[Edited 2/4/17]

Disclaimer: Nope

Aelin was starting to re-evealuate her life choices. Nothing was really her choice from the start. Everything spiralled from one event: her parents death. From there, she couldn't control anything but this right here wasn't the greatest—or smartest—of choices.

She was holding her laptop bag and papers she had fished out earlier from said bag. She also had two coffees—with a little brown packet that contained brown sugar, white sugar, creamer and milk since she didn't know how Rowan took his coffee. Professor Whitethorn, she corrected herself. Not Rowan, that would be too improper. Aelin giggled to herself and sighed when she dropped a couple of papers. She was holding too much.

"Oh! I'll get that for you!" Said an overly cheerful voice. Aelin refrained from flinching from the voice.

"Thank you so much." Aelin said and the lady picked up a page and was reading it. Aelin took the opportunity to study her. She had flowers in her hair and looked really cute. Not drop dead gorgeous but pretty. Type of model pretty.

"Aelin. Interesting name."

Aelin gripped the paper with her pinky and ring finger. "I get that a lot."

The girl—she may look and sound like a litl girl but she was old, Aelin guessed—giggled. "Oh. Me too! The names Lyria."

Aelin gave her a fleeting smile. "I should get to class, see you around."

Lyria looked at the room door and back at Aelin. "Oh! If you're Rowan's TA. I suppose we'll see each other a lot more. I'm his fiance."

"Ex-fiance." A cold voice said. It was Rowan. He was leaning against the door frame with a scowl. Now that Aelin thought about it, Rowan never seemed to have anything but a scowl painted on his face. Rowan walked towards the woman and took the coffee out of Aelin's hand. He helped her to hold everything without a glance at Lyria, his ex. Though Lyria didn't seem to have that memo since she stared at Rowan with anger and a bit of exasperation.

"It was a silly argument, dear. It happened a year ago! Surely you can forgive and forget, what we have is...irrevocable. Indescribable. It's pure and-"

"Non-existent."

"Exactly, non-existent. Wait! No I didn't mean to say-"

Rowan had already walked off, his hand flickered in Aelin's direction and she took that as a cue to follow him. Smart girl. Rowan grunted in approval as Aelin sat beside his desk, on a chair seated diagonally to his own.

"As TA, you will assist me in marking and setting of tests. Other than that, I have no use for you. Your schedule during test times will become very hectic and I understand if you would rather study then mark but I will need you to be here, in my office with me. We will be spending a lot of time togethrr so the more coffee you bring—or I supply—will ultimately result in a steadfast, relationship of the sorts. Let's try not to get on each others nerves as that will cause to many problems that I'm not interested in solving or caring over and/or about. Any questions?"

Aelin had a lot of questions but she doubted he would want to answer any of those. They were mainly about him and his ex-fiance. He was engaged, isn't engaged...why? How old was he? How was his hair such a beautiful silver. So different from Manon's white hair but still in that same category as ethereal. What did he do before being a professor? He must have done something else... What did Lyria do to him? Aelin let the words spin in her mind as she closed her eyes. She finally came up with can appropriate question to ask her professor.

"I do have one."

"Go ahead." He said, his eyes not in her by out the window, staring almost blankly.

"Could I get away with doing no work? and you would be okay with that?"

Rowan shrugged. "I don't really care. I'm not sure how I even got a TA since this is only my second year of teaching and your first year of university. Honestly, it's just not my place to ask questions."

Aelin mulled over what he said. She could live with that. Rowan raised his hands above his head and ran them through his hair, in an almost cliche model pose. There was something about that pose that wiggled at her mind. It reminded her about-

Something? Who knows what it was?

Aelin took her coffee and added milk and sugar to it. She stirred it and pointed at Rowan's coffee. She wasn't the biggest fan of creamer so she left that in the packet, and nudged it in the professor's direction.

"I wasn't sure what you took in your coffee, Professor Whitethorn." He picked up his coffee and drank deeply from it.

"I take it black, for future frame of reference." He tipped it towards her and she reached over and tapped her own against his with precision. She sighed. Finally, she wasn't a blubbering mess in front of him. She always possessed insufferable swagger but with Rowan, she turned into a feeble minded fan girl. Those one's that melt at good fanfiction which wasn't even canon. Then again, she was one of those fangirls she it came to Cassandra Clare and Rick Riordan. Percy was bae.

Rowan suddenly got up and walked across the room. He searched for a little while before finding what he needed and returned to the desk with a huge stack of books that he placed softly. It was with such a gentleness that Aelin didn't think he could possess. The man was beyond buff, Aelin noted as she watched the way his clothes melded with his bulging muscles. It wasn't an insane amount of muscles but a good amount. An appropriate amount that screamed, I take care of my body and I'm model worthy.

"I hope you will be able to decipher these books. I have made annotations inside them with key notes, themes and definitions. Feel free to make you own notes, if needed." He huffed and ran a hand across his face. "Please don't destroy my books, somehow. And before you ask, where there's a will, there's a way. Other than that, here is a list of motivations you just have to read."

Aelin relented. There was a good 10 books in the pile before her and she was somewhat pleased to see that she had read a good number of them, because of Dorian. These books weren't her types of books, but they certainly were Dorian's. At least she could discuss them with Dorian, if she really had to.

"Okay, Professor. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Rowan clasped his hands together, "if you could get my ex off the back, that would be good."

Aelin laughed, a bit bitterly and Rowan didn't look surprised or scared. In fact, he took in it his stride with a small smile on his lips. Totally kissable lips. "May I ask you a question, Aelin?"

"You certainly can."

"Why did you want to be a TA?"

Aelin thought over his words. "Why not? It looks good on a CV." Plus the professor ain't to bad on the eyes. Not that she would ever say that aloud. Well, maybe to Manon she would.