Hey, it's me (your author) here. I'm so sorry that I haven't been on for a while, I'm terribly sick. I hope my friend did a fine job replacing me. (Now she's the one who's sick...)

Well, I'm better now. Only my throat still hurts, my fever and runny nose had vanished for good.

This chappie is a long one. I think I owe it to your guys for not updating as frequent as I did in 'Gone in a second'.

Oh, and if you guys have some tips on healing a sore throat, please let me know. My throat is killing me.

=Misaki's POV=

My eyes bugged out. "What the hell are you doing here?" I wanted to say. But I couldn't. Because if I did, that would be a proof that I knew him.

And a lot of girls wouldn't want that.

When he saw my expression, he smirked and winked at me.

I felt my cheeks heat up.

He was wearing a white, plain blouse with a pair of blue jeans with his hair pinned up. If it weren't for the 'professor' pin pinned up on his shirt, everyone would have thought that he was a student too.

He returned his attention to the class and shouted, "Settle down. I'm your professor, Usui Takumi."

"OMG! He got both brains and looks! I so want him to be my boyfriend!" All the girls whispered.

I don't know why, but right then…

I felt angry.

"So, since today is your first day. We'll not be learning anything. Who wants a boring first day, right? So instead, I'll be giving you all free time. Just don't be too loud, or else the principal is going to fire me and you'll be stuck with an old, boring professor. I'll be doing some paper work, so if you don't mind, please don't shout like hell, okay?" He placed an evidently fake smile – for me, at least – and sat down on the rolling chair behind the table.

Right after his butt touched his chair, all the girls in the room – except for me, of course – sprinted towards his desk.

One twirled her long, blonde hair and said seductively, "Heey, Usui-sensei~"

"What?" He answered bitterly.

"Can you be my tutor teacher?"

"No. The university doesn't allow me to do so," he replied while looking back to his papers.

"Usui-sensei! Usui-sensei! How old are you?" Another girl asked.

"18," he answered nonchalantly, his attention still on the paper he was filling.

"Wow! You're so young and yet you've become a professor!"

He just shrugged in reply.

"Um, Usui-sensei!" A redhead called out.

"What again?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?" She asked.

I froze.

'Will he say the truth about us dating?' I asked myself.

I forgot to breathe until he said, "What do you think?"

"So... It's a no, then?" The girl asked.

"I'm not saying that I don't have one."

"So it's a yes?"

"You know what?" He looked up at the group of girls. "Why don't you sit down and figure that out yourselves. I still have work to do."

Surprisingly, all of them did as he commanded.

I stood up and walked towards him.

"What is she trying to do? That freak," they all whispered behind me.

"Hey, still want to embarrass her in front of everyone?"

"Yes!" They all squealed.

'What are they planning now?' I asked myself.

I was too busy thinking about what they were planning that I didn't even see where I was going.

I tripped over an amateurishly placed marble that formed a small pyramid on the floor.

"Well, what do you know? She embarrassed herself without us helping her," the girls laughed.

Originally, I would have fallen flat on my face. I actually shut my eyes close, preparing for the rush of pain hitting my face.

Until I felt a strong grip on my shoulders that stopped me from falling.

"Are you okay, Ayuzawa?" Usui asked. Apparently, he was the one saving me from breaking my nose.

I opened my eyes slowly; little droplets of tears were crowding the sides of my eyes.

"Y-yeah…" I said while stabilizing myself.

"You're nerdy, don't have any sense in style and apparently, you're also clumsy!" A girl laughed.

"Hey! Watch your mouth!" Usui shouted.

The girl quickly stopped laughing and said, "Sorry."

"Um, Usui-sensei. May I have a word with you outside?" I asked him while rubbing myself off.

"Of course, Ayuzawa," he said while walking out of the room with me.

"Cheating! She don't deserve privacy with the hottie!" The girls whispered from behind.

"Ugh… I'm used to boys hating me. But not girls…" I sighed when we had finally reached outside.

"It's been tough on you, huh?" He leaned against the wall beside the door.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I suddenly asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm your teacher."

"Well, yeah. But you just finished high school, how did JIU even accepted a guy as young as you to become a teacher?" I crossed my arms across my chest.

"I did take university," he replied.

"When?"

"Before I went in Seika," he replied nonchalantly.

Eh?

"YOU WENT IN UNIVERSITY BEFORE YOU EVEN GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL?" My eyes practically popped out of their sockets.

"Yes!" He beamed playfully. "How else can I be this smart?"

"Oh, stop flattering yourself…"

"Well, I don't want to be away from you. So when I heard the information that you're attending here, I quickly signed myself up to be one of the teachers here," he changed his tone into a more serious one.

"But I'm living with you! We'll meet each other every day!"

"Just being able to be with you for 8 hours a day is not enough. I want to be with you all the time," somewhere in his eyes, there was sadness.

So I decided to put some humor in it to lighten up the atmosphere and said, "It's not like I'm your wife or something. And even if I am, you also wouldn't be able to be with me all the time."

