Ch 12: Hallucinations

Such a straightforward confession made Romeo a bit awkward and hesitant. But he couldn't just ignore her or keep her hanging in the middle.

Clearing his throat, he politely replies,"Is that person disabled or not interested in women?"

"Oh no, he's very capable and healthy. It could be the latter."

He nodded upon hearing Karenina's reply and thinking for a moment, he said,"Then you should just stop pursuing him. Why confess it as a sin?"

When he said that Karenina bursted into laughter ," because I can't stop. It's my fate to be with him. And I know I shouldn't pursue him to love me but here I'm committing the very sin."

Romeo became silent, he has been ignoring Karenina's childish behaviour for too long. When she tried to seduce him by showing off her legs and then applying make-up in his classes. He could see it all, not a single detail about her went unnoticed by his keen eyes.

And as a male professor, he couldn't ask her or point out why she was doing make-up and not dressing properly for his class. He just sighed before answering,"Child, learn to give up and accept the destiny. The man you are pursuing will never accept you in his life."

"Don't call me child, I'm a 19 years old young lady."

Romeo frowned," But you are like a child to me."

"No, I'm not. Don't try to baby me because of my height. I can be a very adult."

"Alright," he said, not dragging the fuss any further. "You are here to confess your sin. Repeat after me."

"Mother of all," Romeo began the prayer. "Forgive me for I have–"

"Father, I shall not recite the prayer because I came to realise that I have done nothing wrong," Karenina answered, stopping him in the middle of his prayer.

"I shall take my leave and return to my dormitory."

"Karenina, you…"

She left without even hearing what Romeo had to say. He walks out of the confession cabinet and goes to his quarters. However he couldn't sleep at night, taking turns in bed . He finally wakes up and sits on the chair.

'Why am I so bothered with Karenina's words?' He thought to himself. 'I should be understanding enough to let go of her frivolous words and forgive her. That's what I should be doing…'

This must be happening because of his wolf… his emotions are getting confused and he feels bothered by it. Surely it's Osburn's fault. He arrived at the temple and joined the same college as the professor to annoy him.

Punching the table, Romeo mumbled coldly,"should I just kill him before I lose my sanity?"

Wry smile crawled on his face as he realised what he was just thinking. He gets up from his chair and takes out the wine bottle, he sits back. Pouring the wine in glass, he murmurs,"She's quite a beauty… her eyes, her lips, her face… everything about her is tempting."

Romeo subconsciously complimented Karenina as he drank the wine. And soon after a few drinks, he started seeing things.

Karenina appeared in front of him and started stripping, taking off every piece of cloth from her body. Romeo stared at her with his unblinked eyes and tried to touch her.

She kneels down, and slowly crawls at him… climbing on his lap, she sits on him and moans,"Ah, Father… I have made a sin of falling in love with you…"

She then crashed her lips against his lips and began to kiss him.

SNAP

"What in the world I was imagining about?" Romeo gets up from his chair, holding his head in confusion.

"How could I think of my student that way?" His voice sounded like a sinner, his face turned pale whilst his hands started shuddering.

He moved towards his bed, only to stumble upon the table in front. The wine bottle and glass fell on the marble floor, crashing down into tiny pieces. Colouring the white marble floor with red, and the sweet yet intoxicating scent of wine plunged his nose.

Romeo sat there on the floor, letting the wine soak his clothes because what he just saw in his imagination had him TRAUMATISED.

He crawled towards his bed, and grabbing the garland of prayer beads, he dashed out. His body freezing in the cold breeze of winter night as he entered inside the temple. The guards saw him but ignored because they knew sometimes Romeo spends his night praying.

However if they had looked closely, they would have seen the horrified expression plastered on his face and smell his robe reeking of red wine scent.

Taking long strides, Romeo walks inside the confession room and locks himself. He was about to pull a whip from its holder and beat himself up when suddenly he heard footsteps approaching.

His eyelids were heavy because of the alcohol effect and he saw the door opening. Didn't he just lock it?

"Who's there?" He coldly asked, his head still feeling very heavy and dizzy.

"Father, it's me, Karenina," he heard. "I saw you coming into the temple so I followed you. Are you offering prayers to the goddess?"

"GET OUT," Romeo growled when he recognised Karenina arriving in his direction. Stepping backwards he asked her to leave this instant.

"Father, I know you are upset with me but you don't have to be this harsh," she resisted, feeling enraged and insulted by his words.

She sits on the bench and joins her hands, and she begins reciting the prayers. Seeing her in the confession room, all alone with himself, made Romeo's heart race. His footsteps approached towards her instinctively against his will.

'No…please. Stop it, stop making me go crazy,' he prayed in his mind, fighting with himself to not get tempted by her. Still he sat next to her.

The lewd images of Karenina started displaying in front of him and he felt his body getting hot. He leaned close to her face and sniffed her which caused her to flinch.

Turning her face at him, Karenina confusingly inquired,"Is anything on my face?"

"N-No…" he quickly distanced himself from her and getting up from the seat, he turned to leave when Karenina held his right arm.

"Are you alright? Your face was burning hot… Do you have a fever or something?"

"I'm fine," he bluntly replies, as he pulls his arm from her grasp and glances at her dangerously. She was making him imagine things which were against his morals.

Unfortunately his warning didn't work on stubborn Karenina, she steps close and trails her hands around his waist from behind. And resting her face against his broad back, she whimpered," Father, you definitely are not well. Want me to take care of you?"