Chapter 59

Tessa’s POV

I felt sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to sit in this office any longer. She was now working on her computer, and I was frozen to the seat, staring at her with a dumbfounded expression on my face.

She glanced at me with a frown.

“You may leave now; I have some work to do. But thank you, Tessa, for speaking with me. I quite enjoyed this talk.”

I still remained seated; I was unable to feel my body. It seemed as if Miss Emily was going to start pursing Joseph and she was warning me to stay away from him. But I couldn’t have understood that correctly. I never gave her a reason to believe there was anything going on between Joseph and me.

Miss Emily was very beautiful; that was obvious from the moment I met her. But would Joseph really go for her?

I felt my face flaring; I had to shake the thought out of my head before I lost my mind.

I stood to my feet and forced a smile at her.

“Thank you, Miss Emily,” I said to her.

I left without another word.

I wanted to crawl into a ball and cry at that moment. But I fought back the tears and walked to the lunchroom. I wasn’t going to give anybody at this school the satisfaction of my tears.

Ruby saw me coming from a distance and she seemed pleased. She quickly stood to her feet so I could see her easily and motioned for me to sit in the empty seat by her spot.

“How was the talk with Emily,” She asked, peering over t me with a worried frown as I sat down.

“It was interesting,” I answered. “I think she just wanted to see if Joseph was single.”

“What??” Ruby gasped. “Do you want me to punch her Because I will punch her.”

She had her lips pressed together firmly and she was looking anything but happy.

“No, I don’t need you to punch her,” I said shaking my head. “But I do know she’s going to want to get close to Joseph. I’m just not sure what to do about it.”

I leaned back in the seat, feeling defeated.

“If Joseph really liked you, he’s not going to settle for her,” Ruby said with a shrug. “I would worry too much about it. It’s just a crush. It doesn’t mean he likes her back.”

I knew she was right, and I had to trust that Joseph would tell me the truth if something were to happen between him and Emily. Not that Joseph and I were much of anything, to begin with.

We weren’t a couple.

If Joseph wanted to date her, I had to let him.

…

Joseph's POV

Tessa left Emily’s office with a worn-out and saddened face. I narrowed my eyes as I watched her head toward the stairway. She didn’t see, and neither did Emily, which is how I wanted it.

Why was Tessa speaking with Emily?

I wondered mainly who initiated this conversation.

Tessa wasn’t looking happy after that conversation, so I’m sure it didn’t go in her favor. But regardless, Emily wasn’t her teacher so whatever she had to say shouldn’t have affected Tessa in any such way.

Though I know Tessa’s been rather upset about my relationship with Emily, I doubted it had anything to do with that. Emily was a professional. At least she was seemingly.

“Joseph?” Emily said, coming out of her office with a timid frown on her face. “I didn’t see you there. Are you hungry? I have extra lunch today,” she stated with a smile on her face.

The last time I had her cooking I didn’t like it. Nobody could cook as well as Tessa. Though I wanted to find out what she said to Tessa, I suppose I should humor her for a little bit.

“Sure,” I said, giving her my best smile.

“I hope you like lasagna,” she said, broadening her smile as she made her way to the office.

I sat in one of her chairs and watched as she plated the food delicately. I was suddenly feeling annoyed with her. Whatever she said to Tessa upset her, which in return, upsets me.

“I saw you talking to one of my students,” I heard myself saying just as she finished plating the food.

She frowned and glanced at me, but only briefly.

“Tessa,” she confirmed. “Yes. I just wanted to get to know her a little better. Pick her brain. You two seem very close.”

“Not much closer than I am with my other students,” I said shortly after.

She looked surprised by this.

“I beg to differ. You two seem very close. You even referred to her as your favorite student. I guess I just wanted to see what made her your favorite.”

I knew I had said too much when I spoke about Tessa all those times. I had told Emily that Tessa was my pen pal and that we met before I became a teacher. I shouldn’t have said as much as I did.

I stood to my feet.

“Emily, I would appreciate it if you didn’t cross that boundary again and speak to my students in such a way.”

Her eyes widened.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep. I just thought—”

“I know what you thought and I’m sorry, but I take my career and reputation seriously. I hope you can respect that.”

“Yes, of course,” she said, scrunching her face. “It won’t happen again.”

I nodded my head and left her office.

I’m sure that wasn’t how she expected that conversation to go, but I didn’t want her to think anything was going to happen between us. I needed to set the record straight for the sake of my sanity, and Tessa’s sanity.

On the drive home, Tessa was quiet. It was still daylight when we left the school and just the small amount of being outside to walk to the car made me feel unwell. I sat in the backseat while Tessa drove, and she wasn’t her normal chatty self. Usually, she would be telling me about her day or about the latest book she had read. But this time, she was giving me nothing.

From what I could see in the back seat, her expression was hardened and emotionless. Whatever Emily had said to her must have really gotten to her and I wish I knew exactly what was said.

I would have asked her, but it’s clear she didn’t want me to know about that little meeting they had.

When we got back to the Villa, she was quick to disappear into her room. I furrowed my brows together, watching her back as she went up the stairs.

She had said nothing to me this entire time and I didn’t enjoy this silent treatment.

I decided maybe I should cook her dinner so she can have a break tonight.

I went into the kitchen and got to work right away.

I made a classic dish, spaghetti, and meatballs.

Once dinner was finished, I went upstairs to get Tessa, but I saw the light under her door was off. I frowned as I stepped closer to the door, with my vampire hearing, I could hear the light snores coming from her room.

She was sleeping?

It wasn’t even 6 pm yet.

I wasn’t going to disturb her while she slept, but it made me feel uneasy knowing that she was sleeping so early. I went back downstairs and made Tessa a plate of food, wrapping it in saran wrap, I put it in the fridge so she could have it later.

I made myself my own plate and went into my office to get some work done.

I forgot the last thing I did this morning on my computer was read Tessa’s blog because it was on my screen when I looked at the computer. It was something I did every morning because I enjoyed her blog. It gave me a sense of wonder in the morning and sometimes it would even motivate my lessons.

It looked like she had updated her blog when we returned home from school today.

The blog title had me frozen.

“Sad and confused,” I read the title out loud as I clicked on the post.

Most of her posts were short, but they were powerful pieces, straight from her personal journal now that she decided on the theme of her blog. So, I knew everything said in this post was her real emotions, and that admittedly had me worried.

As I read the post, my brows furrowed together, and I leaned back in the seat. Whatever Emily had said to her, made her believe that I was seeing her and that what I said to Tessa yesterday about not being interested in Emily was a lie.

I should have set the record straight long ago when I sensed Emily flirting. As soon as Tessa grew uncomfortable, I should have said something.

Now she was depressed and sleeping… and it was all my fault.