Preface To The Unknown 5
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Quistis dried her eyes and rose from her bed. She was still trembling and upset. Did Seifer just use her? Or was he really interested in her. After all, he had run after Rinoa when they kissed in the hall. Why was she letting him get so close to her, not just once but twice, and in the ultimate closeness the second time. And most of all, why was this bothering her so much? After all, she had been in such relationships in the past. "Enough" Quistis thought, "I am not going to let Seifer Almasy screw with my head like this".
She walked to her closet and removed her everyday dull peach outfit. Having dressed herself she walked to her desk and began to gather her lesson plans for the day. She had worked too hard to regain her instructor's license to let some rendezvous with Almasy cause her to miss a class. She gathered all of her necessities and headed for the 2nd floor classroom. She arrived there to find the usual over-achieving Trepies sitting in the front row eagerly awaiting their idol. "That is so sick." Quistis thought to herself but greeted them anyway. She sat at her desk while the rest of the class poured in.
After teaching a tedious class on the Junction Elemental Magic function she dismissed her students and began grading their tests. She opened the drawer in front of her in search of her red correction pen only to find a white rose with a small white flat card with a gold hyperion etched in the front of it. Much to her own chagrin, Quistis couldn't help but smile. "Seifer. . ."she breathed aloud removing the flower and inhaling its sweet fragrance.
"What about Seifer?" a woman's voice asked.
Quistis, startled, turned to see Rinoa Heartiilly's dark features gazing hard at her from the doorway. Quistis had forgotten about her encounter with Rinoa and quickly returned her gift to the drawer.
"Rinoa, um, what can I do for you?" Quistis asked
"Actually, I just told you. You could tell me what's up with you and Seifer." Rinoa replied, her eyes fixed intently and inquisitively on Quistis'.
Quistis inhaled deeply and prepared her answer. She certainly wasn't going to share the most intimate details of her life with Rinoa. "If you mean that scene in the hallway yesterday, Rinoa, that was a very awkward moment, Seifer and I were both overcome with joy that Squall had allowed him back into garden. He was thanking me in his own way, you know how he is."
"Unfortunately, I do." Rinoa replied "I think I know just a little more about the subject at hand than you do actually"
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Quistis retorted.
"Well Seifer "thanked me" very often when we spent last summer together in Timber. Surely you knew that, right, Quisty?"
Until then Quistis didn't realize that Rinoa was being so snide with her. She quickly decided that she had had enough of being interrogated by Rinoa. Yes they had gone through a lot together in the past few weeks but they certainly weren't friends and Rinoa had a lot of nerve speaking to her that way.
"Well, I would guess so seeing how upset you were when you saw what you did in the hall. That wouldn't have been jealousy on your tear-stained face would it, Rin?"
Rinoa was silent for a moment. She stared at Quistis hard and then spoke, "Okay, let's stop this, I was wrong to have asked you such personal questions and I won't mention them again as long as you do the same for me, okay?"
" . . .Whatever." was Quistis' flat reply. Rinoa turned on her heel and walked out of the door. Quistis immediately locked it and reopened her drawer; she didn't want to share the message on the card with anyone else. She picked up the small card and flipped it over to reveal one word scrawled in Seifer's messy handwriting, "SORRY".
"Sorry. . .sorry. . .sorry. . .sorry. . ." she thought aloud. Did he mean about last night, the past weeks, a lifetime of torment and haranguing? Why was he so cryptic about his feelings? Couldn't he have said more? It was so short, I mean did Fujin write it?
She took the rose along with her papers and headed to her room. As she was fumbling with the elevator, a hand reached her shoulder. She whirled around expecting to see Seifer, but instead it was Squall.
"Oh, Squall, hi, you scared me there" she said, as her excitement dissipated.
"Sorry about that, I guess I'll cut right to the chase." Squall said, replaying the scene he saw between Seifer outside her room, the night before. "Are you okay?"
"Okay? Squall, why wouldn't I be?" He glanced down and saw the rose with the Hyperion card.
"Oh, I just thought that with Seifer back at garden that maybe he pressured you into helping him back in."
"Oh, no, Squall it's nothing like that."
"Good," Squall replied. "because Cid has allowed him back in garden with one term, that he becomes a SeeD, that goes for Raijin and Fujin, as well. They will all be in your class tomorrow. . . unless you have any problems or conflicts with that. You don't right, Quisty? " "Hyne, please tell me she doesn't" he thought.
Quistis swallowed deeply. Oh Hyne. This was certainly a most compromising position as far as ethics went, but as she said earlier she certainly wasn't going to let Seifer jeopardize all the hard work she did getting back her instructor's license.
"No, Squall" she said firmly, "I can do it, no problem."
"Great" Squall replied. "Oh I hope this means she had sense enough not to sleep with him. The "Sorry" on that card means he probably left so he sent her that to apologize. I'll kill him if he hurts Quistis; she's like my sister. "I'll register them right now. See you later." They had arrived at her dorm. Squall continued down the corridor and Quistis entered her keycard, and closed the door behind her. Now safely in her room she screamed "Arrggghhh!! What have I gotten myself into?"
"I don't know, what were you hoping for?" a voice said from her bed. She flicked the light on to see Seifer Almasy lounging on her bed with a mischievous grin.
"Oh, Hyne, tell me I'm dreaming!" Quistis pleaded, as she turned the lights back off.