Chapter Eight

The department was having a full-day seminar on the Importance of mental health and Isabell decided to skip it and stay in her room since she was a professional in that thing.

After opening her eyes in the morning, the first thing she did was roll to the other end of her bed, pick her phone up from the side table, and check if she had received a message from Mr. Conner. There it was

Mr. Conner: Pardon me for replying you late. It would be great if you could visit .

She straightened herself on the bed, took a deep breath, nodded to herself

Isabell: Certainly! I'll be there in two hours Sir

Isabell sprang out of bed with a sudden burst of energy in her body. Opening the closet she darted at every single thing that was supposed to be ethical. After some thinking and calculations she chose to dress in a casual outfit, blue jeans, and a pristine white T-shirt along with black loafers. Isabell nodded a couple of times to herself in the mirror

"Let's go" She picked up her bag, hung it over her shoulder

"I'll be back soon" Giving exactly one sentence to her mom and never caring to get a reply she left

Isabell drove to the address GPS told her and she found herself in front of a huge mansion. She got out of the car after parking it

Isabell carried the fruit basket with a strong grip on both of her hands.

The door unlocked after ringing the bell. There was a maid who opened the door for her "I'm here to meet Mr. Conner" she said to her "Is he expecting a visit from you, Mam?" Her voice was polite, Isabell nodded in reply "Sure. Please follow me" She said with a smile and took her to a room upstairs.

As soon as she entered the room an acidic scent of medicine welcomed her. Sunlight struggled to pierce through half-closed windows between curtains while Mr. Conner lay on a big bed, an IV attached to his wrist

His face still looked pale, usually, an appendectomy needs a couple of weeks to heal but he had a swear side reaction and doctors recommended bed rest for at least three months

Isabell walked with small steps to his bed. The moment the professor saw her, his face lightened with a bright smile "Look who is here my favorite student" He said his smile broadened "You really are making everyone so worried" She placed the fruits on the side table "You need to recover fast, Sir" He tried to sit up but couldn't lift his own body, Isabell assisted him sitting down,

"I'm going to be fine," He said, placing the glasses on his eyes

Isabell took a seat on a chair "I really hope you get well soon" he nodded slightly "How are the classes going?"

"It's only the start of the year, Sir and we got many assignments and reports to make," she sighed

"Is Sebastian getting tough on you guys?" His question made Isabell frown and his name made her itch "He is- he Just rejected the legal case studies reports of every single one of us" Mr. Conner stopped smiling for a second "The best student's too?" He sounded amused. "Yes, And that's exactly the reason why I'm here" Isabell's face contorted with sorrow

"What was the reason?" Mr. Conner asked "This is the problem, sir. He never said why he rejected my topic and I don't really know what to do now" Everything was normal and totally okay for Isabell to win the war against Sebastian because she knew Mr. Conner would take her side and then "What did you choose?" He questioned, making Isabell anxious "I- I" she squeezed her eyes for a second and Isabell was well aware of the fact that there was nothing wrong with her topic but for an odd reason she was nervous "I assume you may know about the rumors of a drug dealing club named Throne Of Demon. And- and I want to resolve the case or at least give it a try because seemingly all the detectives are useless when it comes to them" She finished, Mr. Conner stayed silent for some moments

"You do understand how dangerous it is from the words you just said?" This was what made her nervous. Isabell didn't look up at him, her eyes stared at the white sheet of the mattress

"This is the actual reason why I chose it as my case because they are dangerous and no one is doing a thing to take them down," Her voice suddenly lost its pace and was low

"I can understand Sebastian now and I know why he rejected it" She lifted her face, staring at him

"I'm sorry I'm being impolite but no one can understand Sebastian, Sir" Mr. Conner chuckled at her words but she never did "He is not as bad as you guys think" Isabell stayed silent, her eyes looking at Mr. Conner, waiting for him to explain the most controversial thing she heard in the entire week

   "Actually, Sebastian was a student of mine before I transferred to Veritas University, and he has been close to me since then. He used to have a warm personality, and he was always busy helping others. He took part in every game and event. I must tell you he was an amazing singer too but" He paused and Isabell was startled, at the second most controversial thing she heard in the entire week, but she noticed the shadow of sadness slowly spreading all over his face "Sebastian had a traumatic experience not so long ago and it shucked all the happiness out of his life and left him like this" Isabell forget how to combine letters and make words out of them a second ago. She knew something was wrong with Sebastian and knew that this something had a reason behind it.

But her mind didn't tell her that the reason could be something to feel empathy with and all she told herself was, that he might had tortured so many people that it made him emotionless.

Isabell parted her lips. She tried to speak and tried again but no matter how many times she tried, she failed

"I hope you'll be able to understand him," Mr. Conner said, and Isabell's words gathered again as well, she wanted to tell him.

I don't wish for the same because he is nonunderstandable "I'll try doing that" she lied but her lie made the professor grin so she considered it as a good lie.

      For an extended while they chatted with each other and none of them realized how time had flown and it was already time to go "Get well soon, Sir" she said standing from the chair "It would be nice if you could stay for lunch" he offered "I apologize for declining it but maybe next time, Mr. Conner" She bent her head a little "It's okay" He said

"Take care of yourself" Her hands opened the door "Same for you, Isabell" She waved goodbye and so did he

     Isabell stood at the top of the stairs to get down. Mr. Conner's words were still echoing in her head, a traumatic experience.

