Xia Manxi stared at her alarm on her bedside table. It would go off in five minutes, but she felt no inclination to turn it off before then. She had been awake for two hours, and had tossed and turned for most of that time.
She took the locket that Chen Minghao had gifted her and opened it. In it was a picture taken shortly after their baby was born, and the three of them were in that tiny picture. In the past few months following her divorce, she had an aversion to sitting with her thoughts and everything that followed her baby's death. She however found this locket among her things a few days ago, and it gave her a little relief knowing she had something left of her son.
When her little baby was born, Chen Minghao had gifted her the locket a few days after. She had placed it lovingly around her child's neck, and was the only thing she saw of her baby after his death.
She closed it again, clenching it in her hands and putting it to her chest. Her chest swelled with fury when she remembered how she was accused of harming him. Had it not been for Chen Minghao, she would not have been allowed at her own child's funeral.
Those days were the darkest of her life, but although the wound remained, she had learned to live with it. She was never sure she could ever forget her baby or the fact that she would never see him grow up.
The alarm began to ring loudly, causing her to jump in fright. With a loud and irritated sigh, she turned it off. It was time for her day to start.
In the months following her divorce, she had been busy. She went back to school to finally become a lawyer, like she had always wanted. It was exhausting, but it was all worth it. In a few more months, she would be called to the bar, and everything would fall into place. For now, she just had to endure for a little longer.
She stretched for a few seconds, then jumped out of bed. She took a hot shower and dressed casually for her class on that day. After having a light breakfast, she took her coat and left her apartment.
The weather in Q city was colder, so her jacket was on throughout the time she was outside. The moment she entered the warm amphitheater, her jacket came off.
The class was yet to start, but Professor Chi was nowhere to be found. When another man entered the theater and took his podium, murmurs began to erupt in the hall.
Xia Manxi heard the two girls behind her begin to whisper.
"Who is that? Professor Chi is going to have his head for breakfast if he sees him standing in his spot."
"I don't care, can you not see how handsome he is?"
"Shh, he is going to speak."
True to their words, he tapped on the microphone, which caused the murmurs to subside.
"Good day everyone, my name is Lu Shufeng. Professor Chi is not feeling well, so I will be taking over his class today. Shall I start?"
A few other students murmured an approval, and the slides began to appear on the screen.
The girls continued with their chatter, much to Xia Manxi's slight irritation.
"He is not a teaching assistant, is he?"
"He does not seem to be one. His clothes look too expensive."
"What do you know? He might still be a rich kid who wants to become a professor."
"No I doubt that. Look at him, why not make him a lawyer instead?"
Xia Manxi had to agree with most of their assumptions. He was quite a handsome man, and such a presence would sway people's hearts in his favour. That could be good or bad, depending on his ethics. The scholarly presence somehow did not suit him. He looked a little bored explaining and going through the slides, like it was something he already knew but found exhausting to explain.
Xia Manxi was still lost in thought when he just suddenly stopped speaking, staring in her direction. She froze, and an amused smile appeared on his lips. had she done something?
"The two ladies over there, your conversation seems more interesting than this class. Care to share your insights with the class?"
Xia Manxi's head shot backwards, where the two girls were already terribly embarrassed. A sense of relief filled her chest.
One of the girls, with her head lowered, spoke timidly. "N-No sir, we are sorry."
He raised his eyebrows then nodded, continuing with the lesson.
Xia Manxi immediately went back into focus after realizing that the two girls had caused her to zone out. It would have been terrible if she had been caught zoning out . She could not believe she could go into such a tangent when she had seen no shortage of handsome men. She cleared her mind of such thoughts and continued with her lesson.
*#*#*
That particular class was over, but she still had to stay behind as she had another one later in the day. On days like those, she spent her time in the library. She had a habit of collecting many books and reading small snippets of each to keep herself interested. As a result there were about six novels cradled in her left hand, and she was still looking around.
She was about to find a desk to start reading when she spotted the spine of a very familiar book. She paused, but when she saw the title, a smile bloomed on her face. It was the final installment of a book which had somehow gotten separated. Now that she had found it, there was no way she could leave it there.
She stretched out to reach the shelf, but she had missed it by a few inches. She stood on her tiptoe, but that did not help either. her final solution was to jump on her tiptoes, which backfired almost instantly. She fell sideways and crashed into an unsuspecting passerby.
The books she had gathered skidded across the floor messily, and Xia Manxi's face was beet red at that moment. Just as she was about to gather her thoughts, she heard a deep voice from above her head.
"Ow."
The exclamation was followed by a pained grunt which startled Xia Manxi.
Xia Manxi looked up almost immediately, and she wished she could dig a hole and bury herself alive. It was the man who took professor Chi's place today! Why was she so unlucky?
As if she was caught on fire, she tried to get up, but fell again. Her wrist was hurting badly, and she did not dare put pressure on it anymore.
She subconsciously looked at him again, slightly dazed. His dark eyes locked onto her as well, and she could not help but stare. He had beautiful eyes, framed with long eyelashes, and she could not get rid of the feeling that she had seen them somewhere before.
"I did not know I was that magnetic." He said, and she looked at him again. There was a crooked grin on his lips.
Xia Manxi averted her gaze and got up slowly this time. He also sat up with a grunt. When they both stood, she turned to him with a lowered head.
"I am so sorry, professor Lu, my behaviour was in bad taste."
"Professor?!" He sounded outraged.
Xia Manxi looked up, and he had a strange expression on his face.
"I don't know where you got that from, but I am definitely not a professor, nor do I want to be one. Your dearest professor had me do it because he knew how much I hated it."
"Oh. If that is the case, I had better pack up the books and get back to what I was doing." Xia Manxi said with a polite smile and turned to leave.
Her hand was however grabbed, and she was pulled back.
"Not so fast, Miss Xia. You landed on me quite heavily, and twice at that. Don't you think a compensation is in order?"
Xia Manxi furrowed her brows. "I don't think I ever mentioned what my name was. How did you know that?"
"Do you really not know? That's such a pity."
"You did not answer my question." Xia Manxi said plainly.
"You did not answer mine, and overrode it with another question. Answer mine first."
Xia Manxi stared at him some more, then gave him a saccharine smile. "I am sorry, Mr. Lu, but I am quite busy, so you will just have to accept my apology. Excuse me."