The week of the finals began; you were seated in the designated classroom for the first exam when you noticed the students around you giving you strange glances every now and then.
"Is it because of the band-aid....? Does it look that weird?"
Suddenly, someone tapped your right shoulder and you turned to look to find your classmate, Amber, seated there.
"Y/n, are you okay? How did you get hurt?"
"O-Oh....uh, it was just a cat scratch. A cat scratched me pretty badly, hehe~"
You chuckled as a way brush off the topic in hopes that she wouldn't ponder upon it too much. Your classmate seemed suspicious but gave a nod nevertheless.
"I see, please take care of yourself."
You smiled, "Thank you, I will."
"By the way...." she whispered and leaned closer to you, "....Did you hear that Mike, Steve and Theo got suspended?"
Your eyes widened briefly, "Oh, really? Why is that?"
"I have no idea. I just heard rumours that they apparently assaulted someone last Thursday. Some people heard shouts from our classroom during lunch, and some saw them at the Dean's office."
"I-I see....ahem, sounds pretty bad."
You coughed out and she looked at you suspiciously once again, she was about to speak something but the teacher soon came in and started distributing the papers. You were the first one to finish the exam as you confidently knew most of the questions and were extremely focused in writing; this was an important week for you, all your and Ms Rosalyne's hard work of the past 6 months was being tested right now and you didn't want to let her down.
The first 3 exams went smoothly but you were worried for the remaining 2 as you still had doubts in those subjects and weren't confident that you knew them well. Your mother proposed that you stay at Ms Rosalyne's place for the weekend and study for them with her since she would be able to help you better that way. Ms Rosalyne agreed and here you were back in her house on Friday evening, carrying a small backpack with your clothes and books. You were a little embarrassed to accept this, but at the same time you were quite comfortable at her place and didn't feel weird.
"You can sleep in my room, Y/n. I'll take the couch."
"O-Oh, no please! I'll take the couch! You don't need to trouble yourself, ma'am!"
"N-No, you are like a guest I can't have you sleeping on a mere couch."
"No, ma'am, I'd feel too bad for staying then. It would be better if I only came for a few hours...."
You both stared at each other in silence awkwardly, she then sighed and lightly scratched her cheek as a faint blush appeared on her face.
"Well, the bed is big enough for 2 people so we can sleep together...."
You too blushed now then nodded, "O-Okay, if you don't mind, ma'am...."
"N-Not at all...."
You both trailed off with a blush then she cleared her throat and walked towards the sofa, "Well then, let's have a short session before dinner. I won't have you pulling all-nighters, I'll devise a small study plan for the 2 days and we'll follow that, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am."
You circled around the sofa and sat down beside her then took out your books and started studying. Sometime later, she noticed how you were continuously swiping away your bangs from your eyes as they were coming in the way. She got up saying she'll be back soon and went to her room to look for something before coming back in less than 2 minutes.
"Look here, Y/n."
You turned to face her and she suddenly came closer and gently swiped your bangs to one side of your head and tucked them in place with a hairclip, the action making you blush.
"You should get a haircut now, Y/n. These have grown quite a bit and hinder your eyes."
"O-Oh, thank you. I was actually planning to grow them out...."
"I see. Hmm, you look quite adorable in this haircut so I'm curious how you'd look with longer hair, hehe~"
You blushed even more now, "Uh, well...I'm still debating whether to grow them since I feel long hair are a hassle to look over. Not to mention, I don't really have good hair quality."
"Hmm...." Ms Rosalyne came closer and ran her fingers through your hair for a bit.
"They are quite soft and there aren't many split ends. You could try getting a few spa treatments after exams, I recommend Keratin treatment it's really good to restore the scalp and give good growth. And I haven't forgotten that I promised to suggest you some homemade remedies, I'll give you a list after exams."
"Thank you so much, ma'am. I'll follow them all."
She nodded with a smile then you continued studying for another half an hour before getting up to prepare dinner together. After dinner, you both made your way to her room to sleep.
"Is there a side you prefer to sleep on, Y/n?"
"No, I don't. But if you have one then I'll abide by it."
Ms Rosalyne glanced over to the bedside table on the right, the place where the photo of her husband was kept.
"I sleep on the right."
"Alright then I'll take the left."
You smiled and walked over to left side and arranged your bag beside the bed and took out your sleepwear.
"You can change here if you want, Y/n. I'll be in the restroom for some time. Do you want to take a bath?"
"No, I don't take baths at night."
"Okay, anything else you need?"
"No, I'm fine, ma'am."
She went inside the bathroom and locked the door then you proceeded to change into your nightwear and kept your other clothes inside the bag, you then laid down on the bed and pulled the blanket over yourself while staring at the ceiling, feeling slightly nervous thinking of how you were sleeping on the same bed with your crush. You wondered how her sleeping face looked, if she had any strange sleeping habits and many more things. You shook your head and put your thoughts aside as it was becoming inappropriate then turned to your side to sleep.
