"Without you, I would fall apart. I'm safe when I am in your arms. And only you can set me free and only you can save me." —Darin.

••

I enter the lecturers' staffroom behind him to discover an empty space. I was hoping a few teachers would be sitting around but none seems to be present.

The interior is like any other typical teachers' quarters with piles of books on the desks and overcrowded work areas, littered with loose papers.

"Where is everyone?" I ask looking around. His response delays as he briskly trod down to the back of the room, the sounds of the ceiling fan and his footsteps being the only noises present.

"At a meeting. That I am supposed to be at, but your rude remarks landed us here, Ms. Skye." He finally presents a response as he opens a door to what looks like his office. It squeaks as it lands against the wall, and he steps aside to grant me access. "After you."

I stare at him hesitantly for a while, leading him to glance down at his wristwatch impatiently. "I have a class soon, Harmony."

He creeps me out, but I would like to believe that he would never attempt anything when teachers could most likely return at any moment.

His office is dull and cramped, holding just a few worn-down furniture; a wooden desk with a chair tucked under it, a discolored ceiling fan, and few art pieces hanging on the cream walls. Normally they would have caught my eye, but not today, I am way too discomforted to pay attention to them. A photo of a mature lady and a little girl is sitting on his desk—presumably, his family. The silver ring on his marital finger does not go unnoticed by me.

I reluctantly step into the room but stand in the doorway, rubbing a hand along my arm with unease.

He steps in behind me, so close that I feel his round stomach against my back, and I quickly move to the side while he closes the door behind us.

Awkwardly standing in my position, I watch as he shrugs his grey jacket off, a thick silence hanging in the atmosphere. The feelings of premonition I tend to get whenever I converse with this man comes back with great intensity, and I wish that he would quickly say what he needs to so that I can leave.

"Um, Mr. Jones—"

"The work you did in class last week," he begins, pushing up some of the contents on his desk so he can find a clear spot to sit in. "You did really bad on it, Harmony."

I notice he grips the photo frame of his wife and kid and turns it down onto its face. What is that about?

I tear my eyes away from the action and look back to him as he raises his chin expectantly, shoving his palms into the pockets of his grey trousers.

How can he say that I did bad on my classwork? Is he talking about the exercise we did on The French Revolution? I am positive that I did fairly well on that assignment that I even shared my pointers with Blaze and assisted him with his in class. He must have made a mistake.

"Are you sure?" I ask with an eyebrow raised in question. "I am very much aware of my potential and I don't think I did bad. Do you have the paper with you? Could I have a look?"

I am always ready to fight for my grades especially if I feel I was marked unfairly.

"Oh no, I didn't bring it with me today. You got a C though and I am very disappointed."

He gets up and walks to the door to close the notch, and my brows furrow tightly. The action feels ominous, but I try not to get too anxious. Anxiety makes you impulsive, and he wouldn't dare to attempt anything inside a staff room now, would he?

"Um, I-I do not think I was graded fairly." I try to protest, but my voice comes out sounding less assertive than intended. Why on earth did he just close the door?

A smile is on his face as he approaches me. "Well, it is. I told you hanging out with Blaze Xander will distract you from your studies."

"Blaze has nothing to do with my grades." I make it clear to him. "I am not easily distracted."

I will not listen to him blame Blaze for something that has nothing to do with him. I won't listen to anyone badmouthing him. Furthermore, I do not believe a word he's saying. I am sure that I did great on that classwork because my history teacher gave us a similar assignment in high school and I winded up with an A+.

"I would like to see the paper," I tell him.

He steps closer to me, and I take a prompt one back.

"Hey hey, it's okay..." He says in a whisper. "I know how you can bring that grade up, Harmony."

I squint my eyes at him. "What?"

"Many girls do it." He shrugs lightly, his voice dropped to its lowest pitch. "A lot of the times when females are failing a subject in college, it is solved easily by just...sleeping with their professor."

My jaws slacken. What?

