•THIRD PERSON POV•

"Is that all I'd need to arrange the questions?" Alex asks, carefully arranging the sheets of papers accordingly.

"Uh... Yes, if you have anything to ask, you're always free to come to me." She beams and send him a small wink. Alex takes that as a go ahead to walk away. Since he doesn't want go rudely, he forces out a small smile, nodding.

"Sure, got that. Thanks." Without waiting for his coworker to escort him out, he spin around and head to his office, heaving a tired sigh.

It's been more work since they have to prepare questions for the test and the admin isn't making it any easy. Or rather, the female teacher just wanted to feed in Alex's irresistible face. While the head of department asked to see him, she made sure she spent more than an hour, asking him unnecessary questions which he skillfully answered with stiff smile and fake cheeriness.

Instinctively, Alex pulls out his phone from his back pocket to check the time. Since the head of department willingly wasted his precious time, he has to check how much it has affected his schedule.

5:56pm.

He tugs the phone back, fastening his steps to the last block in the hallway. While at that, few students who are still lingering around gawk at him even at his obvious looking tired face.

"Oh my... He's so tall..."

"I just can't get used to how..."

"... Wish he teaches my class."

"His eyes... There are so... Pretty."

No matter how he tries not to pay attention to the number of students complementing him in his presence, he can't pass without hearing their whispers.

"She must have left by now." Alex murmurs to himself, glancing at his golden wristwatch. He can sight his office as he is now in the last block. After instructing Salome on what to read and examples to give, he left her, saying he'll be back in few minutes.

The same few minutes the head of department extended to more than an hour.

He turns the knob open and step in to see a fast asleep student. His student, Salome. Her hands positioned on the desk with her head flat on the smooth white desk. He open his mouth and close it back, gently closing the door behind him instead. Her coffee brown blazer jacket is spread on the seat, reveling just her inner white long sleeves.

Thinking he'd come back to meet an empty office, arrange his things and go home after a long day, he's stunned to see her sleeping in his office. Calm and comfortably.

Alex walk closer, his shoes making light screeching sound with the quietness of the arena. He pull out his seat and slowly settle down, placing the papers on the desk. With the little noise he make, Salome doesn't botch or shift in her sleep, her body relaxed, raising and falling with every breath.

He relax in his seat and fold his arms, staring at his supposed student who tends to look more innocent while asleep. With how comfy she's sleeping, she looks like she's on the cloud, fluffy white cloud that cubed her with utmost protection from the outside world.

Alex lowers his gaze to her face, noticing that her forehead isn't curled up like it use to when she's trying to decode a certain poem. Her eyes, those bright white orbs that can't remain on his for five seconds straight are now closed, her scanty long lashes fluttering over it. He smirks at the remembrance. It still happened today, how she would tear her eyes from his while he's trying to make a point in explaining a theme.

Even though her some of her braided long hair has fallen down her face, her slightly agape lips doesn't go unnoticed. Alex tears his eyes to the books, sighing softly.

"Okay... Let's see what's here." He mutter, slowly taking her fingers off the sheet of paper she was writing on. Multiple examples on each figure of speech he told her to read before he left.

She's done. She actually finished writing before dosing off. This made his lips to curve in a small smile. He glance at her again and his eyes catch something he didn't notice. Her right fingers are red and a bit swollen from writing too much. Pressing his lips, he looks away from it, feeling like he had pushed her to the extreme without been considerate. She obviously couldn't get a good sleep from trying to cover up the novels he instructed her to read.

"Metaphor, The sun is a golden ball," Alex reads in a low voice. Salome outlined and wrote it neat enough to his taste. "Okay... That's good." He nods, he can notice her improvement. "My teacher is a dragon..." He trails off, rubbing his lower lips with his forefinger. Her examples are quite funny that he can't help smiling. "My teacher is a dragon ready to scold anyone he looks at, oh wow... I'm a dragon then." He says to himself, shaking his head.

This girl is something else.

Before Alex could finish reading up to two full pages of the examples she wrote, he couldn't subdue the snickers that escaped his lips. With the fact that she's now able to grasp the concept and differentiation of the figures of speech, couple with the funny examples she gave for reach of them, he can fully say that he's proud.

