Zahrah's POV
After the lecture was over, I went toward the library. I'm not sure what to do now – can I very well come next discussion while he's lecturing and pretend none of this just happened? I don't know, but what I do know is that I will see him soon.
Safia finds me as I was walking in the hallway, eyes wild, and promptly grabs me by the arm and steers me away. We duck into a med lecture room.
"What the hell did I heard ?" Safia demands, all breathing heavy. I don't know what the hell her problem is.
"What?" I ask innocently, not wanting to give myself away if she is, in fact, referring to something completely unrelated to my little show-down with Professor Benjamin. But that's highly unlikely.
She cocked, doubtful eyebrow tells me this. "Seriously?" Safia started. "Are you seriously going to deny that little show you put on with the professor?"
I glance behind me, worried. But the door is closed, and there's no one else here. "Did anyone hear?" I ask anxiously.
The bravery I once possessed vanished when the danger was now over.
"Junaid, Jess, and the girl I always forget her name saw you; the rest of the class was separated from your lecture." She replies, "I don't know what this outburst was all about, but you should be thankful it happened with Dr.Florentino and not someone else. He is cool,"
"Ya Allah." I don't bother hiding my worry.
"What was that about, anyway?"
There's no point in lying to her, "I called him out in front of the class," I explain. Her eyes widen comically, so I quickly go in for the kill. "Um...on purpose. To piss him off."
Yeah, that sounds real noble of me, sweeping the newbie to purposefully piss off the one helpful professor(according to the other students).
Should I accept my student of the Year award now or later?
"You're kidding!" she whispers excitedly. "But why?"
I tell her the whole story, beginning with the boxing and ending with everything he said before we parted. I leave out the part about how delicate and bright his skin was or how well his aftershave smelled.
She responds with a loud laugh. "Ya Allah, I can't wait to tell Dr. Danial about this," she says.
I gasp, my eyes widening in alarm. "What? No, you can't tell Dr. Danial," I argue.
"Why not?"
"I don't want this going around, Safia. I had barely started a week ago. Please, please, please don't tell Dr. Danial!"
She frowns in disappointment but eventually nods.
"Alright, I won't," she assures me. "Your secret is safe with me, I guess." She looks like someone just kicked her kitten.
I sigh in relief and thank her.
We slowly make our way to the library. I contemplate stalling or else hiding behind Safia's larger frame, but I refuse to give Dr. Florentino the satisfaction. The table we always sit-in at the library is behind him as he is sitting with his some students, chatting casually.
I secretly hope he doesn't see me.
But he does. He's laughing with some students. He doesn't see me until I've passed him in the corridor.
His green eyes meet mine; he was smiling toward me. The once angry, narrowed, and enraged were now grinning at me as he waves.
"See, I told you he is awesome," Safia gloated as she waved back.
What I see wasn't anything like she understood. I see him practically inviting me back for a rematch simply so I can witness his intensity from such a close range again.
I escape into our designated table, trying to manage my heavy breaths as I reevaluate everything that's just happened and the way I'm currently feeling.
Dr. Florentino seems nice and everything, but I wasn't the kind to be scared easily. Still, now I was of him, which lead me to believe that he obviously has some crazy voodoo eye power, and every fiber of my being will take precautions to avoid its effect.
*******
I didn't see Dr. Florentino the next day since we didn't have a lecture. Not that I look for him or anything. This is merely an innocent observation.
However, it's soon apparent that Dr. Danial is aware of the little soiree we had. He greets me one morning with a devious, knowing grin and inconspicuously says, "So... I hear you, and Dr. Florentino did a little mating dance the other day."
I can't hide my gasp of surprise.
"How did you hear about that?" I demand my voice low in warning. I'm relatively sure Safia told him. Did she rat me out?
Danial's answer is simple. "He told me."
"He? Who's 'he'?"
"Dr. Florentino, of course. Come on, freshman. Wake up." He waves his hand in front of my face, and I instantly smack it away.
He is an M.D; he wasn't a professor. My informal way of speaking to him came naturally to me when I started hanging out with him in the groups.
Dr. Florentino talked about me? Holy crap. This can't be good.
"You talked to him?" I ask eagerly, and I know I must sound pathetic. I should be pretending like I don't care about any of this.
"Yeah, we hang out," he says. This is apparently old news, but I'm surprised.
Yes, I was interested in gossip, but I wasn't interested in socializing, so I didn't hear anything other than my group repeats, which wasn't much.
I didn't want to sound interested, so I just nodded and let him continue our group's meetings on Wednesdays. After an hour and a half, the meeting was over. Everyone began to take their stuff while I noticed that Junaid was hanging with Dr. Danial.
After five minutes, Junaid went out of the library and was met by me.
"Bismillah al-Rahman Raheem," He jumped, "I thought you left."
"Nope, so what did you talk about with Dr. Danial." My tone is attacking. I don't mean to sound this way, but damn, it would have been good to know.
He looks confused. "Should I write down a paper on the topic or something?" he asks sarcastically.
"Shut up, Junaid. You know what I mean." He shrugs. "So what did he tell you?" I persist.
"Dr. Florentino's wildly turned on and wants to father your children."
He says this with a straight face. And I should know better...I really should - I do possibly the dumbest thing ever and allow my mouth to open before I think.
"Really?"
The word actually sounds hopeful, which is terribly embarrassing. I wish I could take it back not even half a second after it leaves my mouth.
Junaid snorts. "No, not really."
I rarely blush, but I suspect my face is hot enough to fry a burger.
"Yeah, good. Cause that would be weird," I say, attempting to play it off. But Junaid isn't fooled. He eyes me curiously.
"I didn't take you as a teacher-student kind of girl." He laughs,
"So what did you get on the exam yesterday?" he wonders, and I'm grateful for the subject change.