5. Love for punishment

Billy's hand shot out, gripping the man's wrist before he could move any further. The teasing grin he always wore was gone, replaced by a cold tone.

"You're hurting her, Caleb," he said.

Caleb raised an eyebrow; his lips turned into a mocking, dry curl. He turned his eyes over the two of us. "Hurting her?" he parodied. "Ha Ha, funny how that comes out of your mouth."

He released his hand holding mine, letting it go even though the impact of his gripping me was present. I started moving back along the wall now, hands upon it, supporting myself against my cool wall.

Caleb's expression changed, his smirk falling as his eyes narrowed on Billy. "What the hell are you doing Billy?" he asked.

He shrugged lazily, pointing toward me as if this was all some big misunderstanding. "Relax, Caleb. We were just having a little chat."

Caleb's eyes scrunched tight. "A chat?" Caleb repeated, raising an eyebrow for his dry tone's sake. "It's an sexual harrassment Billy!" He shook his head and closed his jaw harder on itself. " God's thing Marcus sleeping in the class, If he were any less awake and paying attention right now, then this would've only gotten even wilder."

For a fleeting split second, Billy's smirk skipped a beat; for once, he lacked something to say.

That guy turned to the group of students that had gathered to watch, his voice cool but commanding. "Everyone here—this stays between us. No one says a word to Marcus. Got it?"

The students exchanged nervous glances, nodding quickly.

But why?

Then, without breaking stride, Caleb turned to the girl who had been sitting next to Marcus earlier. "Lily," he said quietly, his tone softening ever so slightly. " please don't let this reach to Marcus, will you?"

That girl nodded without hesitation, clutching her notebook tightly.

He turned back to Billy, his patience clearly running thin. In one swift motion, he grabbed Billy by the collar and began dragging him down the hallway.

"Hey!" Billy protested, struggling against his grip. "What the hell? I'm not done yet!"

Caleb didn't even flinch. "You're done," he said flatly, his tone brooking no argument.

As they about to disappear around the corner, Billy twisted his head back toward me, his piercing blue eyes locking onto mine. His grin returned, softer this time, almost… wistful.

"We'll meet again, Angel," he called out, his voice low and intimate.

And then they were gone.

My chest was heaving and falling as I stood there frozen, trying to absorb everything that had just occurred. My lips still tingled from his kiss, and my heart pounded in my ears because it drowned out the whispers beginning to rise around me.

My cheeks burned with heat, and before I knew it, anger began to fuel the surface.

I stormed off, furious enough not to care about their staring and murmurs as I left.

The first day of being a professor was supposed to be the beginning of something grand—a dream that I had been working on for years.

It turned into a maddening, confusing, and totally humiliating disaster instead.

All thanks to one arrogant, ridiculous, idiotic man.

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Few moments later.

Found myself sitting in head of the department office.

Dr. Charlotte's office was terribly silent, the tension in the air almost suffocating her. Sitting behind her desk, rubbing her temples as if the weight of the chaos that Billy had unleashed was physically bearing down on her, for someone as poised and authoritative as her, it was rather a rare and unnerving sight to see her under that amount of stress.

I stiffly sat, opposite her. Billy reclined quite carelessly in his own seat beside me, looking ever relaxed—like this whole situation was just some game of his to play. I turned half into my side away from him; I didn't want to acknowledge his presence, though hot the flames of my anger chummed still in my chest.

Still, I couldn't resist myself. I peeked at him through my side vision and caught him stroking his cheek, where I had slapped him before. The redness was faint but still not sufficient. I should have hit him harder, I thought in bitter disdain. Hard enough that he'd remember for weeks.

Of course, he saw me staring. His lips curled into that infuriatingly smug smirk, and I whipped my gaze away, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten under my skin.

But I sense presence of Caleb, standing silently behind us. What was he even doing here? Why was he going out of his way to protect Billy?

Dr. Charlotte's exasperated sigh finally broke the silence. She leaned back in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose as though trying to stave off a headache. "Billy," she began, her voice heavy with disappointment, "I never thought I'd see the day you'd pull something like this on campus. Of all things…"

Billy leaned back in his chair, grinning unapologetically. "Neither did I, Ma'am," he said, as if this whole thing were beneath him. "But sometimes you have to take action to remind people of certain promises.

My patience snapped. Shooting to my feet, I thumped my palms onto the desk. "Promises?" I demanded, my voice blazing with fury. "That promise you made to me when you were at death's door, making it all one-sided?!" My eyes flayed him. "You demeaned me, disrespected me as a professor! I want proper consequences for this.this moron!"

Billy's smirk grew deeper. He tilted his head a little bit. "You do remember it," he said, his voice maddeningly calm.

That one sentence made my blood boil. I yelled at the top of my lungs, shouting, "Shut the hell up, you stupid idiot!" My voice echoed through the room.

Caleb finally opened his mouth to speak, a deep voice that resembled a knife cutting through tension. "Professor Amy Anderson," he began, measured and firm, "Billy wasn't in his right mind. He's still hungover from last night. He didn't know what he was doing.

I froze, but the anger elided with shock for a moment. "Hungover?" I replied incredulously, my voice dripping with disbelief. "That is your excuse? He was drinking and it is all right to humiliate me in class before all these students?"

Caleb didn't flinch under my gaze. "I'm not saying that it's okay," he replied even. "But the fellow was completely out of it. You can still smell alcohol on him.

I opened my mouth to protest, but my words came out in a flustered jumble. "I didn't smell any alcohol when he ki—" I caught myself too late. Heat flooded my face, and I backpedaled, flustered. "I mean… that's not the point!"

Caleb raised a brow at my slip but didn't comment. "What I'm saying is, he regrets it. He's sorry," he continued, turning to Billy. "Right?"

Without waiting for a response, Caleb grabbed Billy by the back of the head, forcing him to bow slightly toward me. "Go on. Apologize."

Billy, being a true Billy, yanked his head back and reclined in the chair, pulling Caleb's hand off him as if it was nothing at all. "I won't."

I sat there staring at him, jaw clenched and anger and denial warring with each other within me.

"Excuse me?"

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as his piercing blue eyes met mine. His voice was calm, steady—devoid of the teasing tone. "I don't apologize for things I don't regret."

"But you can punish me however you see fit, Professor. I won't complain."

My ego and pride burned with this humiliation that would not be soothed. I gazed at Billy, belief and anger spinning in my chest like a storm. How could anyone be so infuriatingly arrogant? My thoughts clawed relentlessly at me.

What? You're gonna take any punishment?

Punishment? What a joke.

I clenched my fists, fingernails digging into palms. How's it even a form of punishment if you never regret any of this stuff you've done? This was no apology-it was laughing. 

I could almost hear the whispers of the students echoing in my head, mocking me. Assistant professor Anderson couldn't even control one of her own students. She let him humiliate her, and now powerless to do anything about it.

My throat tightened as I glanced at him again, and there it was that smirk. Like he knew exactly what I was thinking. Like he was daring me to break, daring me to lose control.

I wanted to scream, to lash out, to drag him down into the pit of embarrassment he had thrown me into. Instead, I stood there frozen, seething, my pride bleeding out with every second that passed.

Before Dr. Charlotte could say anything, a sharp knock on the door broke the suffocating silence.

"Hey kid, can you see who it is?" she asked in a tired, steady tone.

Caleb nodded slowly, his gait deliberate as he moved through the room toward the door. There was a member of staff waiting for him, her flushed face betraying a mix of exasperation and nervousness. She pushed inside immediately, her pace rapid, intensifying the existing atmosphere in the room.