The bathroom door behind you opened after some time and Ms Rosalyne came out. She saw your sleeping figure and smiled to herself then sat on her side of the bed and laid down while pulling up the blanket. She contemplated removing her patch but eventually did as she realized you had seen it before and she wasn't really against you seeing her face again. She browsed through her phone for some time then kept it on the table and switched off the lamp on her side.
"Good night, Y/n."
"Good night, ma'am."
She looked at you in surprise, "Oh, I thought you slept?"
"N-No, I'm simply lying down...."
"I see. Did you take your medicines?"
"Yes, I have."
You thought for some time then finally turned the other way around to face her and were immediately taken by surprise seeing her true face without the eyepatch. Yet, she looked beautiful like always. Not to mention, strangely cute with the way she was curled up in the blanket.
She smiled, "I hope you don't feel cold. I only have one blanket...."
"It's fine, ma'am. It's....actually quite cozy."
You giggled and she smiled more before shifting closer, "You can get more of the blanket if we sleep a bit closely."
You nodded with a blush then shifted closer as well and found yourself extremely close to her face, so close that you could hear her breathing. Both of you became flustered and simultaneously turned over, facing away from each other.
"R-Right, good night."
"Y-You too, ma'am."
You both closed your eyes and tried to sleep, you eventually fell asleep rather quickly due to your medicines taking effect while she was awake for some time but drifted to sleep too.
The weekend passed in the blink of an eye and you gave your final 2 exams with enough confidence. Staying for 3 days at Ms Rosalyne's place was unexpected but the two of you didn't feel all that different, it was as if you were used to living together and nothing changed. December started and winter grew, you were now having winter holidays until New Year's when the new semester would begin. However, the teachers were expected to go for another week before they could enjoy holidays. One of the days, Rosalyne and Lisa were seated together in the library to do work and chat.
"Say, Rosa....do you know when is Y/n's birthday?"
Rosalyne looked at her in surprise, "Why this sudden question?"
"Oh, I got a notification on Facebook yesterday for the birthday of one of the older students so I became curious for Y/n's~"
"Hm...No, I don't know."
Lisa smirked and leaned forward on the table, "Don't you want to find out?~"
Rosalyne blushed slightly and glanced away, "No, I don't care about it."
"Oh, come on, I know you do! You must be having her information in the records, right?~"
"Lisa, that's not what the records are for!"
"Ugh, fine! You leave me no other choice~"
Lisa proceeded to browse her computer and brought up the library card details of your class before opening yours fairly quickly.
"Ah, found it! Let's see....date of birth...Oh my! That's such a special occasion~"
Rosalyne also became curious now, she couldn't deny she indeed wanted to know as well.
"....What is it?"
"Oh?~ Are you interested? And here I thought you didn't care~"
"Just tell, Lisa."
"Fine fine~ It's on 24th December. Aaaand, according to her year of birth she'll turn 22 this year~"
Rosalyne's eyes widened, "Christmas Eve, huh....Special occasion indeed."
"Hehe, yes. I'm quite surprised, I didn't take Y/n for a Capricorn. I was quite sure she was one of the Water signs, most likely Cancer."
Rosalyne knitted her brows, "I wouldn't say so. I think Capricorn fits her well; she has her dreams and is determined to achieve them in practical ways, she's never prideful and always down to earth, she's also quite reliable if you give her some work even when she isn't confident about it, and she is very patient and knows the value of time."
Lisa looked at her friend with a smirk and hummed, "Hmm~ Of course, you'd know her better than me. I'm convinced~"
Rosalyne blushed and coughed out, "A-Anyways, these are all superficial things. You know everyone is different and cannot be contained within such restrictions. I do think she has some traits of Cancer as well, just like how you are Gemini but also have some traits of Fire signs."
"Hehe~ Alright alright, fair enough~"
Lisa rolled her eyes and Rosalyne chuckled then resumed her work. Lisa pondered over something then leaned on her table once again.
"So? Are you going to do something?"
"For what?"
"Y/n's birthday, of course! You don't want to give her a gift?~"
".....I have no obligation to, and it would be inappropriate and considered as bias. Not to mention, it's during the holidays so I won't meet her at all."
"Hah~ You are so boring, Rosa~ And here I thought you would be excited and organize a whole party~"
Rosalyne looked at her with her eyebrow raised, ".....What do you take me for, Lisa?"
"Oh, you don't want to know that, hehe~"
Rosalyne pinched her temple and proceeded to ignore Lisa for the rest of the day as she focused on her work. However, it was true she wasn't entirely against doing something for your birthday. She did subconsciously think of a few gifts she could prepare, but put those thoughts aside as it wasn't right. Perhaps, she'd cross that bridge when she comes to it. There were still more than 20 days left, after all.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the long absence, I was actually procrastinating this time I have no other excuse. I know it's a relatively short chapter but that's only cause the next one marks the starting of another major arc. Thank you for reading as always~ <3