Her hand rested at the side of the stairwell, "Let's go"

she told herself, adjusting the handbag over her shoulder but before Isabell could take even a single step down she saw a man ascending the stairs. The man was holding a carton of juice in one hand and draping a long black overcoat over the other arm. Isabell couldn't help but stare at his flawless wavy hair and the way his shirt and black pants fitted around his body

The man lifted his head and Isabell froze for a total of five seconds. The moment she identified the face, she continued to walk down with a displeased complexion and fast steps, faster than she ever had

Sebastian stopped in the middle of the staircase, one step up and one down he stood two stairs lower than her. Isabell's legs automatically stopped walking at his break.

Sebastian turned his head towards her, his lips parted

   "You can at least say a Hello if you see me," He said in his deep voice

   "Do we know each other, Mister?" Isabell concealed her face with a confused expression "Maybe I could be the reason why you are here" His words were her worst enemy and on top of that his smirk made Isabell scrape her teeth and she clearly remembered him now

  "I don't think I know you, Mr. Bastarian" She fired, leaving Sebastian's mouth fell in surprise "Isabell, Stop calling me that" His eyes darkened as the smirk left his lips, "What's wrong with that, Mr. Bastarian?" She injected an extra dose in his frustration by curling her lips with every letter "Stop it, Just call me Sebastian when we are outside of the university" Isabell paused and everything inside of her body paused "I'm only three years older than you anyway" The pause converted to an amazed laugh; more of a nervous laugh "Why the fu- I mean why- why would we ever meet outside of the university?" She tried to turn the nervous laughter into a mocked laughter but she failed "Well, the future is uncertain; anything could intertwine our paths" Isabell ears couldn't believe in themselves now because the scary Sebastian was being sarcastic

"Are we close, Mr. Bastarian?" She thought she had total control over Sebastian by that one word "Isabell" he sucked some air in, his eyes on her face, fingers tightening into a fist "I am giving you a final warning! Stop calling me–"

"Or what, Mr. Bastarian" She didn't seem to mind his starting to get harsh tune, maybe she should have minded it because it was Sebastian she was talking to

"Or I won't hold you if you fall again" he remembers, his photographic memory remembers every freaking thing.

Something in the air just stopped, it sounded like the beats of Isabell's heart. She didn't have anything left to say. But Isabell couldn't remain silent because it'd be equivalent to losing to Sebastian and she couldn't handle that so maybe some words could make their way out of her throat.

   "Why the hell am I even talking to you?" her question made Sebastian smirk and his smirk made Isabell absolutely irritated "You know what, Mr. Lightwood? You should go upstairs and read spells at Mr. Conner maybe you'll get to stay in the university for the entire year" She threw those words at him and rushed down the stairs without turning her head back.

The sun emerged on the horizon, its gold rays were twinkling on everything, announcing the arrival of the next morning.

  Isabell had a wooden box in her hand that wasn't much bigger than the size of her palm. She played with it tossing it from one hand to another.

She didn't turn towards her class but went straight to the ground between the building of law and the building of business

Her eyes found Ashley sitting at the edge of a bench alone. Isabell took her steps towards Ashley

"How is my baby today?" Her voice carried a vibrant excitement but not enough to make Ashley smile or even her lips move

 "Ash, look what I got you?" She said in the same excitement nodding the box in her hand but Ashley didn't respond, again "Hey" Isabell smiled holding one of her hands "Izzy, can you please leave me alone?" She slipped Isabell's hand out of hers, her swollen eyes looking at Isabell "Ash, listen to me it's—"

"I don't want to shout at you in front of everyone" Ashley sounded calmer than her words "Should I open it for you?" she ignored her words

"Okay, I will" Isabell took her silence as a yes and her fingers began to peel off the tapes "You know I'm still in a shitty mood, I would love to be alone right now?" She turned her face in another direction

"No, not right now, you can't be alone right now, Babe" As soon as she was done peeling off tapes. Isabell opened the box

"See!" She yelled in her ear "I said leave me alone, Izzy. I don't want to talk to anyone" Her eyes stared with anger at her now "Believe me, Ash, You want to talk about this" she almost yelled again.

The pupils of Ashley's eyes moved to a corner trying to see what was exactly in the box without being obvious, one sight of it and the sad face of Ashley melted down and now it was a glowed-up face

"ERLKING!"

She screamed, making everyone stop and stare at them

"No way, Izzy" Not even an inch of sadness was left on her face as she held the status of king of fairies in her visibly trembling hands.

Isabell breathed in relief knowing that she had successfully manipulated her bestie twice in a row, she smiled at Ashley "Thank you" Ashley was the one to yell into her ear this time "Thank you" and sorry for never being a good friend to you "You are the best" the exact opposite of it. Ashley enfolded Isabell in her arms and hugged her back tighter, Isabell patted her back

"Thank you" Ashley repeated, Isabell brushed her hair with her hand as a reply, and her lips finally smiled but in a blink of an eye, the smile left her lips

Her eyebrows lifted wide enough to disappear in the hair, her forehead filled with stretches as she saw a boy with gold hair in the hidden corner of the ground, smoking cigarettes.

She recognized this guy and the recognition happened to have a similar appearance as the best friend of her brother had

Jade