The new week began at the dawn of early light, you had informed your mother about staying back for Ms Rosalyne's extra classes hence she prepared an additional lunch box for you and also did basic dinner preparation in advance. You had determined yourself to learn and improve with Ms Rosalyne's guidance, and hoped everything would go as you wanted.
"There's still time, I can do better....I have to."
You reached for your first lecture for the day which was Ms Rosalyne's class; for the first time, there was full attendance in your class and you concluded it was due to the result and her scolding but you didn't have hopes for the extra classes to be the same given how many students had requested her to make them optional. The door softly opened and Ms Rosalyne walked in, wearing one of her usual crimson shirt and black pencil skirt set, her same black embroidered eyepatch and her shiny blonde hair tied into two rosebuns halfway and a side partition falling down her patch.
The university had a strict dress code for teachers to maintain professionalism and inculcate discipline in students by taking their teachers as example. You weren't the kind to really take note of other people's clothes but you had noticed Ms Rosalyne seemed to have a set wardrobe for each day of the week. To be fair, you thought it was quite efficient of her to do this. Not only was everything organised and matching well, her choices were simply gorgeous that accentuated her beauty in all the right ways.
"Good morning, class."
The slam of the thick lesson manual made everyone stand up and turn their attention towards her to give her a pleasant greeting.
"Oh my, it's the first time I'm seeing full attendance in this class for a lecture. Well, glad to know you finally came to your senses. Seems like I chose the perfect day to introduce a new lesson structure. Sit down and open your notebooks immediately."
She ordered and everyone quickly took out their belongings then waited for her to begin. She switched on the projector and connected her laptop in the meanwhile then played a video from her files.
"I always send additional content like this on your mails for referencing at home but I know well that none of you bother to open it. From now on, I'll be covering these in the class alongside our usual content and no, this doesn't give you the opportunity to take a nap in my class. Sit straight!"
Everyone immediately shifted in their placed to assume an attentive posture and intently watched the video. You jotted down notes and important points from the video and didn't notice Ms Rosalyne had silently walked beside your seat and was looking down at your notebook. She leaned down slightly and placed her finger on a point then whispered in your ear, catching you off guard.
"It's C6 not C8."
Her angelic voice brushed past your ear and you glanced at her face being so close to you making you notice some details on her patch since she swiped her hair behind her ear, "Is the text not visible enough? You should have told me to zoom in."
"N-No, ma'am, it's alright. I just miswrote."
She nodded then stood back up and walked up to the front to pause the video and explain herself. You exhaled in relief then pondered back to what you saw, "I never realised the patch has a rose-like pattern.....did she get it custom made? Well, considering she wears it all the time it's possible she got a few stylish ones made, her fashion choices are really outstanding....Though, I wonder why she wears it in the first place? Maybe a-"
"Y/n, could you briefly recall what we covered today?"
Ms Rosalyne interrupted your thoughts, making you quickly stand up and glance at the board then at your notes to form an answer.
"Y-Yes, ma'am. We studied synthesis of amino acids, their ionic properties and went over the reactions in short."
"Good. Mike, explain what is synthesis and it's first step."
"Uhhhh, I think it's a process to-"
"What kind of process? Chemical? Biological? Physical?"
"Chemical? We are studying chemistry, after all~"
Mike sneered causing Ms Rosalyne to frown in irritation, "Sit down and pay attention in class. Amber, continue where he left off."
"Yes, ma'am. It's a biochemical process by which amino acids are produced. The first step...."
Amber continued explaining word-to-word as shown in the video and told by Ms Rosalyne, making you slightly envious of how well she could remember in such a short span and it sometimes felt she had some kind of Eidetic memory. You glanced at Mike who was busy browsing through his phone even though he just got a scolding from Ms Rosalyne, "Where does he get this kind of confidence....? Do his parents own the university or something?"
You shook your head sideways in order to not think of such irrelevant things, Amber finished explaining then sat down and Ms Rosalyne spoke.
