After Clara had told him off in the break room, he couldn't help but feel a bit strange. Strange as in he was speechless, his brain completely blanked out when she got so close to him.

The Doctor isn't the sort of person who enjoys physical contact. At least, not in the general sense. He especially hates hugging since, in his opinion, it's just a way to hide one's face. Even somebody being a bit too close to him would make him uncomfortable, but what had happened with Clara made him feel something different.

He would never ever admit it, but the way she threatened him was, well, for the lack of a better word, a turn on. Oh, he hated to say that in his head.

And this wasn't even the first time he had such thoughts. No doubt that his colleague is attractive. Even a blind person could tell Clara is beautiful, but she just gets on his nerves.

John had been trying to convince himself that he wasn't attracted to Clara since the told-off in the break room. Noticing an attractive woman and being attracted to her are two different things, or so he says to himself.

These thoughts were what led him to plug his electric guitar into the amplifier when he returned home later in the evening, as he needed to convince himself that he felt nothing for the Impossible Girl. By playing the guitar loudly, she should be irritated enough to come barging to his home.

That's exactly what happened, but not the way he expected things to turn out.

The Doctor had expected them to argue, as they always would, but he didn't expect her to point out that his pet cat had been stealing so-called 'Mr Darcy's' food. What surprised him, even more, was when he played Pretty Woman as she walked back to her home.

Where did that come from?

He glanced at the black cat that was still staring at him.

"What?" John asked, leaning against the door. He then squinted his eyes. "Is it true you've been stealing her cat's food?"

Idris remained silent but slowly wagged her long tail.

"I thought you like the food I give you?"

Clara's cat certainly likes it. Why else would Mr Darcy pop into his home every now and then?

Without uttering a sound, the feline turned around and headed for the comfy cat bed located in the kitchen.

The troubled mathematician returned to his bedroom and placed the electric guitar against the wall. Well, his day today had turned out to be quite interesting. The plan he hatched was both a success and failure.

It did nothing to stop the strange feeling in his chest and stomach, and to top it off, he had to figure out a way to stop arguing with the woman, after being told off by his sister. It would be next to impossible to do that.

Every attempt to start a civilised conversation with Clara always ended up with them insulting one another. There was tension between them, no doubt.

"Get over yourself, she doesn't fancy you at all and you hate her," he said to himself, but the more he said it, the more it felt like a lie, at least on his part.

"It would help if you were honest with her."

The Doctor immediately snapped out of his thoughts and looked directly at his sister who was seated across the table.

The siblings were currently in the university dining hall, having lunch together. It was a rare occurrence for the both to spend time with one another so John couldn't complain, as much as he wanted to.

"What?"

The vice-chancellor set down the knife and fork she held. "Your girlfriend."

Her brother massaged his temple. "For the last time, she is not my girlfriend."

"Not yet."

"That's not going to happen."

Missy continued eating her meal in silence and John did the same.

After a few minutes, he spotted a familiar figure walking through the hall and straight for the food section. His blue eyes were trained on her.

The Doctor hadn't seen Clara since he arrived to work earlier. It was one of those rare days where he hadn't nearly run her over with his vehicle.

She wore a rather dull polka-dotted skirt, along with a jumper and the usual leather jacket. Great, the woman just had to come here to have lunch.

Missy set down the cutleries she held once more, staring at her idiot brother. Sometimes she wished she could do something about his silly feud with the Oswald girl. "Would you like to know the secret to finally end this childish rivalry once and for all?" she murmured, tearing him out of his thoughts.

John arched a brow, curious, but cautious at the same time. "What would that secret be?"

His sister stared at him blankly, dabbing her mouth with a tissue. "Shag her."

"Excuse me?!" he nearly yelled.

"Just shag each other's brains out and I guarantee there will be no more fighting," she continued, tossing the tissue onto the tray. "In fact, I think your best bud will die of happiness if he finds out, which I don't mind."

John had his mouth agape as he could not believe what he had heard.

"Don't pretend you don't fancy her and that you've never fantasised it."

"I don't," he growled, feeling his face reddening.

Missy merely chuckled. "You're a terrible liar, John Smith."

"I am not-"

"You have a telling – you pout when you lie."

Bollocks.

"I don't fancy Clara Oswald."

Missy shrugged. "Nobody believes that."

John groaned and massaged his temples.

His sister smirked as she got to her feet. "Be a good brother and put my tray away, will you?"

"Fine," he grumbled, collecting both trays and rose from the chair.

"And I don't pout," he said quietly.

While making his way to the corner of the dining hall where all the dirty dishes were stacked, the Doctor made eye contact with the very person he was trying to avoid.

"Emperor of Attack Eyebrows."

"Empress of all control freaks."

Clara pursed her lips. "I am not a control freak!"

John ignored her and proceeded to discard the trays. He wasn't about to start a full-blown argument with her in the open, especially a dining hall filled with students.

"Bloody idiot," she grumbled, walking away.

Slowly, he looked back and watched as Clara sat down in the middle of the hall which was quickly filling up with more students.

