Acquainted

Pharai

I could not focus on the papers in front of me. I had been reading the same paragraph for over an hour now and none of it was making sense. For the first time in my life I did not want to be reading about the latest discoveries and reports of the latest expeditions.

If I was honest for the first time I would have preferred to be locked up in my apartment waiting. Waiting for Golden Eyes who had not appeared in the past five days. You would think after invading my space in the bathtub he would pop up again but he had not.

In fact I had not felt a cold chill ever since. Even though I was relieved I was no longer getting harassed by the ghost made up by my mind, I would be lying if I said the feeling of longing had vanished with him.

It was driving me insane. How was I begging him to leave me alone and now that he was gone I wanted to see him again? How could I? How could I want to see someone who did not exist and had psychopathic tendencies?

The feeling eating away at me was the weirdest thing. It had been so long since I had missed someone and for me to miss him bothered me deeply. Had he reset my mind in a way that I had finally gone mad to miss someone like him? His arrogance was out of this world and lack of personal space was even worse.

He did not understand the word no nor did he really ever ask for consent. I had never met anyone like him and I wondered when I would ever get the chance to see him again.

Today was the day of the meeting with the professors which at least helped me be excited about something. The university would be open in two weeks and once classes had begun I would be so busy with work that Golden Eyes would just be a bad memory.

I had to impress and be on my A game today. There was a buzz about me joining the university and I had such a strong reputation to uphold I did not want anything to come in my way. First impressions always lasted and I knew how important it was in our field to have good relations with your co-workers.

That meant I had to snap out of whatever this was. No one would understand what I was going through and would probably think I was crazy if I had to tell them. This had to die with me.

"Are you okay? You've been staring at that paper for the past ten minutes. I think it might catch fire," Lobdell snickered as he leaned on the frame of my door.

I groaned and ran my hands down my face then peeked up to him, "I think I'm a bit nervous to meet the whole history department."

"Oh don't you stress," he waved, "everyone is excited to meet you. Plus you've already worked with a few. So you have an advantage."

"Not all of them entirely agree with my views on ancient Egypt," I grinned.

He shrugged with a small frown, "You made the claims yes but what makes you stick out from all the others is that you found the evidence. Yes you've discredited and destroyed a few people's life work, but at least you were right."

"You're not making me feel any better," I laughed and shook my head. "People hate me."

"Well they'll learn to love you once they get to know you," he held his thumbs up. "Now don't make the Dean and myself regret hiring you if you're going to chicken out."

I let out a massive sigh and nodded, "Is the meeting about to start?"

"Yes in an hour, but the Dean wanted you to meet the professor you'll be working with before we start so you two can get acquainted."

"Oh," I raised my eyebrows. I had completely forgotten about the professor who would be helping me with my research theory and expeditions. We would spend a month or two in the university before we went out to the field to actually do our jobs.

That was the benefit of working for the university and National Museum. There was a budget set for us which meant we did not need to wait for investors.

I packed up my things then took my note book and pen before I followed Lobdell to the main offices of the universities.

The Dean, Ebrahem Dada, had been the acting dean of the university for the past ten years. In fact he was one of the people who got me really interested in this career field when I came here for an internship when I was still studying.

He was in his late forties with peppercorn hair, a medium length beard, warm brown eyes and a friendly yet tired smile.

"Professor Alya," he clapped when I entered his office and immediately walked over to me to shake my hand.

"Dean Dada," I grinned, "it's so lovely to see you again."

"Same here," he pressed his hand over his heart, "I'm so glad you joined our team. We hope you'll have a long stay with us."

"I don't have a doubt in my mind," I smiled.

Just as we were about to continue with our conversation the door to his office opened without a knock. A cold chill hit my back so violently I had to clench my jaw so that Ebrahem and Lobdell did not hear me gasp.

We all turned to look at the rude guest and I automatically took a step back in shock.

Entering the grand office was a man who filled the doorframe so much I wondered how he would even fit through. His large body emitted a heat like no other. The colour of his burgundy hair had my knees feeling weak and his scent that at first smelt like the rain, was the sweetest and most fragranced intoxicating scent I had ever experienced.

His golden eyes were covered with slightly tinted dark spectacles and for the first time he wore a proper button up shirt that showed off his built body extremely well. His lower half was covered in black formal trousers and covering his feet were the cleanest-shiniest formal shoes I had ever seen.

I stared at Golden Eyes with large eyes whilst he seemed to ignore my entire existence.