Fancy Me, Professor!

"That professor…"

Shi Lian mumbled and grumbled her complaint and protest. The moment the university bell had rung, she had already collected all of the papers from the students and walked out of their classroom so she could give it to their professor to the faculty room during their free time.

"Do you want me to hold on to it? We can give it to him before lunch time," Zhang Ren suggested, Shi Lian sighing in relief as she handed him over the papers indicating her ease.

"I know I\'m happy for my best friend… but I just can\'t help but think that this professor is so unreasonable that he had to take advantage of it and—"

"Hush, now… people are going to hear whatever it is that you\'re talking about."

Zhang Ren interrupted her by putting his free arm around his shoulder, not minding that he was doing it towards her. Shi Lian was quite taken aback by the unexpected gesture, but because of her annoyance, she couldn\'t even manage to swoon or blush by what he had done.

Shi Lian sighed. With him allowing Zhang Ren to put his arm around her, she felt calmer, but still, her worry was evident on her face.

"We have to talk to them," Shi Lian said in a whisper, both of them already stopping in front of the classroom where their next class is. "They can\'t go on like this. I know they realized their feelings that they have with each other, but this is too much."

As they entered the classroom, both of them sat on their usual seat. With Shu Xian still not present in the classroom, Shi Lian knitted her brows together, wondering why she\'s not yet around.

"Did she plan to skip her classes? If she did because of you-know-who, I\'d definitely scold her because it\'s not in her nature to skip classes!"

Zhang Ren couldn\'t help but pat Shi Lian\'s head to calm her down. With him then keeping the school papers in his bag, he made Shi Lian feel better by doing what he thinks is best.

Talking to her sweetly.

"Don\'t worry, Shi Lian," Zhang Ren started, planting a soft kiss on top of her head that made her eyes widen in surprise. "Let her have fun for today. She did have a roller coaster of emotions. She will be able to focus on the next days."

Shi Lian looked at Zhang Ren, now a soft flush of pink visible on her face.

"You think I should not worry too much?"

"Yes," Zhang Ren answered with a chuckle, all of them in the classroom waiting for their professor. "Besides, it\'s not every day that she falls in love. Give her this time, and for sure, she knows her priorities. If I were in the position of you and me realizing our ardent feelings for each other, I\'d—"

"What?"

Shi Lian interrupted, trying her best not to smile sweetly at the thought.

"What did you say?"

A cheeky grin appeared on Zhang Ren\'s face. He already knew what Shi Lian was smiling about, the thought of him and her showing their passionate feelings to each other.

Even though he knew this and even though he saw the shyness on Shi Lian\'s face, he still answered her question, making her further blush, her face already beet red.

"I mean… if I were to realize so suddenly that I love you dearly, I won\'t be able to focus and I\'ll be overwhelmed. I need time to unwind and get used to it. You\'d feel the same, right?"

With the last question asked, Shi Lian then showed him her smile, nodding at the same time as he agreed.

"Well, you could say that."

At the same time, the school bell had already rung. With the students already settling on their seat, that was the time that Shu Xian already arrived in the classroom, Zhang Ren and Shi Lian widening their eyes as they finally saw her after being worried about her.

Well, mostly on Shi Lian\'s part. She was the one who was anxious most of the time.

The moment Shu Xian sat beside Shi Lian, Shi Lian couldn\'t help but hit Shu Xian\'s leg with her hand, making her wince when she felt her palm on her lap.

"And why did it take you a bit long?"

Shu Xian blinked her eyes and scoffed, shrugging as she answered her best friend\'s question.

"What am I to do? You know he lied and I couldn\'t be honest or else other people will be suspicious!"

"Well, she has a point," Zhang Ren agreed, Shi Lian narrowing her eyes at him then looked at Shu Xian again.

"Anyway, you\'re going to tell me all what had happened later!"

Shu Xian nodded, almost forgetting that Ruo Xi was in their previous class. With her suddenly coming into her thoughts, she then inched in closer toward her friends and asked them a question.

"Well… that woman… where is she?"

Zhang Ren and Shi Lian understood her immediately. As she got her notebook from her bag, Shi Lian answered her question, making Shu Xian sigh in relief.

"She went away the moment the bell rang. Probably on her way to the faculty, I guess," she said, Zhang Ren, clicking his tongue.

"Tsk, tsk… I can\'t believe that that was the one that you told your best friend. She\'d rather be more interested if she heard this!"

"Heard what?" Shu Xian asked, furrowing her brows together in wonder.

"Well, the moment the both of you left..."

Zhang Ren started, his grin not leaving his face. Luckily, the professor didn\'t arrive yet, making them happy that they get to talk more before classes would start.

"Ruo Xi huffed and puffed behind us in frustration. She probably knew that you-know-who is lying."

Shu Xian grinned, liking what she has heard indeed! It\'s as if her pride beamed around her in a beautiful glow, even Zhang Ren and Shi Lian could notice her radiance!

"Oh? You think she was really pissed?"

"Yes!" Shi Lian answered excitedly. "And you know, even I couldn\'t help but stifle my laughter. I felt your triumph!"

Shu Xian and Shi Lian did a high five. With the professor of their next class suddenly coming, everyone then quieted down, already starting the second class of the day.

***

Pan An arrived in the faculty room. The moment he did, it\'s as if the whole faculty talked about him—everyone silencing the moment he emerged in the room.

With him arching a brow at them, he sat on his swivel chair and asked a question, the eyes of the professors on him.

"What\'s wrong? Obviously, you must be talking about me, right?"

The others weren\'t able to speak. However, with the professor who sat next to him being one of those whom he\'s close with at work, he let out a sigh and spoke for everyone else.

"Well, how could we not? With the fact of you having a fiancée as something that\'s unknown, what surprised us more is the fact that she\'s here working for the university. Isn\'t that going to be awkward?"

Pan An couldn\'t help but scoff. With a shook of his head showing disappointment displayed, he crossed his arms in front of his chest, further commenting on about what they have said.

"You guys are more affected about this than I am."

The professor in front of him widened her eyes in disbelief.

"You don\'t find it awkward, Professor Pan An?"

The professor shook his head once more to answer. With a lopsided smile appearing on his face, what he said next made him look cool, the professor beside him chuckling as he saw his smugness.

"Why would I be so awkward about it? She can come and work anywhere if she wants to. I wouldn\'t mind."

"Well, you do seem to have gotten over it," the professor beside him said, the other professors found in the faculty room eagerly listening to the conversation. "You were quite silent and surprised at first when she entered the room—but now, you really didn\'t seem to mind."

Pan An nodded. With him already opening his laptop, he waited for it to reboot, a sigh escaping his lips as he commented on what his co-professor had said.

"Well, you weren\'t wrong when you said I was surprised. I was. But right now, when she appeared right in front of me, ironically, it had proved me something different."

"And what is that?" the female professor in front of Pan An asked, Pan An, looking and smiling at everyone as he knew that they were expecting for his answer.

With Shu Xian\'s image coming to his mind right here and then, he couldn\'t help but grin ear to ear, making the professors in the room all the more curious of to what he meant when he gave them his answer.

"I thought I wouldn\'t be able to get over this… but like a whirlwind, I just did."