Collin was clearly not pleased that I had sent in a student on my first lunch duty.

The way he phrased it, made it seem like I had orchestrated the entire fight just to ruin his lunch break.

I honestly didn’t know what the man’s deal with me was.

But the fortunate part was that since the Principal wasn’t available at that moment, Aaron had been told to come at a later time. However, I did not know when later was.

Needless to say, I was quite surprised to find Aaron sitting on the bench outside the Principal’s office, as I made my way out. His legs were too short to reach the ground, so he was aimlessly kicking them in the air.

I frowned.

Even Collin had left for the day.

Why was Aaron still here?

“Hello.”

Aaron jumps at the sound of my voice, startled and then relaxes when he sees it was a teacher.

“Aaron isn’t it?”

He gives me a nod, mutely.

I sit down next to him on the bench, “Why are you still here, Aaron? The whole school’s empty.”

“My dad comes late,” He mumbles, all his bravado from the lunch period having seemingly evaporated.

I couldn’t, in good conscious, leave the child alone in the empty school.

I sigh, “Guess, we both have to wait then.”

“Who are you waiting for?” He asks, curiously.

I shake my head, lying through my teeth, “For my friend.”

“Oh.” Then, with an afterthought, “Am I going to get in trouble for what I did?”

I was quiet for a moment, “Do you think you should get in trouble?”

Aaron is twisting his fingers, looking a little guilty, “I only hit Mason because he was making fun of Noah’s mom. Because Noah doesn’t have a Dad like I do.”

“Noah told me. He doesn’t want you to get in trouble as well.”

When Aaron looks up, hope in his eyes, I could see a glimpse of the heartbreaker he would grow up to become. Since, he technically hadn’t received a slip from me, I could give him a pass. But at the same time, I also didn’t want him to think that he could always get a pass.

A thought occurs to me.

“Is your dad late, everyday?”

Aaron nods.

I grin at him, “You know what you can do, let’s call this your punishment for hitting Mason. I’m still setting up my classroom. You can help me out every day after school, till your dad comes to pick you up. Does that sound fair to you?”

His face transforms with the huge smile, and I couldn’t help but respond in kind. I didn’t want to punish the child for standing up for his friend, but he still had to be held responsible.

Putting on a thoughtful expression, I muse loudly, “I don’t know if you’re up for the task, though. There’s going to be a lot of drawing, and carrying things, and colouring in the pictures.”

At this point, his eyes are bright, and he is literally jumping in his seat, “I can do that!”

“Are you sure? It’s going to be a lot of work.”

Those pretty blue eyes are wide with excitement, “I can colour! I can also draw!”

I beam at the boy, “Well, alright. Let’s start from tomorrow.”

It felt good to reach out to a student. Although, Aaron still had a few years before he reaches my class, he was still a student of this school. But before I get the chance to ask him about his class, I hear a deep voice call-out his name.

“That’s my dad!” Aaron grins, and clambers down from his seat. Looking at me, he hesitantly asks, “Should I stay till your friend comes?”

It was at that moment that he completely stole my heart.

I smile and reach out to ruffle his hair, “No, it’s okay. You go.”

He takes another look at me before he starts running down the corridor.

“Don’t forget our promise!” I call out to him, and he waves back at me, shouting, “I won’t!”

I walk over to the window to see him being ushered into a very fancy car by a man, whom I could not make out in the distance.

He must be pretty-well off, I assume.

The man wore a long trench coat, under which I glimpsed a dark blue suit, covering a trim body. Leaning against the window, I watch them leave.

A glance at my own watch tells me that I should be on my way home.

Scarlett was sitting on the couch in our living room, a big bowl of chocolate ice cream in her lap, her eyes transfixed on the television.

Dumping my purse on the table, I walk over to see what she was watching.

“Didn’t you watch that episode yesterday?” I ask, leaning over to grab some of the crackers that lay next to her pyjama clad form.

“Yeah,” She mumbles, her eyes not even blinking. “But Alessandro is so hot in this one. The way he grabs Maria. I need somebody to grab me like that.”

Rolling my eyes, I leave my roommate to her sexual fantasies and open the fridge.

