Chapter 226
CATHERINE
The silence that followed my question was heavy, vibrating with the shock racing through my system. I stared at Tessa as my heart hammered against my ribs. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. The sharp, proud, fiercely independent Tessa and Dean Miller?
“No, Catherine! Gosh, stop!” Tessa barked, her face twisting in a mix of disgust and desperation. “I wasn’t having an affair with him. It’s not… it’s not like that p>
I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I was holding, but the relief was short-lived. My brow furrowed as I took a step closer to her. “Then why? Why were you sneaking into his office? Why let Sasha hold that over your head for a year if there wasn’t a reason you were there p>
Tessa didn’t answer immediately. Her eyes darted toward Sasha, who was still sitting, dripping water onto the tiles and watching us with wide eyes. The look Tessa gave her was lethal—a silent command that translated clearly as get out of here already.
Sasha nodded, starting to move. How fast roles change: who would have thought the former Queen Bee wouldn’t need to be told twice. “Ohh… yeah right. I should get going. I need to find the dryer in the gym. See you both in class p>
She didn’t look back as she scurried out of the locker room, her damp sneakers squeaking against the floor. As soon as the heavy door clicked shut, leaving us in the hum of the overhead lights, I crossed my arms and stood my ground.
“Okay,” I said, my voice firm. “She’s gone. Start speaking, Tessa. What is really going on p>
Tessa looked at the door, then at the clock on the wall, and let out a long, ragged sigh. “Catherine, we’re already late for the morning lecture. If we miss another ten minutes, we might as well not show up. I promise you—after the lecture, I will tell you everything. Every single word. Just… not here. Not now p>
I wasn’t okay with the delay. The curiosity was an itch under my skin, and the suspicion was still blooming like a dark cloud. But looking at the tension in her shoulders and the way she was biting her lip, I knew I wouldn’t get anything out of her until she was ready.
“Fine,” I muttered, grabbing my bag. “But the second that lecture ends, we’re talking p>
We hurried through the corridors. By the time we reached the lecture hall, the professor was already deep into a discussion about political economics. We were at least twenty minutes late.
As we slipped through the back door, I felt the weight of dozens of eyes on us. Near the front, Lucy perked up like a shark sensing blood. She leaned forward, a smug grin spreading across her face as she looked toward the professor.
“Excuse me, Professor,” Lucy’s voice rang out, and I wondered what she was about to do. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I thought this university had a strict policy regarding punctuality. It’s quite distracting for those of us who actually value our education when people just wander in whenever they feel like it p>
She looked back at us, her eyes gleaming with expectation. She was clearly waiting for the professor to humiliate us, to demand an explanation, or perhaps even kick us out.
The professor adjusted his glasses, peering over them at us, and then back at Lucy. “Miss Clement, while I appreciate your dedication to the rules, these students are grown-ups. They pay their tuition and they can do whatever they want with their time. If they choose to miss twenty minutes of my lecture, that is their loss, not yours.” He turned back to the board. “Now, as I was saying p>
Lucy’s face fell, her jaw practically hitting the desk in disappointment. I saw her knuckles turn white as she gripped her pen, but I didn’t give her the satisfaction of a glance. Tessa and I slid into the furthest seats in the back row.
For the next hour, I didn’t hear a word about the topic. My mind was a whirlwind of theories. If it wasn’t an affair, was she stealing something? Was she being blackmailed by him? I watched the back of Tessa’s head, noticing the way she remained perfectly still, her eyes fixed forward but her hands restlessly shredding the corner of a notebook page.
The second the professor dismissed the class, I was on my feet. I didn’t even wait for the room to clear.
“Lucy can wait,” I said, cutting off any attempt at a detour. “I need you to explain your relationship with the Dean. Right now p>
Tessa didn’t argue this time. She grabbed my hand, her grip tight, and pulled me through the exiting crowd. She led me down a side hallway and into a secluded corner behind the old auditorium—a place where the students rarely ventured.
She let go of my hand and leaned against the cold stone wall, staring at the floor. I watched her, my suspicion growing by the second. I reached out, placing my palm on her forehead as if checking for a fever, my voice laced with a bitter sort of realization.
“Your silence is loud, Tessa,” I whispered. “That means Sasha was right. You are truly having an affair with that man, aren’t you? Is that why you’re so scared p>
Tessa swiped my hand away, but there was no fire in the gesture. Only exhaustion. She looked up at me, her eyes red-rimmed. “Catherine… do you remember when I used to tell you about my home life? How I live with only my mom, and how she rarely checks on me or really cares about what I’m doing p>
I paused, a quick thought flashing through my mind. I remembered that night she moved in to stay with Ethan, how she never really mentioned how her mother would feel or thought of a lie to tell because “nobody was waiting at home.” She had never directly said her mother didn’t care, but she had insinuated it twice or thrice—mentioning how her mother hardly kept a tab on her grades or her whereabouts.
“I remember,” I said slowly. “But what does that have to do with you sneaking into the Dean’s office at midnight p>
“It has everything to do with it,” Tessa replied, her voice cracking. “I’m not an ’affair,’ Catherine. I’m a mistake. I’m an unwanted child that my mother gave birth to for the Dean p>
My eyes widened in shock, a sharp gasp escaping my lips. The world felt like it was shifting again.
“They were together when they were young,” Tessa continued, her voice trembling. “But when he found out about my mom’s pregnancy, he didn’t step up. He broke up with her immediately. My mom found out later that his family had already had him engaged to another woman—someone in their social status, someone who fit the image of a future Dean. Not a girl like her p>
Just then, the wall she had built around herself finally crumbled. Tessa broke into tears, her shoulders heaving as she covered her face with her hands.
“Oh, Tessa I moved hurriedly, pulling her into a tight hug. She buried her face in my shoulder, sobbing with a raw, agonizing sound that broke my heart. “I’m so sorry. Don’t cry, please don’t cry p>
“It’s so humiliating,” she sobbed into my sweater, her voice muffled but clear. “My mother couldn’t afford my school fees here. This place is so expensive, and she… she’s struggled for so long. So occasionally, I would have to go to him. I would go to his office late at night to ask for his help, to beg for the tuition money that he owes me as a father p>
She pulled back just enough to look at me, her eyes filled with a hollow sort of pain. “He hates to see me, Catherine. Every time I walked through that door, he looked at me like I was a stain on his carpet. He warned me, every single time, to make sure no one ever found out he is my father. He told me if I ever breathed a word of it, the money would stop and he’d have us kicked out of the city p>
I held her tighter, a cold rage simmering in my chest.
“That’s why you couldn’t let Sasha post the video,” I whispered, realization finally dawning on me. “If people thought you were having an affair, it would be a terrible scandal for him. And if people found out the truth… he would ruin your life p>