He does not fancy her, and he does not want to shag her.

"And sometimes when we touch," Jack sang as he startled the life out of his colleague and friend. "The honesty's too much, and I have to close my eyes and hide."

"Jack, if you do that one more time, I'll hit you with my shoe."

"Bet you say that to everyone who serenades to you," he replied, wriggling his eyebrows. "Except maybe Clara."

The Doctor said nothing as he walked out of the dining hall. He has a lecture soon.

Dr Clara Oswald walked briskly as she made her way to Lecture Theatre 12. It was three minutes before her lesson starts and she didn't want to be tardy.

What surprised her, however, when she arrived at her destination, was that her students were still waiting outside.

"The lecture's still running," a student stated simply.

Clara sighed, adjusting the binder which contained her lecture notes. "Should have ended minutes ago," she muttered, pushing the door and stepping inside.

"Now then, we ignore w, the vertical coordinate, because there was no mention of it in the question," the Doctor explained, looking down at his notes. "So, it's safe to assume w is zero and I'm sure you can find the rate of change of the temperature by yourselves."

When he looked up, he was staring at a very angry looking woman, or rather, elf. She had her arms crossed and he could have sworn he saw steam coming out of her ears.

"Your lecture was supposed to end," she said looking at her imaginary wristwatch. "Four minutes ago."

"I lost track of time – it happens," he defended, shutting his notebook.

Clara then looked out the door. "You can come in."

A moment later, her students were flooding into the lecture room.

"Would it kill you to ask me nicely?" he grunted before looking at his own students. "We'll continue our discussion next week," he stated, and everyone began packing their belongings, eager to leave.

"I thought you were always on time for everything, including almost hitting me with your car."

Here they go again.

While the two lecturers were arguing, their students began talking. Gossiping, to put it more appropriately.

"Do you think they fancy each other?" one young man asked.

"Seems like it," another answered. "I thought they were married at first."

"Yeah, same."

Another group was also in a conversation regarding their infamous lecturers.

"When will they ever stop arguing with each other?"

"The day they tie the knot," retorted a female student. "By the way, did you hear that Damian's house was robbed last week?"

"What?"

"Yeah, his laptop and XBOX were stolen."

"This is the third time I heard about homes being broken into."

"No surprises at all with how things are running."

The two students quickly walked past their lecturers who were still having a verbal argument.

"Could you please stop and just leave?" Clara demanded as she placed her things on the small desk, nearly knocking off John's notebook.

"Watch it!" he grumbled, putting on his coat. "Is it so difficult for you to talk politely?"

"I will, once you apologise."

John furrowed his brows in confusion. "For what?"

"Delaying my lecture."

He grabbed his notebook and smiled sarcastically. "No," was all he said before leaving.

Clara kept clenching and unclenching her right fist as she followed his figure all the way to the door. Such an insufferable man.

More than anything else, she wasn't looking forward to working with him. In fact, the very idea of it made her dread open day all together.

It was at that moment the lecturer realised that her students were staring at her, waiting for the lesson to start. They had witnessed the whole thing. Fantastic.

She cleared her throat. "Where did we stop last Monday?" she asked the first years. "Differentiation of hyperbolic functions – we've looked at the inverse of cosh, right?"

There were murmurs of agreement as the sounds of paper being flipped and torn, and pens being clicked were heard.

At least her students were slowly starting to forget the embarrassing incident they just witnessed.

The Doctor couldn't believe he had to work on a Saturday. He could have spent the time travelling to London or even playing guitar, but no, he had to give a taster session. With no one other than Clara Oswald.

He slammed on the breaks when he saw a familiar bike approaching the gate. She didn't look all that happy either.

The university was still empty as it was only 8:57 AM and visitors wouldn't start flooding in until after 10 in the morning.

The two mathematicians glared at each other before John allowed Clara to drive in first. Better not make a scene when there are already a few people present, mostly comprised of university staff.

He quickly parked his car and then raced to the lift, not wanting to share it with the Impossible Girl.

"Why don't you take the stairs for a change?" Clara sneered as she reached the building a few seconds after he did.

"Why don't you do it first?" he countered. "Seems to me like you could use it since you can't even run."

"You're taller than me, PhD holder," she growled, wondering why the lift took longer than usual.

"Greetings to the most beautiful couple in the universe!" Jack exclaimed as he walked in.

Clara and the Doctor glared at their colleague. "What are you doing here?"

"To give a talk about our department, of course!" he replied cheerfully. "And I get to spend it with you stunning people."

The lift finally arrived.

Jack grinned. "But before that, I'm going to get myself a cup of joe – you guys want anything?"

"I'm good, Jack – thank you."

"No."

He shrugged before walking away while Clara and John entered the lift. "Don't do anything I would in the elevator," he said, winking.

The only response he got were looks of disgust.

John pressed the button to the fourth floor and a moment later, the doors closed before they were elevated up to their destination.

There was nothing but silence inside the small, confined space until the lights began to dim, and the lift came to a sudden halt.

Bloody. Hell.