"That's the end of today's class. Be sure to revise all of this at home unless you want to forget again. Also, reminder for today's extra classes for those who scored below 50% in assessment 1. Just because I have made them optional doesn't mean you can slack off and not attend for foolish reasons. Reach for the lab now."
She picked up her things and went out of the classroom and the students soon followed behind in order to go for the next class which was the practical laboratory. You were keeping your books inside when you happened to overhear a conversation between some of your classmates.
"Yooo dude, did you get any photos today?~"
"Nah, she was on-guard too much and it was dark most of the time. He'll have to wait a bit longer, haha~"
"Mike, Steve and Theo.....what photos are they talking about? And who's 'he'....? Well, none of my business."
You walked out without saying a word to them and reached the laboratory then wore your lab coat and approached your workstation to begin preliminary preparation for the experiment. Your lab teacher was also Ms Rosalyne since she was taking both the core subjects, she was already standing inside and writing the experiment details on the board and you quickly began noting down. The two-hour lab finally ended and gave way to the break followed by two more classes for the day. There was still an hour until Ms Rosalyne's extra class so you decided to go to the library and complete your notes of today's.
"Good afternoon, Ms Lisa." you greeted the head librarian as soon as you entered.
"Oh, good afternoon, Y/n. Been a while since I last saw you here, everything alright at home?"
"Y-Yes, it's just the usual."
"I see. What year are you in now?"
"Final year....just another few months to go until graduation, haha~"
"Oh my~ Time really flies, final year already. Hah~ then this means I won't be seeing you after a while....Hehe, you know the library is always open for you, come and chat with me when you have time~"
"Hah~ Ms Lisa, you shouldn't talk this way with just anyone, people get the wrong idea...."
"Haha~ I only have a few I give special treatment to~"
You chuckled then waved at her and sat on an empty table nearby then took out your books and began noting down. Almost ten minutes later, you heard a familiar voice coming from the librarian's desk hence glanced back to see what was happening and it was none other than Ms Rosalyne talking with Ms Lisa. You smiled at them chatting as you were aware of their friendship and thought they had a lovely dynamic then went back to your work.
"Is that....Y/n?" Ms Rosalyne happened to look in your direction and spotted you on the table.
"Hm? Yes, it is. You know her?" Ms Lisa replied.
"She's in my class of final year...."
"Oh! How did it slip my mind that she's doing chemistry honors....Of course, you are her teacher~"
"How do you know her?"
"Oooh, jealous, are we?~"
"Stop it, Lisa."
"Haha, I'm just joking~ Well, she was a regular visitor until last year, she'd do most of her homework and self-study here until the university closed. While other students would prefer to go home and rest or do something related to their hobbies, she was one of the few to stay and study. But for some reason, she didn't come as much from last year. Of course, I had no right to really question her but I assumed she must be having work at home."
"I see.....Was she that studious until last year?"
"I think so....I never talked much with her outside of studies, I remember her grades were good in first year then I don't know much about second year as we rarely talked."
Rosalyne nodded and pondered to when you had told her your percentage in third and fourth semester, certain things started linking and she felt confused as to why you suddenly experienced such drawback in studies. She glanced at her wrist watch to see there was still 45 minutes until the extra class then stood up and walked to your side.
"Y/n." she called out to you and sat on the chair beside you, making you slightly surprised.
"Y-Yes, ma'am?"
She looked over at what you were doing then spoke, "You don't have classes now?"
"No, ma'am. Mondays we get free early."
"I see, so you are staying back only for the extra class?"
You nodded then she thought for a moment and spoke, "Alright, shall we start the class early? I'll send a mail to others telling them to come as soon as possible."
Your eyes lit up and you eagerly nodded, "S-Sure, I'm fine with it. But, you don't have any work right now?"
She smiled then turned around and proceeded to stand up, "Just like you, my Mondays also get free early~"
You smiled to yourself then packed up your things and followed her to the classroom, she waved at Lisa while going out and you also bowed slightly then reached the classroom and sat down on the front seat while she typed the mail to be sent to the students.
"I'll bring my things here while we wait, alright, Y/n?"