"Excuse me? I need to go—"

I turn away when he grips my arm and pulls me back to him, putting his face into mine. I try to wheel my wrist from his grasp, my brows furrowing incredulously. How dare he grabs me like I am his wife?

"What are you doing, Mr. Jones?"

"Don't you want that A, Harmony? Don't be all high and mighty, it takes nothing to just accept the offer and I will ensure you get an A in all your assignments."

"Let me go!" I demand.

"Come on, the deal isn't that bad. If you don't take the offer..." He shrugs with a can't-be-helped expression. "I may or may not just give you a D for the whole semester, so then you would have to redo this course next year, and maybe then you will take my offer, or of course, I will fail you again. And English is your major, right? You don't want to fail your major."

Tears well in my eyes. How could he be so disgusting?

He raises his fingers to trail them along my face when I shift away from him. "Do not."

"Harmony, come on. That's all I ask."

I am so disgusted that it is so unbearable.

I send him a deep glare of hatred, warm salty fluids sliding along my face. "Aren't you married?"

He clenches his jaws at this and presumably, I touched a sore spot.

"And you even have a kid." I watch as the muscles in his face twitch at the mention of his family. "You have a daughter. A daughter. What if someone did this to her? How would you feel?"

He glares at me wordlessly.

"How would you feel if someone tried coming onto her? How would you feel if you had to deal with a man doing this to her? How could you be so obnoxious and obscene? Do you have even an ounce of shame? You're sickening! You disgust me, you make me sick!"

Slap!

His big hand collides with my cheek, the impact jolting my head to the side, and I clutch the spot in shock while my body tremors from the sting.

"Did...did you just put your hand on me?"

He sighs. "I am still your lecturer; have some manners!"

He pushes me against his desk and I cry out in disgust as the contents go crashing to the floor. My hand is stealthily dipping into my pocket to retrieve my phone, but he grips my wrist painfully, forcing me to let the cell go.

"Do. Not. Call. Anyone."

"Let me go, that hurts!"

"Be quiet, Harmony!" He screams in my face, specks of his saliva coating my skin. I cringe in disgust as he presses himself against me. "Did you cry when that little delinquent Blaze touched you? Because I know you allowed him to touch you. What can he give to you? Nothing but good looks and a broken heart. Me? I will let you pass this college with flying colors. I will make you a star. Your future is in my hands!"

The door suddenly thrusts open and I bring desperate, teary eyes to see who stands there. A gasp falls off my lips when my eyes meet a pair of familiar blue circles.

Blaze. He found me.

I feel like the entire world has come to a standstill. His presence is like a ray of light at the end of a dark tunnel. How did he find me?

My face squeezes at the sight of him, thick tears streaking along my cheeks. "Blaze." I can only whimper his name, my heart swelling with so much relief that it could burst from my chest.

His eyes are dark as he studies the scene playing out in front of him, his eyebrows pulling together firmly. And then his lips rise in a smirk—a creepy one. I remember that same sinister smile from that last time Mr. Jones had provoked him in English Class. That same moment he had gripped that knife and I recall what he had said that day.

If he ever tries anything with you, I will gladly burst his throat.

"Oh. What a fucking surprise. Mr. Jones, in all his filthy glory, trying to harass a student."

Mr. Jones clenches his teeth, and the sudden fear in his eyes is enough to tell me that he knows he can't trust this boy standing in front of him.

"H-how did you get in here?"

Blaze raises a hairpin he holds between his fingers. "Well, my little delinquent ass do know how to pick a lock. I used to do that a lot when I wanted to illegal trespass in the past, you see."

Mr. Jones moves away from me and begins to step back, almost stumbling over his own feet. "Get out at once!"

"Oh, I will after I play with you a little..." Blaze's smile disappears in a blink and is immediately replaced with a chillingly scary look that even my blood runs cold.

"I don't think you realize how this deeply offends me, Mr. Jones," he continues as he retrieves his knife from his back pocket and begins to twirl the point slowly on his fingertip. "Who the fuck gave you permission to touch her?"

~

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