileen chuckled.
"He hasn't," she side-glanced at Rhys, "but I have. And she's coming to my birthday celebrations too. "
"Oh for Christ's sake," Rhys groaned out loud, "I swear if it's one from your stupid dating sites again!"
"I liked the previous one," Raul drank his tea, "she was a beauty to...what was the word?"
"Behold," his mother helped, "and dating sites are not stupid! If anything, you should have opened an account yourself!"
"No thank you very much," Rhys countered, "I'm very happy with my life right now, and a woman is the last thing I need." Not if he already had one.
" It might be the last thing," Aileen argued, "but you need someone!"
"Yes and let me find her by myself, mum!" Rhys raised his voice and immediately regretted it, "Shi...I'm sorry, sorry, mum."
Tears sparkled in the old woman's light blue eyes, and she sniffled her nose and got up from the sofa they were sitting on, "Fine then! Do whatever you like!"
Then she stomped off towards the stairs and up to her room. Rhys called out after her but was answered by silence and a loud bang of the door being closed.
"She's mad at you..." Raul sang and put the cup of tea to his mouth when a sofa pillow came flying at his face and bumped the cup, spilling the hot liquid all over his chin and t-shirt. He coughed and put down the cup, " What the fuck dude!"
"Girlfriend?" Rhys spat, "Since when is Clementine your girlfriend, brother dearest?"
Raul wiped the tea from his mouth and looked at his sibling, but there was no humour or mockery, but there was a shine in his hazel eyes, the trait they had acquired from their father.
"Clementine and I," he bit his lip to stop a smile from spreading further, "have decided to get married."
Rhys choked on his tea and coughed, looking incredulously at his brother.
"What?" he coughed, "That's ridiculous!"
Raul shrugged nonchalantly, pushing a tuft of his wavy brown hair behind his ears, "I know it sounds absurd to you, considering the kind of...thing we practise," he twisted his lips at his lack of vocabulary, "heck, even I couldn't believe her at first."
"Wait," Rhys widened his eyes, "Clementine asked you to marry her?"
"Crazy, isn't it?" Raul laughed awkwardly, "I visited her shortly after you, and after a bit of catchup, a little sex, she...told me that she had fallen in love with me."
Rhys could have laughed at his words, could have taunted him about the woman who whipped and flogged him for her own pleasure, but seeing the dreaminess and sincerity in the same hazel eyes they had acquired from their father, he found himself bereft of all words.
"I had given her my mind, body and soul, Rhys," his brother's voice fleeted in the air, and the Chancellor knew all too well what he was about to say,
"It was only a matter of time before I gave her my heart."
And those words gave rise to something which Rhys had despised for a long time.
Hope.
---------