Memories and Surprises

“Oh my god! I knew that man was a jerk!” Pen said through the phone and Thea sighed.

“Don’t rub it in, Pen…” She told her friend who remained silent for a moment probably realizing how pissed off Thea must be.

“What are you planning to do anyway?” Pen asked.

“Nothing… As long as he doesn’t make a scene…” Thea answered feeling more tired and dizzy than before.

“You sound tired…” Pen said.

“I am… I just want to go back home.” Thea lied as she tried to sound as normal as possible.

In truth, she felt a lot worse than tired. She felt queasy.

“Do you want me to drive you back?”

“You still have a lecture and besides you weren’t going back home until late tonight?” Thea said,

“I do. But you’re more important than that…”

“Thanks, but I will be fine.” Thea said with a smile, “I can drive myself home and we can have a girl’s night tomorrow. You can listen to me rant about my jerk of an ex as we drink tequila shots.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Pen said slowly sounding worried, “Call me if you need anything,”

“I will,” Thea answered hanging up with her friend as she walked down the street.

She didn’t know what happened first, her losing her balance as she stepped on the road or the car horning as it screeched making its way toward her. Either way, Thea felt a bit of dizziness hit her out of the blue and she was on the ground awaiting a black car to hit her at any moment.

She couldn’t scream, she didn’t have the time for that. She couldn’t move either, nor could she breath. All she could do was await death as the car screeched heading toward her. There was no running away from it.

After one fraction of a second that felt like an eternity, the car stopped mere inches before hitting her. Breathless, Thea inhaled feeling tremors running through her body as she stared at the front of the car her eyes wide in fear and shock.

She heard the car door open and a deep voice cursing.

“Damn it! Are you okay?!” He asked as he ran toward the front of the car and kneeled before her.

Thea took a deep breath and blinked before slowly looking at the man who was kneeling before her, his green gaze focused on her filled with worry as his eyes scanned her face looking for any anomaly.

His dark locks fell forward on his forehead telling just how much he was affected by their almost accident.

“I-I’m fine…” She said as she took another shaky breath.

That was a close call. What in the world was she thinking? She was usually more vigilant than this. It’s embarrassing to think that what Robert did got to her to this extent.

“Are you sure? You look pale,” He said looking at her intently as if he was looking at her for the first time his gaze deep and pensive.

“Yes. I’m okay.” She insisted giving the man a small smile as she began to stand up, only to be hit with another bit of dizziness.

“Woah careful,” He said as he grabbed her before she could topple back to the ground.

“Ah, sorry. We can clearly see now what was the cause of this incident,” She said, feeling quite embarrassed, especially when she was practically being held up by this handsome stranger.

“I should have been more careful too. Just because I left the highway doesn’t mean that I can be carelessly driving,” He said with an awkward smile, “ Are you sure you’re okay? You look very pale. Maybe I should call an ambulance.”

The thought of an ambulance coming and causing a fuss made her almost shudder. That would be way too embarrassing.

“No, really, I am fine. The car stopped before hitting me, and I just tripped and fell earlier so no harm was done,” Thea said as she straightened up standing straight despite her queasiness.

The arm that had been around her retreated and Thea felt a strange sensation of loss that she ignored, only to be surprised when the man didn’t remove his hand completely. Instead, his palm touched her back slightly to stop her in case she fell again.

He looked at her intently for a few moments before giving in with a wry smile.

“I give in, I can see that you’re not going to agree to with me on this. But instead, why don’t you rest on the bench for a little while?” He said gesturing toward the benches installed in the small park near them.

Not having any good reason to refuse, Thea nodded in agreement trying to walk toward the bench with the handsome stranger still beside her matching her steps.

When she reached the bench, she was completely exhausted and her dizziness was hitting again so she sat down, closed her eyes, and sighed.

“Give me a minute. I will park my car and be right back,” She heard him say and when she opened her eyes she saw his retreating back as he walked toward his car.

