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Love Flavored Latte - Chapter 7
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“Organic and biological chemists use an abbreviated drawing convention called line structures. It’s quite simple and helps…”
Lightly fiddling with his fingers, Matt tried his hardest to focus on the actual lesson rather than his professor’s voice.
Time went by quickly, and it had already been a month ever since the second semester started. Up until now, it was still… quite a sight for Matt to watch Professor Angevine teach, to be honest. This felt very different from what he saw at the coffee shop, where his professor just looked like a very relaxed young man with a handsome face, a man who also happened to love latte a lot.
But in class, he didn’t look exactly the same. Of course, he was still that man with a collected attitude, but his posture and his way of speaking seemed more professional, which was something Matt hadn’t seen of him but wasn’t something unexpected either. In fact, Matt was fascinated by this little change. The way his hand held the book while the other moved the laser pointer to make his students pay attention to a certain thing on the projector… Everything he did was so gentle yet so confident at the same time. Not only that, his voice was also calm, so calm that Matt just couldn’t stop listening to it.
With his pen in hand, Matt took notes while still listening attentively, just like usual. In high school, his friends teased him with the sarcastic title “goody two shoes” because most of the time, he was seen focusing on the lessons while his classmates were literally dozing off due to the teacher’s boring lecture.
To be completely honest, Matt wasn’t usually interested in the lectures either, unless it was a good one. But he needed to listen carefully to it regardless, just so he could understand the lesson and do his homework well. However, right now, it was a completely different case. Matt just loved Professor Angevine’s lecture, though he didn’t know if it was because of his professor’s way of teaching or the fact that he had a crush on the man in question.
One hour passed by quickly without Matt’s knowledge. The bell soon rang, making him jump a little. With that same calm voice, his professor dismissed the class and everyone started leaving one by one. Well, everyone except some girls who were going to the podium, seemingly in order to ask their professor some questions about today’s lesson. But Matt was sure the lesson wasn’t really the main reason, which emitted a sigh from him. Matt just couldn’t understand how some people just had the confidence to strike up a conversation with someone they were romantically interested in. He, on the other hand, could never do it without preparing himself mentally first, which made him admire those confident people greatly.
The way they were talking happily with their professor did make him feel jealous a little, he hated to admit. Throughout the week, he had seen girls coming up to Professor Angevine every time class ended, and he swore that some same faces kept appearing. He envied them that they could just talk to him without any worries written all over their face, unlike him.
He really wanted to have conversations with Professor Angevine, but he was always afraid that he wouldn’t have anything to say, which would just lead to awkward silence nobody wished to create. Therefore, he just ended up abandoning the idea most of the time.
Today, however, thing were a little different. Even though he had tried to listen to the lecture, there were some parts that were still a little confusing to him, and he feared that they would be necessary materials for the future exams. But with people surrounding Professor Angevine like that, he felt like he wouldn’t have enough time to be able to talk to his professor before the next bell rang. Moreover, he would probably make his professor more tired than he already was after answering those students’ questions.
So, with one final glance, he turned his back and walked out of the room to head to his next class, deciding that he could look more into the lesson by himself later.
…__________…
As he rubbed his eyes, Matt closed the book he was reading because the walls of text were really making him dizzy. Putting the pen down, he leaned back against his chair and stretched in an attempt to relax his muscles.
Since it was Friday afternoon, he didn’t have class or work, which meant he had all the time to do some research on what he had trouble understanding that same morning. He figured that going to his college’s library would be a good idea, as it had all the books that he needed to look into the subject more closely. But the more he read, the more confusing and complex it got.
He didn’t know if it was his fault or the lesson’s. Maybe he wasn’t doing it right, not focusing on the necessary points. Or maybe the problems were just difficult to grasp. Looking at his phone, it was now half past four in the afternoon, meaning that he had been here for an hour and got nothing out of it. Just thinking about that fact alone made him even more exhausted than he already was.
Deciding that he should try to relax before getting back to it, he leaned his face against his palm, picked up his pencil and began drawing random lines on his piece of scrap paper. While he was letting his mind drift freely, his hand was moving as if it had a mind of its own, and before he knew it, the name Ray Angevine had appeared on the paper. But instead of getting surprised, another sigh just left his lips.
