Dahamrai & Henderson Ch. 14

Synopsis: Layla Dahamrai has just begun her second year at university. She's acing every class and is one of the department's best students in her cohort. However, she's not getting along with her professor in her East Asian Regimes & Empires class, not that it's really her fault. It doesn't help that she's hot for her teacher either. Sebastian Henderson expects the best out of his students, given he's teaching at one of the most prestigious universities in London. He's had enough of Layla stumbling into his class late at the beginning of the semester. In the six years he's been teaching in academia, he has never desired a student until now. Layla and Sebastian will soon come to realise they have more in common during, and definitely out of, office hours.

Chapter 14: Field Trip

30/05/2018

"Something isn't right about this, Layla. Why would Bash break up with you out of nowhere? I know you can't see this at the moment, but that man loves you more than people should love other people. There is not a single thing he wouldn't do for you," I groan as Aurelia ponders over my breakup for another day.

Lifting my face from my pillow, I scowl at her. "Look Aurelia, I know you think you're being helpful, but this is the reality of the situation. Sebastian doesn't want to be with me. He'll probably find another student at the new university he lands in. If he wants out, then good riddance to him."

She takes the pillow and hits me on the backside with it. "Layla, don't start behaving like this, too. Bash and you are behaving like children. Every time you have an argument, it's because neither of you are talking to each other about what you're thinking. Neither of you will be happy until you both talk and listen to each other."

"I have always left the door open for him to talk to me. He's the thirty-year-old man-child that doesn't want to take me up on the easiest task there is in a relationship," I flip over on my back and stare at the ceiling.

Aurelia sighs and I know she's rolling her eyes without having to look at her. "Both of you are complete twats. Layla, you're not exactly forthcoming with your reactions and your responses. We have to push you to the brink to get the most honest reaction out of you! It makes you intimidating to talk to and it doesn't matter who the person is that does the talking," I sit up and frown at her.

"Hey! I listen to people! Don't place the blame of this fuck-up on me!" She rolls her eyes at me and rubs her palms over her face.

"Babe, you're not even listening to me now. I'm not blaming you. I'm telling you that you both need to do what the other doesn't do. Layla, you do all of the talking, but when it's time for you to shut up you can't do it. If you actually looked at him and listened, you would have realised much sooner that it's been on his mind for much longer than the week he wasn't responding to you. Same goes for him. If he spoke to you the second the fears and doubts entered his mind, he wouldn't have come to this conclusion that he has to break up with you to make you happy."

"I don't want to hear this," I get up from my bed.

"See? You're doing it right now," I scowl at her again. Aurelia stares at me intently but throws her hands in the air in defeat. "Fine! I'll go get the tequila and we can both wallow in your self-pity. That way we can get over this part before the gala my parents are holding for that museum on the second."

"Ugh, do we have to go to that? It'll just be filled with stuffy old people who are pompous and pretentious as they have too much money and they can't spend it all on themselves," I whine.

"Yes, we have to go because my parents are not going to be in attendance. They have to care of business in Shanghai, so I will be representing them. I'm just dragging you all along because that way I won't go insane. Besides, we're bringing in younger patrons so there will be people in their thirties and late-twenties, which is the perfect age for you," I gasp while she smirks at her little joke.

"I have slept with people my own age, you are one of them and the girls in this house make up for another four people I have had sex with who are my own age," Aurelia laughs at me.

"Yes, but you didn't fall madly in love with us," she says before she leaves my bedroom to fetch the alcohol. Maybe I should just go back to sleeping with the girls exclusively? If I do that then there is hardly any room for me to get into trouble with another older man. I shake my head at the thought. I can't use my friends as a rebound from my relationship with Sebastian. I don't want a rebound, I just want him.

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02/06/2018

Tugging the material of my dress over my breasts, I sigh as I still haven't removed the gifted piercings in my nipples to ones that I have bought myself. I adjust the periwinkle silk maxi-dress with a low-cut and a large thigh-high split. I fasten the knots of the straps and put on my gold jewellery and white sandals. I give myself a final check in the mirror when Aurelia walks into the room.

"Honey, you look so fucking fit!" she says gleefully and sits on my bed. Aurelia has chosen a front cut-out dress with the material joining at her neck and below her sternum. There's a long thigh-high slit on her dress and she's paired the red dress with diamond heels and jewellery. "Just a little warning, Bash and his friends have been invited to tonight's gala," I quickly turn around to Aurelia and gape at her.

"Why would you do that?"

"I didn't do it! Bash has a friend called Oliver Harrington and apparently he has had a few dealings with my parents, so they invited him and fiends of his," she bites her lip.

