CHAPTER THREE

LENA

My heartbeat raced as home slowly pulled out my bottom lip. There was a way his touch felt on my skin that had my body feeling tingly. His grey eyes pierced through mine and I wanted nothing more but to stare in them for as long as I could.

“You're so clueless, Miss Hart.”

Those words snapped me out of my trance. What does he mean by I was clueless? My assignment may not be the best but I tried my best in it at least.

“What do you mean by that?”

He didn’t respond and just handed my paper back to me, not sparing me a glance. “Go and redo this work, miss Hart.”

My heart sank at that statement. I spent all night working on it, only for him to tell me that it's not good enough? This isn't fair to me. “But you can't do this. How am I the only one you're giving assignments to?”

He chuckled softly, and my stomach felt an unfamiliar feeling. Maybe it's because it sounded so sexy. “You have a lot of potential, Miss Hart,” he stood up, towering over me and I've never felt so short in my life.

“Let's see how far you can go, huh?”

Was this some kind of challenge because I was up for it? He thinks that he can break me but what he doesn't know is that I'm impossible to break. “I'd have both assignments submitted on your desk tomorrow morning.”

I snatched the paper from him and could've sworn that I caught him smirking for a moment there, but didn't make anything out of it. I kept thinking of how I could cover an entire book tonight.

But I was up for the challenge. I'm sure that I can do it. He thinks it's possible to break me, but I'm not backing down without a fight.

*********

“This is impossible!” I cried.

The invisible man had so many pages and no matter how hard I tried focusing, I kept thinking back to Mr Knight and how he stared at me, before pulling my bottom lip out. What was that supposed to mean?

I was busy trying to figure that out, instead of focusing entirely on my assignment and it was driving me crazy that be flooded my head like this. I've written on a few themes and deserve rest at least.

A little nap won't hurt.

I closed my books, and rested my head on my study desk. I wanted to rest my eyes for a little bit, it was almost midnight and if I can rest it then I'd wake up around two am and continue.

It didn't take long before I started dozing off.

**********

“Wake up, sweetheart.”

My eyelids fluttered. I looked up to see a sexy and half naked Mr Knight standing in my room, his hands were tucked in his pants and he looked at me, a smirk on his lips.

I jolted out of my chair fast. “Mr Knight, what are you doing here?”

He chuckled softly— That same sound that had me feeling things earlier today. “Don't be like that, Lena. Don't you want me here?”

Lena? He addressed me by my first name.

“Mr Knight?” I called once he started making slow strides towards me. I was feeling nervous and bit my lip once his hands wrapped around my waist causing my breath to hitch.

“When you bite your lips like that, it drives me to the edge that I can barely control myself,” he muttered, staring into my eyes.

“Then don't,” I said, surprised by my response.

He leaned in, his lips almost touching mine.

“No!” I raised my head up immediately and started looking round in my surroundings, my breath getting heavier. It was just a dream. A dream.

I placed a hand on my chest, feeling the wild beating of my heart. My mouth was dry. My face, warm. My breathing came out fast, shallow.

It was just a dream… but it felt so real.

Too real.

I reached for my water bottle with shaky hands and took a few sips, trying to calm myself. My fingers were still trembling as I wiped the sweat from my forehead. What kind of dream was that? What was wrong with me?

He was my professor, for heaven’s sake.

Why was my mind going there?

I tried to laugh it off, but the sound came out awkward and weak. The way he looked at me in the dream… the way his voice dropped to a whisper when he said my name, when he wrapped his arms around me… I touched my waist unconsciously like I could still feel him there.

God, this was so wrong.

But why did it feel… nice?

I shook my head quickly, trying to banish the thought. I couldn’t allow myself to get carried away by a fantasy. Mr. Knight was cold, arrogant, and strict. He gave me assignments just to mess with me. He mocked me in front of the class and made me feel small.

And yet… his eyes. There was something in them when he looked at me earlier today. Something that lingered a little too long. It wasn’t my imagination, was it?

I closed my eyes again, trying to clear my head. But instead of calmness, all I could see was the smirk he wore when I challenged him. The way he leaned closer when he removed my bottom lip. That moment wasn’t part of the dream. That was real.

Why did he do that?

He didn’t have to. It was just a nervous habit—I bit my lip when I was stressed. But he noticed. And he did something about it. My skin tingles at the memory of his fingers brushing against my face.

What if someone had seen us?

What if he did that to other girls too?

The thought made my stomach twist… in a way I didn’t like.

“No, no, no,” I whispered to myself and opened my book again. I needed to focus. I still had work to do. No more dreaming. No more thinking about Mr. Knight’s grey eyes or deep voice or—God, his arms.

I pressed my face into my hands and groaned.

What was happening to me?

This wasn’t like me. I’d never had a crush on a teacher before. Never had a dream like that about anyone. Maybe I was just stressed. Maybe my brain was looking for an escape. Yeah, that had to be it.

Still… I found myself glancing at the clock.

If I sleep now, maybe I’ll dream of him again. And that terrified me more than I wanted to admit. Because I didn't want him.

But part of me already did.

And I didn’t know how to stop.