Maybe he should have gotten Professor Angevine’s help, but then again, he didn’t have a chance this morning, so it wasn’t really his fault. And since there was no class until next Monday, he had no choice but to wait.
“Here it is.”
If it wasn’t the name on the scrap paper that surprised Matt, then it was definitely the familiar voice from behind that did it. Startled, he grabbed a book and hid his face behind it, glancing side to side continuously. He had sometimes mistaken a stranger’s voice for his friends’, but it was no mistaking that it was the voice of the very man he was thinking about. Its deep tone was very distinguishable and different from the rest, at least from his perspective.
And he had no idea why he was trying so hard to shield his face away from the older man’s sight. Having his professor here right now would be extraordinarily perfect as he could explain the material to him, so there was nothing logical to explain why he was hiding. The fear of talking to his crush, perhaps?
A few minutes passed without anyone approaching him, and just when Matt thought he was mistaken, that same voice spoke up again. But this time it sounded near, as if… its owner was right beside him.
“Matthew? Is that you?”
Hearing his name, Matt looked up, and his theory was confirmed to be correct. There he was, the brunet Matt was expecting and not expecting at the same time. Professor Angevine was still in his white shirt and black tie, his hair brushed neatly and his fringe falling down his face as perfectly as always. One of his hands was placed on his hip while the other held a book by his side, his blue eyes looking down at Matt’s curious and surprised brown ones as he stood behind him.
Something in Matt’s mind hit him. If he had pin-pointed that the voice was behind him, then what was the point of covering his face with a book in the first place?
He felt dumb all of a sudden, but that wasn’t important right now.
“Good afternoon, Professor Angevine,” he said before realizing that he had managed to greet his professor without stuttering. He felt like he had achieved something great.
“Good afternoon to you too, Matthew.” Professor Angevine nodded as he smiled. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Neither did I, professor.” Matt chuckled, his hand placed on the back of his neck. “Why are you here today?”
“Well…” His professor, for a split second, glanced down at the book in his hand before holding it up for him to see. Matt leaned closer and read the title, guessing that it was a science documentary book. “My friend recommended me this book and said I’d love it. To be honest, it really looks interesting.”
“It does,” Matt said as his professor quickly flicked through the pages.
“What about you, Matthew?”
“M-Me?” Matt honestly wasn’t prepared for this question yet, even though he should have expected it. He soon found himself trying to choose between two options—should he reveal the fact that he needed his professor’s help or completely hide it?
Anyone would say that he was stupid for not telling him, but truth be told, he felt like it could get awkward at any given moment if he asked his professor to explain the lesson more clearly to him. This would be a one on one study session without any of his friends around, so one wrong move and the air around them would get uncomfortably quiet quickly, which was the last thing he wanted. But if he didn’t take this opportunity, he would lose this very rare chance, as he was sure it was quite impossible for him to have a private conversation with his professor with those admirers surrounding them.
Clenching his hands nervously, he gulped before looking up at the professor.
“Um, actually…” He tried to talk slowly so that his words wouldn’t turn into gibberish. “I’m having trouble with some materials in this morning’s lesson.”
Surprise could be found in Professor Angevine’s eyes. “Really?”
“Yes, so…” Matt averted his gaze for a quick second, “I’m trying to figure it out myself.”
“Why didn’t you ask me instead?” There was a hint of concern in Professor Angevine’s voice.
“Well, um… How do I say this…” Matt scratched the back of his head as he attempted to word his reason correctly. “Some students were already asking you”—just like usual, he added in his head—”so I was afraid I’d bother you.”
“Oh, I see. No wonder.” His professor held up one hand to his chin. “At the end of class this morning, I noticed you were looking at me, and you looked like you wanted to ask someth—”
Professor Angevine cut himself off out of the blue, and when Matt looked up out of confusion, he immediately spotted the dumbfounded expression on his professor’s face. His professor looked as if he was regretting his words, and Matt didn’t understand why until he thought back to what the other man had just told him.
His professor had… noticed him staring, even with those girls standing around him? It sounded unreal, but there was no denying that was what his ears had heard, and he didn’t know if he wanted to believe it or not.
“A-Anyway!” Professor Angevine spoke quickly, seemingly as an attempt to push away what he had just said, cutting Matt’s lines of thoughts. “What is it that you want to ask me about?”