Soft moans makes him take his eyes from the paper to see that Salome's lashes are fluttering open. She slowly opens her eyes, shut it, and open it once again. Like someone cast a quick spell on her, she stiffens, sensing her teacher's angry glare on her head. How could see sleep that long knowing the territory she's in?

"Awake?" Mr. Alex's voice make her jerk up to seat upright, hitting her legs hard beneath the desk. Her somehow puffy sleepy face look up to see his face, bobbed and staring directly at her. He leans close, intertwining his fingers on the desk. "Tell me, what kept you up all night?"

"S-sir?" Her voice is cocky and low. She wants to wash her face and arrange her chickened hair but she dare not mention.

"What kept you up all night?" He repeats.

Salome's eyes widens. Her hand finds it's way to scratch her hair while her brain is calculating the exact corporate lie to give. She can't tell him she stayed up dancing around her room to the excess happiness of Latifah West following her fanpage. He would not only get mad but furiously drive her out of his office.

"I'm waiting." Mr. Alex taps the desk with his fingers. He dislikes time wastage but a reasonable excuse is enough to pull it off. Salome look at the paper filled with her writing, Mr. Alex must have seen what she scribbled down.

"Look, Salome I'm not-"

"I was reading!" She interrupt, nodding at the only meaningful thing to say. "That's why I slept late. I wanted to...to cover up everything. Yes, that's why."

Mr. Alex's brows knit in what she can't decipher. His thoughts on pushing her too far is eventually true. She couldn't get enough sleep due to how much he engages her in reading.

"Okay..."

Salome purse her lips, playing with her fingers under the table. He seems to buy off her sweet scented lie.

"I'm sorry sir, but I wanted to study hard for the midterm tests and cover up the notes you gave me." She adds.

He keeps his gaze transfixed on her. He can't apologized for tutoring her this hard but he surely can give her time to rest.

"It's okay." Mr. Alex says and Salome look at him from beneath her lashes. When did she get so good at lying?

"And... Yes," He raise the paper to her view. "I read what you wrote here, it's... Brilliant. You're improving I must say."

Biting her lips wouldn't work at times like this since her smile is so wide beyond lips biting.

Mr. Alex picks up a red pen to score her work and Salome can't think of anything other than jumping and hugging the young man in front of her. He obviously doesn't know what that little complement of his is doing to her, making her heart swell in extreme excitement. His head is bent on what he's doing to even notice how wide her smile is. It's like thousand form of tiny sparks are flying around him in her eyes. It's just too... Too mesmerizing.

Not until he scored the entire paper and raise his head, Salome Alan is caught staring at her teacher the way the other girls in school use to.

"Here." He place the sheets to face her, pretending not to notice how much she's smiling. "You can go now, take a break till after the midterms."

Salome slowly take up the papers to see her shamed score. "Thank you sir." She says and scan through it, down to the last part when a score of 97% is laying confidently. Her eyes pop open again, her hands and mouth vibrating to the rush of euphoria that's washing through her body.

She scored... 97%?

That's... Brilliant!

"Like I said, focus on the hint I gave back in class, and with this, I'm sure it wouldn't be so confusing to-" Soft slender hands grips his big ones in a soft squeeze that make his words cut off.

"Thank you Mr. Alex, thank you so much." Salome keeps on saying, her mind blocked on the fact that she's holding her teacher's hand. "I'm so grateful, I never knew I could reach this-"

"Salome." He calls, his eyes on her hands that barely wrapped all of his.

"I mean, at first, I found it so hard to flow with the advanced level but now... It looks so-"

"Salome." His voice is an octave higher this time that it drawls to her that she is holding her... Teacher?

She quickly let go, inwardly scolding herself for doing something so inappropriate.

"I'm- I'm so sorry s-sir." Salome stutter, adjusting herself on her seat. Where did she get the nerves to do that? To even... Touch him.

Alex nods and heave a deep breath. "It's okay, you can go. It's late."

Like a frightened cat, the high schooler grab her things from the desk, wave her bag on her shoulder, peel her blazer jacket off the seat and sprint off the office. Her legs still hurt a bit from hitting it earlier but she doesn't feel that until she's outside the school gate.

While Alex arrange his things to go home for the day, his mind involuntarily trails back to what happened earlier. He pick up his cellphone from the desk, reminiscing how her eyes lit up with the simple words he uttered. How the happiness rushed through her face and body to the extent that she touched him. His hands. Like she couldn't handle the level of happiness of seeing her score and improvement.

