This chapter is dedicated to Queenebunoluwa15 for being a nice leaver of comments in my story this last month of June! Thank you so much for the support~! I hope to see more of your comments soon! ^^

***

"I'm sorry,

" Pan An interrupted, already impatient.

"You may say that, but I can't let her go alone like this.

"

Pan An then walked away. With him giving Shi Lian and Zhang Ren a secret glance, it's as if both of them already understood immediately that they should watch over the others, especially the two.

So that they will not to follow them. If they did, they would see how Pan An and Shu Xian interact with each other and they might have issues in the university.

"Oh, that Pan An,

" the dean said, scratching the back of his head as he looked at Ruo Xi with embarrassment in his eyes.

"I'm sorry about that—he's just passionate about this teaching career that even though he teaches adults, he cares about them.

Ruo Xi ignored him. Deep down in her heart… she now knew who that woman is without even knowing her name and how she looks like.

'That girl… she must be Shu Xian and she must go to hell!'

Ruo Xi felt her blood boiling as it ran through her veins. With her nails digging in her palm as she balled her hands into fists, it's as if blood would start to trickle soon if she didn't control her pressure.

What made Ruo Xi wonder is why she still felt possessive about Pan An when she's in fact, already married to Hao Jiao Long!

She dated them together at the same time. Although she dated Pan An first, she couldn't resist Hao Jiao Long and his kindness and tried seduced him playfully, only to find out that she would soon show affection towards him, too!

They say when you find yourself liking another man, choose the second one because you will never have a second one if you truly love the first one.

With this in thought and with her getting caught by Pan An's mother, she knew that she had no choice but to end her relationship with the first one despite their motives of using him and his connections, and had to choose the second one, Hao Jiao Long.

But as they went on with their relationship to the point of getting married even secretly, Ruo Xi sometimes found herself getting frustrated of how she wanted people to know that she's married—being shown to the world.

But alas, since Hao Jiao Long and Pan An, along with Wang Lei, are close friends, they can't disclose the information.

Heck, even Hao Jiao Long didn't want to tell them and went behind their backs! He knew he betrayed them and he didn't want them to know it just yet and kept it a secret with the help of backers hiding this information from everyone else!

They could just be adults and

"come clean

" and admit that they were married for how many years since they left the country, but no…

They chose the hard way and even had the difficult time to talk to people in their country and lived a different life in another just to

"reset

" their lives!

Ruo Xi couldn't even help but to sometimes compare and contrast them—what their similarities and differences are!

Even though she chose Hao Jiao Long and that she is

"happy

" about her marriage with him (especially their sex on bed), she wondered why from time to time, she would remember about Pan An and reminisce on the times they were together.

She's here in the university to work as a professor when she knew that Pan An worked here just to get on his nerves and

"get revenge

" like what she told her husband.

But seeing him after how many years… made her remember how happy she was before Hao Jiao Long came into the picture.

Seeing him made her remember how they both were when they were younger—in love and pure with their romance.

She thought that upon seeing him again, she would incite the deep love that Pan An always had for her.

But upon seeing his reaction when she saw that Shu Xian left the room with a flabbergasted expression indicating that she has heard of her, Ruo Xi couldn't help but feel rage in her heart—as if wanting to claim Pan An that he's hers!

'Oh… he's mine… even now, he's still mine and I'm sure of it!'

"I apologize again, Ruo Xi,

" the dean said, snapping herself back to reality.

"I put you here originally for your class observation since Pan An is one of our greatest professors in the university even before he was in the college of arts and sciences. I didn't know that both of you had a past and put you here.

"

"Oh!

"

Ruo Xi feigned a smile, trying her best to hide her irritation of Pan An not even sparing her a single look before he walked away.

"It's alright—I'll still observe this class.

"

The dean blinked his eyes a few times, not expecting her answer. He thought that Ruo Xi would feel uncomfortable about working with her ex-fiance and then being asked to observe in his class.

But then again, here she is, not minding it and wanting to push through with their plans!

"I-if you say so,

" the dean said, letting out an awkward cough.

"Well, classes would start soon in ten minutes. You could stay at the back of the classroom and then watch him conduct his classes. If you have any problems, you know where the office is. You can bring it up there.

"

"Noted,

" she replied with a smile on her face, giving him a small bow as well.

"Thank you so much for the accommodation considering that I'm a new employee and despite your busy schedule.

"

"Not at all!

" The dean let out a hearty chuckle, scratching the back of his head shyly.

"Now, excuse me, I'll be heading back to the faculty room.

"

With that said, the dean already left, Ruo Xi turning on her heels as she found an appropriate seat inside the room.

With her passing through Zhang Ren and Shi Lian's table, both of them felt a chill in the air. As both of them watched her every step from the corner of their eye, Ruo Xi noticed their look and smiled at them, not noticing how both of them were suspicious of her.

Ruo Xi then settled on the desk behind them. With Zhang Ren opening his phone to text Shi Lian, she immediately read it, looking at Zhang Ren with nervousness in her eyes.

The text from Zhang Ren read:

"What to do? Shi Lian will come here later and this woman is right behind us!

"

"Tsk!

"

Shi Lian just clicked her tongue. With her not acting rashly so as to not be suspicious to Ruo Xi, she just replied to what Zhang Ren had texted, making him nod at her once as they both thought that it's the best thing they could do.

For now.

Shi Lian's text read:

Ignore her. Once Shu Xian's back, it might make her uncomfortable, but we'll think of what to do once that happens.

***

Shu Xian didn't rush to the bathroom since she didn't want to be seen crying by the other girls if she came there. Instead, she rushed to the empty classroom near their room since she knew that this is a room not used to conduct lessons.

Shu Xian's tears ran freely from her eyes. With her taking deep breaths as she inhaled and exhaled, it finally gave her the moment to breathe, slightly calming herself down with her assumptions.

'Come on, Shu Xian,' she thought to herself, fanning her hands to her face as if it could help her tears stay in her eyes. 'Why are you suddenly being affected by this when you're just starting to like the professor? What's up with being scared?'

Shu Xian closed her eyes and took another series of deep breaths. With the silence of the classroom, suddenly, the sound of the door opening and closing made her body stiffen, wondering who had followed her here.

"Shu Xian.

"

The woman gasped in surprise when she heard her name. With her turning her body to look at the professor, she felt her heart racing once more when she saw him approach her, with a panicked expression on his face.

"Shu Xian,

" he said her name once again, taking another step towards her.

"Why are you—

"

"P-please,

" Shu Xian interrupted, putting her hand in front of her as she looked at him with consternation in her eyes.

"D-don't come any closer for a while.

"

Somehow, seeing her this way and hearing her words made Pan An feel an ache in his heart. It's as if Shu Xian is now setting a boundary between them because of Ruo Xi's sudden appearance.

And if turned out that it's that way, Pan An deeply wished that it isn't so…

Since he's starting to yearn for the woman before him already before he even realized it.