The man was well-built for sure. Judging from his wide shoulders and the confident way he walked. His simple but impeccable style spoke volumes too. His simple cream sweater was clearly of high quality, matched with designer shoes and pants. And the red flag of the road was literally his car, a black classic, and a beautiful one at that…

The man was definitely rich, and not the kind of overnight or flashy rich. He was clearly someone who was used to living in luxury enough for it to become mundane.

The question was, what was this man doing on campus? He was clearly not a student…

Thea let go of that train of thoughts when the car moved and she closed her eyes again trying to regain her composure only to be hit by a wave if dry heaving.

Damn, that scene was disgusting. At this rate she was going to be traumatized for the rest of her life. It’s not like she’d never seen someone else having sex. In fact, as he roommate, Pen wasn’t very particular about who saw her intimate relationships back in her college days. They even used to call her the Chimistry sex maniac.

And it was a well deserved name because those were the only things that Pen paid attention to back then. Now she settled down. A little bit…

Thea had never had a problem with that. It is awkward but not uncomfortable. She also had no problems with cheating exes. There was a reason why they were exes in the first place. She knew that the disgust she was feeling didn’t have anything to do with her psychological reaction. It was very physiological.

But somehow, she was too ashamed to admit it.

This was all thanks to the very suspicious cake leftover she ate this morning…

A hand settled on her back stroking it gently as Thea tried to catch her breath. The huge hand seeped warmth through her clothes and for the first time, she realized that she was feeling cold.

“Here, this should calm you down a little bit,” The handsome stranger said handing her a takeout cup that smelled strangely like mint.

“Thanks,” She breathed out inhaling the aroma of mint tea and feeling her stomach starting to settle down a little.

As she gulped down the second mouthful of tea, she felt like she could talk again.

“Sorry about this…” She said with a slight smile, “You don’t have to keep me company,”

“I don’t mind though…” He said with a grin and she smiled back at him. It was impossible not to. The man was too handsome not to smile back at him.

They sat there in silence for a few moment before speaking again.

“Do you teach here?” He asked her and she nodded.

The bag of papers and laptop should have been a dead giveaway.

“I do. I’m from the biology department,” She answered.

“Interesting, what’s your specialty?” He asked then smiled, “I’m a bit of a biology enthusiast myself,”

“I plant biology in general,” She answered,

“My Bachelor’s degree is in is in plant Biochemistry,” He answered with an interested smile, “Seems like our interests line up,”

“Seems so,” She answered with a smile, “You look more like someone with an MBA than a biology major.”

“I have one of those too. For the family business’ sake,” He answered,

“That must have been a lot of work, to have a double major in two completely unrelated fields,” She said.

“You have no Idea. My college life sucked,” He answered and she laughed.

“Well, family baggage is always heavy to carry,” She said and he gave her a smile.

“Enough to make you wonder if it’s worth the while,” He added and she smiled at him.

This guy understood…

“Are you here to attend a lecture?” She asked,

“No, I’m just here for an appointment,” he answered with a smile, “But now that I am here, I may be sit in in a few lectures. For old times’ sake,”

“Then I won’t keep you any longer. I should be heading back too,” Thea said with a smile as she stood up, “Thank you for the help, and the tea. It was exactly what I needed,”

“You’re very welcome. I’m glad you’re feeling better,” He answered with a smile extending his hand to her.

Thea took his hand ignoring the warmth and fuzziness that she felt as soon as their fingers touched.

“Can I at least know your name before we part ways?” He asked with a smile not letting go of her palm,

“It’s Thea,” She answered with a smile.

“Thea,” He said with a sensual smile uttering her name as if it was the sweetest form of seduction. Before Thea could fully pull herself together he pulled her hand toward him and pressed a tender kiss to the back of her hand his gaze fixed on her never leaving her.

“I hope we will have the chance to meet again, Thea…”