That would be it. She just couldn't handle it. Anyone who manages to receive a simple complement from a teacher like him would do that.

He shoves his phone in his pocket, grab his keys and head out of the office.

***

"Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb." Salome chants, hitting her head on her padded headboard on each word. Her heart was beating against her ribcage, threatening to bust out of her body when she paced out of school to her home. Now, remembering how she raised her hands to not only touch her teacher's own, but hold it like she has been dying to is making her freak out.

She press her face in her fluffy pillow for the umpteenth time, groaning loudly. She still can't wrap her small head around that little incident. She raise her head again, taking deep breaths.

"It's okay, Salome. It wasn't bad, right? It was..." She trail off, the image of Mr. Alex's facial expression clouding her vision. "Bad. Salome, so bad! He's obviously mad at you." She says to herself.

Although Alex was a tad shocked at the unexpected small hands around his, he still tried looking composed, calling her name instead of fleeing up.

"That's it. He must be mad." She round off her bed and land on her feet in an instant. She grab her phone from the other side of the bed. "I should tell Zara, I can't handle this." She mutters, scrolling through her contacts list.

If anything, Zara would definitely twist it all in knots and tell her that it's no big deal, that she or any other female or male student would do that.

Before Salome tap on her caller's ID, a loud ring of 'You are not alone' by Michael Jackson spills through her phone's speaker. Looks like Mildred's fingers are faster in calling her just before she dialed Zara's number. Her eyes lit up as she waste no time tapping the green icon to answer and press the phone on her ear.

"Heyyy," Salome greets first, smiling like the next person is right in front of her.

There is little shuffling in the background before Mildred's vibrant voice came through.

"Hey baby girl! How are you?" Mildred angles her head to balance the phone with her shoulder while she throw a jelly bear in her mouth.

Salome bounce on her bed, swinging her feet here and there. "I'm fine, thank you. I wasn't expecting..."

"Me to call right?" Mildred completes, giggling. "Yeah, I am less busy and decided that why not check up on my sweet friend?" She says, her voice sounding more child-like that makes Salome chuckle softly.

"Yeah, I mean I said we would hang out sometime but work has been hectic these days." Mildred adds, taking her phone properly on her ear.

"Oh..."

"What about this weekend?" Mildred asks, chewing on the bear in her mouth.

Salome's lips part excitingly to tell her yes but then, dawns to her that she has to read for her test exercise.

"Sure... I would love to but-" Her words cut off because Mildred seems to be having another conversation with someone else in the background. Salome purse her lips, patiently waiting for her while listening to their talk.

"Oh no, it isn't there, check the second one."

"Second one? That's not where I keep it, Mildred. Why did you change where I keep it?"

"It's the same thing, just check, I pray you see it."

"You are stress, big stress."

Salome's ears pick up to the voice of the person Mildred is talking to, why does it sounds so much like her...

"So sorry Salome, I was talking with a stubborn friend of mine." Mildred says between laughter but Salome is now more interested in the on hold conversation between her and Alex.

"Oh... It's okay, really." Salome tells her, fiddling with a loose thread of her duvet. "I also want to meet and hang out with you but-"

"And who is that stubborn friend?" A voice cut through her phone and she now knows that it's her teacher's voice. Her skips a beat while Mildred's laugher burst through her phone.

"You Alex, you are the stubborn friend. Why the hell did you decide to ask me where your hair clipper is when you see that I'm on the phone?" Mildred ask Alex, rolling her eyes.

This made Salome stiffen on her bed. Mildred is with her teacher, Mr. Alex. And she's here, on the phone, hearing his deep voice and imagining his facial expressions while at it.

"That's none of my business, please get my clipper from wherever you kept it." Alex says and walk away. Mildred hiss loudly at his retreating figure before replying shocked Salome.

"I'm sorry Salome but can I call you back? I want to quickly search for something."

"Yes, sure... You can... Go." Salome stutter and instantly, Mildred cut the call.

What just happened?

Salome peels her phone from her ear, gulping hard. Why is it when she's running from him that another thing is drawing her back. Indirectly. She drop her phone on her laps, the sudden feel of her hands on her teacher's bigger ones flooding her head. What she did back then is exactly what people would call 'acting before thinking.'

