Chapter 8

"Oh will you look at that, you forgot who we were! How rude!"

Harold had to bite back a laugh as a tall woman in her early thirties gave him a mock scowl with her eyes narrowed under her wire-rimmed glasses. She was dressed in a black thin long-sleeved sweater dress with a brown rope belt tied around her waist and a pair of brown heels. Beside her was another woman, this time much younger who did not bother to hide her amusement. Unlike the first woman, this one was dressed more casually in her gray midriff shirt and a pair of fashionably torn jeans with a pair of black leather laced boots.

"Come on ladies, how could I forget you? It's been a while since I saw you two so I felt like I had died and gone to heaven." Harold said playfully.

The younger woman giggled her high ponytail bouncing happily while the older woman rolled her eyes. "Use that BS for someone else." She said dryly. "However, I am happy to see you again, Harold." She added sincerely.

"Thanks Aggie." He said. "Hey Tracy, how's everything?"

Aggie or more accurately known as Agatha Ferencillo was one of the more tenured professors and the younger woman was Tracy Valejo, also a professor but much newer as she started teaching two years ago. They were the few female friends he had met and valued as they were never star-struck when they first saw him, especially Agatha who was not the type of person who was easily impressed.

"Good so far. Remote teaching has its benefits." She said. "I'm surprised that we're having a face-to-face meeting today."

"I guess the dean misses us," Agatha said dryly as she looked around her. "I've run into some of the other faculty members and staff looks like they are mostly here although we are missing someone."

Harold let out an exasperated sigh. "Pandemic or not, he sure likes to make a grand entrance."

"Cut him some slack guys, old habits die hard." Tracy instantly jumped to her friend's defense.

Both Agatha and Harold eyed her speculatively. "Fine, fine."

The trio went to the meeting room and they were surprised to see Jasper setting up the projector and laptop on the head of a large pinewood table. "You're early," Tracy said as she looked out of the window of the room.

"No it's not the end of the world yet, Trace," Jasper said scowling at her.

The dean, a woman in her early sixties, eyed the pair with a wry smile on her face. "Enough you two." She said sounding like a mother scolding her wayward children. "Is everything ready, Mr. Cheng?"

"Yes ma'am," Jasper said as he sat beside Tracy.

Agatha let out a soft sigh. She was seated beside Harold. "Those two seriously." She muttered.

Harold laughed quietly. "Be patient, Aggie. One day, everything would be revealed."

Agatha rolled her eyes and ran a hand on her dark hair turning her attention to the dean.

"Good morning everyone. We finally managed to have this meeting that was postponed a month ago due to the restrictions the city had been implementing." The dean began. "I know the past year has been a struggle to maintain the quality of our education in this department, but so far things have been going well. I called this meeting because I have a few updates starting with…"

The rest of the meeting went well although Harold sensed that there was more energy amongst themselves. Normally faculty and staff meetings at the university were dragging but since the pandemic, it seemed like almost all of them were more attentive and contributing more ideas. It reinforces the fact that humans are social creatures.

Then Harold's mind drifted to Rayne. That woman had been in isolation for more than a year and a half, she said so herself as she had been working as a virtual assistant for the past six years. How could she have coped with that kind of work? Then again given how she was quite reserved around him, remote work was right for her. As for him, he could handle it to a certain extent but not that long. It would drive him crazy.

"Dr. Sales? Harold?" The dean's voice cuts through his thoughts.

Harold blinked at the dean and gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry Dr. Gonzaga, I wasn't listening. What was it?"

Dr. Gonzaga shook her head but did not ask why he suddenly spaced out. "I was asking about the standing of your classes. I heard that the students were doing better. You always do a good job in teaching them."

Jasper smothered a laugh. "Of course he does, dean. Look at how many are attentive in his class, especially the ladies."

Harold scowled at him while the others were laughing. They were aware of his reputation as the hot professor from the Biology Department and it was a title he hated. "My classes are doing well as you said, a little hard to contain at times that my next-door neighbor complained about it."

The dean looked concerned. "I hope that it did not escalate."

"Fortunately, the neighbor was able to listen to reason. She did give me a warning that she will take it to the building management if it happened again."

Jasper, Tracy, and Agatha stared at him in confusion. The situation he had just mentioned was alarming and could be a possible source of future conflict, but from the way, he was talking about the angry neighbor he looked happy. They can chalk it up to a problem resolved, yet that was not the case here.

"That's good. But I hope you can do something about your students as they can be quite rowdy."