But then not only had I changed his expression, I had also changed the whole topic we were discussing.

"Speaking about wives," he said in a more serious but yet teasing tone, "what will your answer be?"

"My answer? For what?" I asked, clearly not knowing what he was talking about.

"You know, being my fiancé and stuff," he said, his fingers playing with his tie nervously.

He never does that.

Never, ever.

And what was he talking about? This fiancé thing.

"Fiancé? When did you ever asked me about…" My voice trailed off as a set of pictures came crashing in my mind.

He asked me to be his fiancé right before I got that tear jerking headache.

"Right… Fiancé…" I muttered.

"So what's your answer?" He asked.

"Don't you think it's a bit too fast? I mean, I just started-"

"I only take a yes or a no," he interrupted me.

"You've got to be kidding-"

"Yes or a no."

"Usui-"

"I said a yes or a no!" He shouted. His voice angry.

I didn't say a thing. I was still surprised that he would shout at me like that. I mean, I know he could, but I just didn't know that he would.

He breathed in and out, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

I stared at him, my lips trembling. I didn't know what to say, he seemed so angry…

"I'm sorry, Ayuzawa. I didn't mean to shout at you," he apologized after seeing me blanched in terror.

"I-I'm sorry, Usui," I said.

"Why should you be sorry? It's not you who shouted at-"

"I'm sorry. But I'm afraid that the answer to your question is a no," I looked at the floor, not wanting to meet his gaze. I could picture his eyes. Pain and sorrow. Those were the things that filled up his eyes if I were to look at them now.

I had expected him to say something like, "Why?" or "You're evil". You know, the basic stuff a heartbroken guy will say.

But instead, he said, "I understand."

EH?

Were my ears playing tricks on me?

I looked up towards him, my eyes as big as my fist. His expression was…

Sweet.

He had a sad smile – only this time, it doesn't really look so sad – on. His eyes were soothing, and not cold or in pain.

"W-what?" I asked.

"I understand your decision. You're too young for this kind of commitment. I understand, Ayuzawa," he smiled.

"You're not… Angry?" I asked him, my voice becoming really squeaky.

"Of course not. I trust what my girlfriend thinks is best for her," he hugged me using one hand and kissed the top of my head.

I heard a bunch of imaginary people in my mind going, 'Aaaw.'

But as much as I wanted to stay in that position for the rest of the period, I couldn't. So I pulled away and said, "Don't ever do that in university area, ever again."

"Come on, you're not the student council president anymore, right? You have no reputation to keep up with," he whined, not bothering to hug me again.

"Yeah, but you are a teacher, remember? You have a reputation to keep up with," I replied, stretching the word 'you' so long that it sounded like a multiple syllable word.

"Aw boo," the boy complained. "I hate my job."

"You got into this yourself. I didn't force you to become a teacher in JIU, now did I?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Well, if you didn't accept the scholarship from JIU, I surely won't be teaching here with all those pathetic female students who-"

"Speaking of female students. Do I really look weird with my t-shirt and jeans?" I looked down at my clothing.

"No. Although I would appreciate it if you would take your cute outfits out rather than the… Boyish outfits."

"Ugh, idiot," I sighed. "Well, gotta get back to class or they'll suspect a thing."

"I guess so," he straightened himself and opened the white, classical door for me.

"Well, well," the gossiping girls sang. "If it's not the slut who wants more attention."

I shrugged. I didn't know what else to reply. They want to fight? Waste all their energy, I won't budge.

I walked towards my seat – the seat with the best ocean view of all time – and sat on the table, staring blankly at the window. Waves were crashing in the shore, creating the 'bsh' noise.

"I understand," Usui's voice kept on ringing in my head.

I wanted to say yes to the fiancé thing. But something inside me prevented me from saying so.

Don't get me wrong, I love him. I really do. But I just didn't think that I was ready for an engagement. Maybe after university, I would think about it again.

Besides, we were living together. We were going to meet each other every day. So what was the point of being fiancés?

"Eh, Misa-chan… Don't you want to go to your break?" He suddenly materialized beside me.

"Gah!" I pounded my chest hard. My heart was going to explode any time now. "Can you not do that?"

I turned around, expecting groups of girls whispering. But I was greeted by an empty room.

"What happened to your other students?" I asked.

"I dismissed the whole class 5 minutes ago," he replied.

"Oh."

"So, was it me?"

"Was it you what?" I asked, clearly not getting what he asked.

"You were in a deep thought to not hear my voice, no? So was it me you were thinking about?"

"O-of course not!" I quickly got on my feet, my cheeks burning. "W-why would I think about an idiot like you?"

"Yes, yes," he nodded. "An idiot who you fell for."

"Shut up," I punched his shoulder.

"Well, I'll be going to the library first. I heard that the library in here has lots of rare books. See you later," I said and went out of the room.

From behind, I heard him chuckle.

Yeah, crappy ending. I know.

As usual, PLEASEEEEE REVIEWWWW!

(Oh, and thanks for all who reviewed! Your every word are appreciated!)