She acted without thinking, allowing a temporary feeling rush over her.

But then, his hands felt... Soft, veiny soft. Her hands covering just half of his. It was only when she retreated hers that the cool air conditioner captivate her fingers again.

His hands are... Warm. It almost feels unreal, that it didn't happen but still, it did.

"I should call Zara." Salome mutter, pushing back the thoughts of how her teacher's hands felt. She tap in Zara's contact and it didn't take up to five seconds before her best friend's cheerful voice pierce through her ears.

"Hey boo!"

***

Mildred March up the stairs to Alex's room. She knows how organized and structured Alex keeps his things so he always notice any slight movement.

"Come on Alex, you know where I kept it yet you keep disturbing." She barges in to see him indulged in his laptop, typing away. He's seating on his reading desk, several books opened around. Dragging her feet, she move around to his wardrobe.

"Stop dragging your feet, you're distracting me." Alex warns, not taking his eyes from the screen. Mildred halt and spin around, glaring at him. She hiss loudly, ignoring his warning.

"You just never listen." Alex mutters.

Mildred wave her straight long brown extensions to one side of her shoulders, squat low and pull out of the drawers. "Here." She jam the drawer close and toss the clipper to Alex. "Told you it was just here, you didn't just check."

"Because I know where I keep my things and..." He turn to see her, his brows furrowing. "Why exactly do you need a clipper for?"

Mildred shrugs and keep the clipper on the bed. "Nothing, just feels good touching your things."

Alex chuckles softly, shaking his head. "You're weird Mildred."

"Hehehe, leave me alone." She bounce on her feet to the curtain and pull it open to see a glowing setting sun. A small smile finds it's way to her lips as she sighs in relaxation. "Alex." She calls and he hums in response from the other side of the room.

Mildred moves away from the beautiful view, leaving the curtain opened. She walk over to Alex's desk and fold her arms beneath her bust, her cream dress lifting above her knee in process.

"What is it, Mildred." Alex glance up at her to ask.

"What do you think Salome is using for her body?"

Alex pause, his fingers hanging from what he's typing. Just when he's sure that Mildred would ask something reasonable enough, she just had to ask him about his student's body. He slowly raise his head and Mildred bob her head, blinking.

"What? I'm just asking." Mildred shrugs again. "Because, I mean, it was totally different when I saw-"

"You've seen Salome?" Alex cuts her off, looking and waiting for her to fan him off and tell him that she's joking. Mildred for you.

"Yes, coincidence right?"

Alex turns back to the screen to continue typing. He wants to ask how and why but then, he doesn't care. Or rather, Mildred would spill everything even without him asking.

"Remember I told you my sister, Maria, is about to be engaged, right?"

Alex nods, typing and clearing the same word over and over again. She's not saying what he wants to hear yet.

"So now... Salome happens to be the daughter of the man my sister loves." Mildred says with a clap like she finally hit the nail on the head.

Alex's mouth form a small 'o'. He wouldn't say he's not surprised. He nods again and sigh. "What about her..." He trails off but Mildred already get what he's asking of. Salome's mom.

Mildred looks up in thought. "She lost her mom when she was about... Two?"

"That's sad." Alex comment. He never thought of Salome that way and someone else telling him that sensitive information about his student makes him wish to reverse all the times he was blunt to her.

"Yeah... But wait." Her brows knit together. "Aren't you her teacher? And you don't know that she lost her mom?"

Alex swallows, staring blankly at the screen.

Mildred scoffs, walking away from his desk. "Wow, you're unbelievable Alex."

He turns his head to see her retreating figure. Deep down, he's baffled, feeling a tad guilty with the way he has been treating Salome. Mildred bang the door behind her and he turns around, heaving a deep sigh.

He stare down at the glistening keyboard, then his hands, the same hands she held earlier that made his breath hitch unnoticeably. And the way she retreated her hands, the way her eyes widen like she has committed a huge blunder suddenly makes him pity her.

She has obviously gone through a lot, not every girl her age can live and be as innocent and happy as she is. If not for Mildred, he wouldn't have thought to that extent.

The door flips open again and Alex runs his hand through his short black curly hair, turning around to see a glaring Mildred. She's frowning deadly at him, standing akimbo.

"Stop looking sexy and tell me what you'd like to eat!"

_________________________________________

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