Harold nodded remaining silent although he was annoyed at how the dean implied he could not control his students' behavior. He felt a comforting squeeze on his arm. He turned and saw that Agatha gave him a kind smile. He sighed.

The meeting eventually ended when a delivery boy arrived with four boxes of a large pizza. The stuffy atmosphere among them that prevailed during the meeting was replaced with a more informal air. All of the faculties and staff congregated into their own groups, talking, eating pizza, and drinking soda.

Harold with Jasper, Tracy, and Agatha was still seated at the conference table, eating. "Don't take it too hard, Harold." The older woman said.

"Yeah, she means well," Jasper said. "We all have experienced an out of control class one way or another."

"It's a common issue with remote work. Luckily for me, I don't have to deal with cranky neighbors."

Jasper tugged her ponytail. "Because you live in the middle of nowhere. Do you even plan to move out of that place eventually? I'm surprised you managed to survive in that house without being haunted by ghosts."

"Hey, I resent that. My house is perfectly safe." Tracy smacked him on the shoulder.

"But you would need to find a way to reduce the noise from the students," Agatha said. "I'm aware you recently moved to a new place, check if you're allowed to make some changes in your unit to make it soundproof."

"I think I should be able to since I own the unit. But I'll check with building management."

"Right do that. Maybe you can ask that same neighbor to help you out."

Harold let out a boyish grin. "That's a good idea, Aggie. I can ask Rayne anytime this week. I hope she isn't too busy."

Agatha raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you two are now friends?"

"Damn you are one smooth operator!" Jasper joked.

"Hey, at least they're getting along. If you need any help let us know. I know a few people who can provide soundproof materials for your unit." Tracy said as she took a swig of her soda.

Harold gave Tracy a mock salute. "Sure thing, thanks, man."

"No problem, bro."

* * *

Rayne was relaxing on her bed with Bubbles sleeping by her feet. She had always looked forward to the weekend as it was her day off and a chance to at least put her mind to rest temporarily and forget about work. She was scrolling through a food app for almost ten minutes now as she was contemplating on what she will eat for the day.

She could cook and she has ample stock of food stored in the cupboards in her kitchen and her refrigerator was just as full, but when laziness hits her, it hits her hard, and instead of resisting, she would almost always give in. Hence, the reason why she was scrolling through her favorite food app right now.

"What am I in the mood for?" She mused aloud. Bubbles rolled over exposing his belly, but he remained asleep. Rayne ran her toe on the cat's belly who did not react. She turned back to her phone and saw a picture of a plate of lamb biryani rice which nearly sent her drooling. She immediately ordered her food, paid for it online, and then put the phone on a nightstand.

Rayne did not realize that she fell asleep until her phone rang suddenly waking her up. She was trudging out of her bedroom with the phone on hand and Bubbles behind her. She opened the door to receive her order but she had to blink several times upon seeing not the rider, but Harold.

"What in the world? Professor, are you doing some sideline as a rider?"

"Lay off with the professor title. Do I look like a scientist with exploding white hair?"

Rayne ignored him and peered over his shoulder, frowning as she did so.

"If you're looking for the rider, she was long gone, and don't worry, I gave her a generous tip."

"Why would you even do that? Now I have to pay you back, how much was it?"

"It's fine."

"No, it's not fine. How much?"

"None. Don't bother paying me back as I won't accept it."

"Oh come on!"

Harold leaned against the doorway as he handed her a paper bag. "Now do you plan to get your food or are you going to keep arguing with me?"

Rayne took the bag and was about to close the door on him, but decided to invite him inside, surprising him and herself. Well, that was weird of me. I rarely invite people over. What's with this guy that I can't help but want to be with? She thought.

Ignoring her chaotic thoughts, she led him to the living room and told him to sit anywhere he liked. "Make yourself at home." She said sounding dismissive.

Bubbles the cat did not follow her to the dining room, which was in view of the living room, instead, he was eyeing the new visitor curiously. He jumped on the glass coffee table and gave Harold a hard and long stare.

Rayne suppressed a laugh. "Void, no, don't creep him out." She admonished.

"It's okay, animals like me," Harold said meeting the cat's eyes evenly and even giving him a friendly smile.

However, Bubbles does not look too impressed at this man's presence. Rayne swore he looked like he would hiss at him at any moment.

"Bubbles! To me!" She commanded.

The cat ignored her. Of course. Cats. When do they even listen? Sighing in exasperation, she left the man and cat alone at their staring game as she began to unpack her food.