Shadows of Us

The next morning, Willow went to school and presented her paper to her advisor.

“You have a lot of potential, Willow, but your academic pursuits seem to be taking a backseat. How many times have I told you to revise the paper?” The suited professor adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and stared at Willow with a smile.

“What are the changes I should make, professor? I’ll follow your instructions to a tee.” Willow hung her head low, her demeanor soft and submissive.

“Are you sure?”

The advisor rose to his feet and approached Willow from behind, his hand running down her silky hair.

As Willow remained motionless, his hand landed on her shoulder, his fingers kneading through the thin fabric of her blouse.

Willow closed her eyes and murmured, “What do you like about me, professor?”

The advisor laughed. “There’s just something about you that appeals to men. You’re a fascinating contraction between fragility and stubbornness, purity and promiscuity…”

His hand slid further down as he spoke.

Willow broke free and raised her voice. “What are you doing, professor? Let me go! I’m here to submit my paper. Are you going to harass me because I won’t sleep with you?”

Struck by a thought, the advisor grimaced. “Did you set me up?”

Willow’s sobbing voice was filled with terror. “Please stop, professor! Please…”

The advisor scowled. “Motherf–”

Just then, the door to the office was kicked open with a bang.

Roy barged into the room looking like he was out for blood, taking Willow by surprise. The next thing she knew, her advisor was down on the floor, groaning in pain. Roy came on hard and strong, pulling punches right to the bone.

Willow quickly snapped out of her shock and pulled Roy back. “Stop, Roy!”

The man lay on the ground out cold with a busted nose. Not done with the professor, Roy planted a brutal kick.

Willow grabbed him from the waist to pull him back. “You’re going to kill him.”

Huffing and puffing, Roy cocked his head back at her. The first thing he saw was the possessive marks along her collarbone.

Hiding the emotions behind his eyes, he said with bloodthirst, “Did he do that to you?”

Willow followed his line of vision. “You did it.”

Roy was lost for words. However, he paid no heed to Willow’s dissuasion and turned back around to give the man on the ground another kick. Then, he grabbed Willow by the wrist and stormed out.

Willow snatched her bag from the desk and sighed to herself before discreetly turning off the voice recorder inside.

“How long has this been going on? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Burning in rage, Roy darted ahead, and Willow had to jog to keep up.

How long had it been? Willow reckoned that it had been more than six months.

It started with verbal harassment and escalated to unwanted physical advances. When she explicitly rejected her advisor, he began to make her life miserable.

Why had she not turned to Roy for help?

At first, Willow did think about seeking his help since her life would be back on track at the snap of Roy’s fingers. Heck, Roy could get away with barging into the office and beating the crap out of her advisor. However, why did she not then?

Emotions washed over her, and before she knew it, her lips curled into a smile. What did Roy say the other day again?

He uttered, “Don’t think too highly of yourself, Willow. Do you actually think you’re my girlfriend because I’m nice to you?”

Left out in the pouring rain, Willow spent the night drenched to the bone and contracted a week-long fever. The moment she felt better, she shamelessly went back to Roy and apologized.

Since then, they had gone about life like nothing ever happened. However, Willow knew that things were different for her.

Roy went to make a phone call and dropped a few terse words. The person on the other end of the line promised to get right to the matter.

“What brings you here?” Willow asked once he was finished with the call.

Before Roy could reply, Willow got her answer when she approached the school gate.

“Fancy seeing you here too, Willow. You’re at school too.” Sierra popped her head out of the car, looking rather innocent and surprised, a far cry from the defiant tone of her messages last night.