You gritted your teeth to contain your anger as your students explained why they were late to your class. As soon as you heard the name of Professor Snape coming out of their mouths and his action for dismissing them late to your class, rage was bubbling in your chest.

You knew he was doing it on purpose to tick you off when one of the students revealed that Snape asked them if your class was right after his, clearly he wanted to anger you to the point of using your students against you. The students could not do anything but obliged as he kept them in his classroom, and now when they finally walked into yours, you only had less than ten minutes left of the lesson.

You wanted to pretend as if you did not know he was doing it on purpose, but it was unacceptable as his imprudent action was affecting your teaching. Severus was intentionally asking for you to lash out on him, and sometimes you wondered why did he hate you so much until he wanted to argue with you in every chance he got.

"We're really sorry, Professor L/N."

You took a deep breath when you realised your students were looking at you with worry in their eyes, as they had never seen you being angry since the day you came. But now it was as if they could see steam of anger coming out of your ears, and truly, it frightened them.

"It's alright. It's not your fault. I'm going to have to talk to Professor Snape after this."

You forced a smile and they let go of their breaths that they did not even realise they were holding. Surely, they were used to Professor Snape's wrath, but to have such a sweet teacher being furious at them was scarier than the Potions Master. They never wanted to get on your bad side.

After dismissing your students, you immediately went to his office, decided to confront him instead of letting him walk all over you. Since you sent him your letter, you did not talk to him, but you had to now, as you wanted to show him that he was not allowed to walk all over you and you could fight for yourself.

Without knocking on his door, you walked into his office, and the look of surprise on his face was enough for you to crack a smirk. You crossed your arms against your chest and stood in front of him who was organising his table.

He dropped the papers he was holding on the table dramatically, huffing slightly as he walked over to you but not before he put his hands behind his back. You rolled your eyes, thinking of how overly dramatic he was acting every time you saw him. He was the most dramatic person you had ever met, that was for sure.

"Where is your manners, Professor L/N? Waltzing into my office without even bothering to knock."

You scoffed at his words, knowing that the first thing in his mind when he saw you would be insulting you, hence you could not care less about it.

"Where is your manners, Professor Snape? You intentionally dismissed my students from your class an hour late when they were supposed to be in my class."

As you talked, you did not realise you were walking closer towards him, and you had to crane your neck to look him in the eyes. Something flashed in his eyes when you looked at him, and you could tell he was flabbergasted to see you were stern when it came to work.

"Perhaps I did it intentionally to see if you're capable enough to be a good teacher."

He spoke lowly, and you knew he was trying to piss you off even more. It was like he was entertained to see your burning anger, and you just wanted to get this over with.

"You don't have to do that. I'm giving my best as a teacher."

You spat, and it took everything in you not to break his nose when a small smirk formed on his lips.

"It never stops hurting, does it?"

He asked, his smirk widen upon seeing your frown. He wanted you to crumble before his eyes, feeling the pain that he caused, and if he could, he wanted you to break into tears. If he really hated you, surely he could do it easily.

"What?"

You knew his words were going to be harsh, as they were directed to you but you never thought how painful it would be to hear those words coming out of his mouth— Your soulmate.

"Giving your best when you know your best is actually someone else's worst."

He said, one word after another, venom was dripping from his voice as if it was his intention to hurt you. You were taken aback with his wounding words, slowly losing your composure as he reminded you of your parents and the way they looked down at you, thinking so little of you even when you were doing your best to impress them.

"Your pride is going to be your ruin, Snape."

"Really? I think you're going to be in ruin first, as you're too busy indulging in your fairytales of soulmates until you forget that sometimes people just don't want you."

Your face dropped upon hearing his words, as you never thought of bringing the soulmates matter into the conversation. You were there to talk about your work, and yet he just had to take it personal and make fun of you every single time.

"You're a disappointment, L/N."

Severus knew he had struck you in the heart, and he saw tears in your eyes. But you pulled yourself together and held back your tears, not wanting to cry in front of him. You were not going to let him degrade you even more.

To hear that you were a disappointment from your parents was devastating, but when your soulmate thought the same of you, your heart was crushed and a part of your soul was suffering.

He was not brave enough to talk to you by himself, always doing something to have you coming to him, just to insult you and torment you with his caustic words. You cursed your written fate for making him as your soulmate, when your heart now abhorred him.

"A coward, Severus Snape. That's all you are, a coward."

You seethed, curling your hands in fists and turning on your heels to walk out of his office before you could say or do something in anger that you might regret later. Severus frowned when you left, expecting you to yell or scream at him, and he swore he saw tears in your eyes but he was not sure if those were tears of anger or sadness.

Little did he know those were tears of disappointment, as the only person you have ever loved was disappointing you with his ignorance and hatred.

Just when you thought things could not get worse since your encounter with Severus, you knew your day was completely destroyed when you got a letter from your parents. It was never a good sign, and after hearing Severus' cruel words, you knew you were on the brink of breaking down.

You stared blankly at the letter from your parents in your trembling hands, your heart thud rapidly against your chest as every word sunk into your mind, reminding you of how much they did not believe in your ability to work properly as a teacher, and they were waiting for you to give up on the job and come home to them.

There was no tears or sobs coming from your mouth, as everything was too much for you to even feel anything that day. You just wanted to forget everything after meeting Severus, but you could not, upon reading your parents letter and realising how similar their thoughts were on you.

Severus was no different than them. And it pained you to think that you used to wish for a soulmate who would understand you better than they did.

Tossing the letter aside, you let out a sigh, staring at your own reflection on the mirror as you smiled. You had no one to pat your back and to tell you everything was alright, hence you had to do it by yourself. You had to get back up again every time you fall, by yourself, and smile as no one would even care to help you.

You were used to it by now.

Walking into the Great Hall for dinner, you bit the inside of your cheeks to avoid yourself from scowling when you had to sit beside Severus. You did not glance at him, as you hoped he would ignore you like he always did, because you knew you could not handle any insult coming out from his mouth again that day. It was already too much for you to bear, and one could only do so much.

"Here you are, Professor L/N."

But it seemed like Severus was playing a different game with you now, as he started to talk to you instead of shutting his mouth like usual. You dropped your gaze on your plate when he started to talk about your teaching experience and how you were ruining the students' futures, not wanting to look at him.

His words were like bullets piercing your heart but you stayed silent, biting your tongue as it would be foolish to make a scene in front of the students. You gripped on your fork so tightly that your knuckles turned white, and you did not even realise it until Hagrid nudged you with his elbow.

"Are you alright, Y/N?"

You nodded, smiling at your friend who noticed how tense you were. His eyes moved to Severus, who was not satisfied yet, not until he hears something from you, anything to initiate an argument.

You were pretending to be deaf to his words, insisting to keep your silence as Severus deliberately degraded you, masking his words with the thought of trying to 'help' you to become a better teacher. But when he said something that hits you close to home, your heart dropped.

"You're nothing but a burden."

Severus raised his eyebrows when you dropped your fork on your plate with an audible sound, surprising everyone as you stood up from your chair. You had listened enough to him, and before anyone else could stop you, you were already leaving the Great Hall, a cold stone look was painted on your face as you glanced at the Potions Master.

The teachers whispered among themselves when you left abruptly, the first time they had ever seen you without a smile on your face. Severus felt a tinge of guilt was tugging on his chest, but he denied it, watching as you leave in a rush.

He had forgotten that you were a part of his soul, and as much as he wanted to deny it, it hurt him to know that you were hurt.