Am I a masochist?

When Reine came down to the drawing-room, she was in a happy mood as her mother had confirmed that the new Head of the Chemistry department would be present today.

Reine was confident that this time she would be able to outshine Aelia. This was because, she was absolutely sure that Aelia had previously used her connections with the University's Dean of Sciences to get the highest marks in each term.

Otherwise, how could Aelia manage to get such extraordinary marks when she hardly attended the classes?

Reine would have never imagined that it was not that Aelia didn't attend her classes, but it was just that she was already doing her own research and thus did not need to attend undergraduate classes anymore.

Without knowing anything, Reine was already envisioning how she would humiliate Aelia today.

Reine looked at Aelia who was smiling at something that Asher had said. She thought with a dark expression on her face, 'Aelia, don't blame me for being too calculating. Who told you to snatch away the things that should rightfully belong to me?'

Asher did not miss the dark gaze Reine shot at his Angel. He placed an arm around Aelia's shoulders in a protective stance.

Suddenly feeling Asher's arms around her shoulders, Aelia looked up at him in confusion. She followed Asher's gaze and saw Reine glaring at her with a confrontational look.

Aelia paid no heed to Reine's antics and quickly led Asher away. She knew if she let him stay near Reine any longer, she would not be able to keep Asher from doing something to Reine.

Asher sighed as he was led away. Though he was not able to directly confront Reine, that did not mean that he should let her go scotfree.

Soon, Aelia heard a yelp and turned around to see a completely drenched Reine.

Reine was dumbfounded by what just happened. She stood there without moving while dripping water all over the floor.

Though Azrael knew who was behind this incident, he did not point anyone out. Instead, he gave Reine a somewhat perfunctory explanation that a maid might have mistakenly overturned the bucket from the second floor.

As Reine was standing below a window, she did not suspect anything. She fumed as she went back into the house to change her completely soaked dress.

Aelia looked at Asher who had a mischievous glint in his eyes. She raised an eyebrow at him, but Asher just innocently shrugged his shoulders and said, "My hands slipped!"

Aelia could only shake her head at Asher's reason. Who would believe that someone who had such control over his powers to even carve out an intricate ice sculpture of a rose, would suddenly lose control over his powers?

Aelia followed Asher into the car after quickly biding goodbye to her brother.

She closed the door of the car and turned around to see Asher intensely staring at her.

She self-consciously asked, "What?"

Asher smirked and brought his face closer to hers.

Aelia felt her cheeks grow warmer as her heartbeat increased. She closed her eyes and anticipated for the moment when his lips would touch hers.

However, after a moment when nothing happened, Aelia opened her eyes only to see Asher help her put on the seat belt. The clicking sound of the belt finally made Aelia look at Asher in confusion.

In fact, when Asher had seen his Angel close her eyes and expectantly wait for a kiss from him, he had to try very hard to keep his self-control.

Though he himself also agonized over not immediately kissing his Angel, since he had decided that he would only properly kiss her after she confessed her feelings for him, he wanted to stick to his decision.

Asher wondered whether he was unconsciously being a masochist for deliberately making such a frustrating decision.

Aelia, on the other hand, felt extremely embarrassed when she saw Asher smirking at her.

She felt her entire body grow warmer and quickly turned her head to look out the windows.

Asher soon started the car and started asking Aelia questions about herself to get to know her better.

Aelia knew Asher was doing so also because he wanted to help her get over the initial awkwardness she felt after the embarrassing incident.

When they reached the University parking lot, she got a call from Mrs Hansley, the Dean of Sciences.

She picked up the call and even before she could say hello, she heard the other party say with an agitated voice, "Dear, I heard that you have decided to leave our research department? Is this true?"

Aelia replied, "Yes!"

She was about to explain why she had decided to leave the research unit, but was again interrupted by Mrs Hansley.

"Aelia dear, are you dissatisfied with something in our research unit? If it is so, then I'll make sure that all your requirements are satisfied! So, you don't have to make a hasty decision. Alright?"

Aelia felt very warm after hearing what Mrs Hansley said.

Mrs Hansley was a woman in her mid-forties. Though she usually had a gentle presence, she was actually extremely strict about regulations and maintaining discipline.

It was this woman who had made arrangements for Aelia to be involved in the Chemistry research unit after seeing her paper on the experiments about plant-based poison. Since, researching with poison could easily attract attention from undesirable sources, Mrs Hansley had also made arrangements to suppress the news about Aelia's involvement with the research lab of their Chemistry department.

Aelia too knew that Mrs Hansley had done various things to take care of her in the last two years. She was extremely grateful towards this woman who had gradually become a mother-like figure in her life after her own mother's disappearance.

So, Aelia decided to reveal some of the truth to Mrs Hansley and introduce her to Asher.

She said on the phone, "Mrs Hansley, I'm actually already at the University. Do you have some free time right now to meet me?"

Mrs Hansley was indeed free and readily agreed to meet her favourite pupil.

Aelia took Asher to Mrs Hansley's office which was on the third floor of the Science building.

Though Asher could not readily divulge his identity to complete strangers, since his Angel trusted this woman, Asher too decided to trust his woman's decision.

Aelia opened the mahogany door to Mrs Hansley's office and entered the room followed by Asher.

Mrs Hansley was surprised to see her favourite disciple with a man for the first time. She frowned thinking, "Is this lad responsible for my Aelia's decision of leaving the university?"

When Asher saw the woman with gold-rimmed glasses who was dressed in a blue formal attire, stand up from her seat and approach them, he instantly knew that the relationship between this woman and his Angel went well beyond simple trust. This thought was further solidified when he saw the two women greeting each other warmly and exchanging a hug.