You nodded and she went out to bring her stuff while you took out your notebooks and waited for her and others, she came back ten minutes later but nobody else had come making her sigh in annoyance. She looked at her phone and found replies to her mail, all of them stating they won't be coming.
"As I expected....these kids are not serious at all."
"Is nobody coming?"
"Mhm, it's just you. For today, at least. Well, let's not waste any more time then."
You nodded and she came to sit beside you then you opened your notebook to show her what you had done, "I redid the test paper of assessment 1, would you check it?"
Looking at you in slight surprise, she easily agreed and skimmed through your answers then picked up her red pen and began marking on certain places, you intently watched the places she marked at and once again felt anxious for making such childish mistakes. She finished marking soon enough then kept the notebook between you both, pointing at the first mistake.
"You did the same mistake of balancing in the test as well. Look here at the structure, this Carbon is making bonds with both Oxygen and Hydrogen while this one is only with Oxygen. You must have been taught balancing of equations last year, right?"
"Uh....w-we were but I didn't understand well...."
"What about high school? This concept is taught in high schools as well."
"Y-Yes...I don't remember...."
Her eye widened in shock then she nodded and flipped to a fresh new page in order to explain the concept to you.
"Alright then, I'll go over it once since it's an important basic concept. Look here now...."
You attentively listened to her explain and made mental notes of how the concept is done. As everyone had said, she was indeed very learned in her subject and also knew how to teach the easy methods for students to understand.
"Now, redo this same equation in the question with the method I taught just now."
You agreed then began solving the question once again, keeping in mind what she had taught now and were able to solve it rather quickly. You showed your answer to her and she smiled then made a green tick on the solution.
"You'll remember this from now on, alright?"
"Y-Yes, thank you very much! It was really easy to understand this way...."
"....If you didn't understand it last year then why didn't you ask your teacher?"
"I did, he only sent me YouTube videos to refer to...."
She squinted her eye in seriousness, "Who was the teacher?"
"Mr Ren...."
She stared at you then sighed in frustration, knowing too well there's no point in arguing with him about his teaching. The two hours passed by quickly as she corrected your answers for most of the time and explained some of the smaller topics in between.
"Shall we wrap up today's class? It's good that you solved the paper again and got it checked this way. You should have a better understanding of this unit now and a few basic concepts, right?"
"Y-Yes, it's certainly better than before. But I'm not sure about the other topics especially the basics...."
"Well, we will try our best to cover everything this way. You just need to be regular and attentive."
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Sometime after you had gone out of the library with Ms Rosalyne, a certain teacher came in to talk to the head librarian asking for a certain someone.
"Good afternoon, Ms Lisa~ Hard at work as always?~"
Lisa stopped what she was doing and almost bit her tongue recognizing the voice, she then put on a simple smile and turned towards the door, "Mr Ren, good afternoon to you too. What brings you here?~"
"Ah, do I need a reason to come and look at the most beautiful teacher in the university?~"
"Haha~ How many more teachers do you say that to, Mr Ren?~"
"Hehe, nothing goes by you, as they say....."
He trailed off and looked around the library as if searching for something, or someone.
"Do you want something, Mr Ren?"
"Uh, well.....would Ms Rosalyne be here by any chance?"
"Oh my, I don't believe so. You know how busy she is~"
"Oh, but she gets free early on Monday, doesn't she?"
"Hmmm.....To be honest, I haven't kept up with her time table of this semester, both of us have been rather busy~ If you had something to say to her then you can tell me and I'll pass it on."
"I-I see, it's alright.....Oh, would you look at the time? I just remembered I have a meeting, see you later, Ms Lisa."
He nervously smiled and exited the library, Lisa waved at him with a fake smile then scoffed, "Hmph, such a playboy. He really thinks the two of us are easy targets. Good thing she decided to hold the extra class early otherwise he would have met her here....Hah~ What good does the ring do when she's still pursued this way, by a colleague at that. Oh, but he is one of the few who know the truth so no wonder he's after her. He must see her as some kind of lonely, unloved woman....Hehe, too bad for you, Mr Ren- the Ice Queen's frozen heart can't be melted by cheap tricks and flirtations~"
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