"They aren't even going to make an appearance tonight," I press my fingers to my forehead. "What about the girls? They can't know that I was in a relationship with my teacher! Oh my God, what happens if they find out I'm just out there having group sex with men every chance I get?"

"They won't! I highly doubt anything will come of them coming tonight. I'll talk to Fred and he'll make sure everything is nipped in the bud so no one will find out about you and Bash."

"You hate Fred," she rolls her eyes at me.

"No, I don't like Fred, but he's nice enough to look at when you're talking to him so I won't be put out."

"This is just great," I mutter to myself before we leave.

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While I was prepared to find Sebastian and his friends at the gala, I wasn't prepared to find his sister at the event as well. "Hello, Persie," I mumble as she kisses both my cheeks. She offers me a shy smile and sets her glass down on the table between us. "How have you been?" I ask her sincerely.

"I've been doing brilliantly, but that's not why I've come to talk to you. I want to talk to you about my brother and about you as well," I nod my head slowly at her words.

"Persie, there's nothing for you to worry about anymore. Sebastian has cut off all ties with me and I promise you I won't bother him or utter a word about us to anyone. It'll be as if nothing ever happened," I say trying to reassure her concerns about her brother's future.

"Bash broke things off with you because I told him to before and after your getaway at our family estate," I nod my head. I'm not surprised, I figured her words would have had some role in our breakup, not that I can fault her. She wants to protect Sebastian and make sure he's happy, too.

"I can't say it's unexpected. Again, I'm not going to hold onto him because I love him. I want him to be happy as well," she doesn't say anything in response. Feeling the tension building between us, I offer an excuse to escape the awkward silence. "I should go, my friends will be wondering where I am." I pick up my glass and start to move away from her.

"Hold on," Persie grabs me by the arm. She almost looks remorseful. "I'm sorry for telling him to break up with you. I realise now I shouldn't have done it," she says looking into her glass of champagne.

"Persie, you were doing what you thought was right. Let's just leave it at that," I say as I place my glass back down on the table.

"Well, you see, I can't just leave it at that. Bash is hurting. It's almost as bad as he was hurting when our parents passed away. He barely talks, or eats, or sleeps. It's only been the space of a few days. I know he misses you greatly," I shake my head at Persie.

"Stop. Persie, this is irreversible. Sebastian made a choice. I'm living with that choice. Leave it alone. Persie, sometimes people can love each other but should not be together and that's okay." I snatch my glass and storm away from her.

Aurelia is talking to Freddie about some clinical trial when I walk past them. She takes me by the arm and folds it with hers. "Who were you talking to?" she asks me as I sip on my champagne and stare at the floor.

"Hello, Fredster," I mumble and look around the room to see where the rest of our friends are. I want to avoid all of Sebastian's friends as best as I can. Why did Aurelia think it would be a good idea to invite them with our housemates around?

"They all dipped the second they arrived, Layla," Aurelia tells me. "Apparently they seriously had to leave as all the other guests were arriving because there's a massive rave happening near Old Street. They simply couldn't miss it, so they took four bottles of champagne and left," I groan at the thought. Why couldn't they have taken me with them? Aurelia brings her attention back to Fred, "You would have liked them immensely, but I can't guarantee they would have put on the sapphic orgy you were hoping for," she smiles at Freddie facetiously.

Fred grins at the idea. "Well, it's a shame my friends and I showed up so late. It's okay though, I think I'll be fine with just thinking about you in that position," she rolls her eyes at him.

"If the two of you are quite done with your weird pseudo-sexual pissing contest, I think I shall make my leave too," Aurelia doesn't release me and holds onto me tighter than she did before.

"No, no, no. I'm not going to be stuck here by myself," Aurelia gives me those pleading eyes and I wince as I try to resist them.

"I can take care of her, Layla," Freddie winks at me. Now, I definitely can't leave. "Besides you shouldn't run away just because Persie ensured that Bash broke up with you," I blanch at his words.

"How did you know about that?" Freddie shrugs at my question.

"Bash has been a shit-show for the past few days. I mean you can already tell he hasn't eaten or slept properly in days," he nods his head at someone in the corner of the room. Aurelia and I turn to see Sebastian standing the corner with his arms crossed and looking slightly dishevelled. He looks tied. I turn to look at Freddie when Sebastian looks up at me.

"I don't understand why you two can't just work it out," Freddie drawls. When I turn my head back towards Sebastian, Persie is standing with him. I look away again as he looks up at me from their conversation.

"I need to go out and get some fresh air. Lord, forget about this place needing better surveillance. Does this building even have air-conditioning?" Aurelia lets me go and I rush out towards the gardens to avoid being in the same room as Sebastian.