“We’re out of milk, Scarlett.” I point out. “And eggs. And bread.”

“Yeah. I saw.”

I debate whether to chew her out on it, but she has had such stressful few weeks, that it actually puts my mind at ease to see her so relaxed. I grab my keys and plant a loud smacking kiss on top of her head, “Okay, have fun. I’ll go to the grocery store.”

“Pick me up some chips!” She yells out as I close the door behind me.

It isn’t usually this way, but the weather is even worse than this morning. There is heavy fog, which makes me narrow my eyes as I drive through it.

Thankfully, I make it to the store in one piece.

Since, it was around four in the evening, I expected to see more people in our local grocery store.

“Hey, George.” I dump my items onto the counter.

George, an elderly man, who had been running this store since he was a young man, starts calling up the bill, “Miss Johnson. How’s the new job?”

I shrug, “First day, today. So far, so good. Why is the place so empty?”

George points toward the tv screen in the corner, “There’s a forecast for heavy snowfall today. I’m going to close shop in an hour. It’s best you hurry home as well.”

Bidding goodbye, I step outside and glance at the gathering dark clouds. There is bite in the air that makes me shiver. I wasn’t too crazy about the cold, so I hurried toward my car.

Starting the car, I put it in reverse gear and wince at the sounds that were coming from the engine. The roads weren’t entirely empty as people were rushing home, no one wanted to be caught in this bad weather.

At some point, I felt the car growing colder, and realized that the heater had stopped working. Leaning over to check the gauge meter, I felt the impact of hitting something, more than hearing it.

My head flew up in torrid mixture of guilt and shock.

There was a car in front of me.

I throw open my car door and rush over to see if anyone is injured. My hands tremble as the door opens.

“Are you okay?!” The words blurt out from my mouth.

The man was tall, his shoulders broad. He wore a light-coloured overcoat over his suit, and his piercing gray eyes flash with annoyance.

“Do you drive with your eyes closed?” He demands with an icy tone, making me wince.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t-“

“My car was parked,” His glare was just as deadly as his tone, and I could very well imagine him in a board room meeting with some business executives, as he blasted them with that cold look.

“It was an accident,” I try to apologize but he isn’t even listening. He is crouching down to inspect the damage to his car.

When I hear him curse, I pursed my lips in panic.

What if he wants me to pay for the damages? I can’t afford that, not on my salary.

“Both the tires are busted.” He looks at me as if it was all my fault. Which in hindsight, it was, I think guiltily.

“I really am sorry,” I say, feeling like a wretch.

“Who gave you a licence in the first place?” The man asks me, a scowl etched on his face.

I frown now, “Look, I got distracted. I apologized. You don’t need to be a dick about it.”

His eyes narrow, and his tone gets even colder, if that was even possible, “You just ruined my new car. I’m going to be late for a very important meeting, because you got distracted. And you expect me to be nice to you?”

My voice came out smaller than I had intended, “Yes.”

With an afterthought, I add a small, “Sorry.”

He opens his mouth to say something, and then looks up to the sky as the snow starts falling around us.

“Fuck. Well, this is fucking great.”

I wince at the harsh language, and offer hesitantly, “Look, if you want to get somewhere, I can drop you off.”

The wintery look he threw my way withered my insides. For a man this sinfully hot, he sure knew how to commit murder with his eyes.

He looks at his phone, and I pray that he would refuse my offer and just get an Uber, but he scowls at his phone, “The battery’s dead. Drop me off ten blocks at Westminster Street.”

The authoritative tone in his voice made me grind my teeth, but since I had just wrecked his car, I really wasn’t in a position to say anything.

“Of course,” I mutter, and I watch him as he looks at my car with open disdain.

“You want me to sit in that death trap?” He says, making my blood boil.

“Look, you want to get to where you have to go, or not?” I snap at him.

He gives me a look, which I force myself to ignore. I wasn’t going to let this asshole treat me like one of his underlings.

And I especially wasn’t going to let him insult Gertha.

Not my baby.

I open the door for him, and gesture for him to get inside.

He studies me for a moment, before grabbing something from his car and getting into mine.

I slam the door shut behind him.