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I can sense his presence behind me as I make my way through the intricately planned and groomed garden. Trying to pick up my pace in my ten-inch heels, I make my way through the tall hedges on the side of the garden down the path that leads to the large fountain and lake at the back of the museum.

"Layla!" Sebastian calls out my name as I begin running away from him.

"Leave me alone, Sebastian!" I stop and turn around, causing him to come to an abrupt stop behind me from his chase, "I need to talk to you. I came to say... I don't know what I came to say."

"Okay," I turn away from him and carry on walking into the dark hallway.

"Hold on, Layla. I need to talk to you," Sebastian whispers urgently as he reaches out for me. I pause in my steps and Sebastian almost bashes into me once again.

"What is there to say? You have nothing to say. We are teacher and student. Nothing more. The ironic part of it all is that I was completely fine with carrying on that way even if we were having meaningless sex on the side. I was prepared to shove aside my feelings, but you welcomed. It was you who decided to change everything with me, it was you who wanted to make this a romantic relationship alongside me."

"And I am sorry for that."

"For what? There's no need to apologise. What you need to do is be honest for once. What is the situation? Are you simply my teacher? Are you my friend? Are you anything remotely meaningful to me?"

"I am not sorry that I love you, Layla. I am sorry that I have hurt you."

"Stop. Enough with the lies! You can apologise as much as you want, but it no longer has an effect on me. It does not make a difference to me if you take a job in New York, or Paris, or Berlin, or wherever the hell you are planning to take off to next with the offers you've currently received. I am going to move on and I will be happy without you."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Why not? I do not need you, Professor Henderson. I never have and I never will."

"And so you are certain that there is no room for me in your life as anything more than your professor?"

"What right do you have to question my decisions? I know what is right for me. Just because you're older than me by a few centuries, it does not give you the right to cast doubt on what I have chosen for myself. I have never stopped you nor have I interrogated you for the choices you have made in the course of our affair."

"Why do you not want to ask those questions? Why were you so afraid to get truly close to me? Perhaps that is what you should be asking yourself, rather than whether there is a place for me in your life. Layla, are you so afraid to believe I genuinely care for you. There's a reason you were so quick to accept our breakup and accept any interference or doubt that was thrown our way."

"My life was perfect until you decided to make a little room for yourself in it!" Sebastian does not respond. "Now you do not have anything left to say? Fine, that's just great." I storm off, running into the garden outside the museum and cry on a bench in front of a statue near the maze. I grumble as I hear Sebastian's footsteps approaching me in the dark of the night.

"I did not leave because I no longer love you. I left because I thought you would eventually not love me in return since I was hurting you by holding on to you instead."

"Just because I do not wear my heart on my sleeve all the bloody time, it does not mean that I love you any less than you love me, or supposedly did. Sebastian, you should have spoken to me directly and listened to me when I said that being with you does not hurt me in the ways that others are leading us to think that it is. You spent more time thinking about this on your own and pushing me away, than you did talking to me. I now realise that I need to be more open to listening and not reacting immediately, but we don't need to focus on that any longer since we're not together so it's all moot."

"If I had known... I would not have... I would not have let you let me go." I stand up and walk away from him again as he struggles to get his words out.

"No, don't say that. Stop!" Sebastian ignores me and walks ahead of me, grabbing my wrist and tugging me to follow him.

Sebastian holds my wrist with such a strength I cannot shake him off -- not that I would want to. He pulls me through the darkness of the garden and into the depths of the maze. When he reaches a dead-end, he tugs me and turns me around in the correct direction.

"Sebastian, stop! There's no point," I cry as he refuses to let me go.

"No, there is a point," he says as we reach the centre of the maze. Together we climb to the top of the wooden pavilion structure that offers those who found the centre of the maze the view of the entire thing.

We're both panting in the sweltering evening heat. Sebastian finally lets me go and stares at me, unsure of what I'll do next. There are tears brimming in his eyes as he undoes the bowtie and undoes the first few buttons of his shirt. I lick my lips at the sight of the small hairs poking out from the nook of his shirt.

"We've made a bloody huge mess of this entire thing when we didn't even need to," I whisper and turn my gaze back to the maze laid out in front of us.

"It's kind of you to partly take responsibility for my actions, Layla." Sebastian slowly walks towards me. "Let's stop listening to the people around us. Are you happy with me?" he asks me earnestly.

"Madly. Are you happy being with me?" I ask, stepping towards him as well.

"Truly. Layla, would you do me the honour of becoming my girlfriend again?" I scoff and roll my eyes at his cheesy proposition.

"I'll need a bit of convincing," I pout and look at the floor. "Sebastian you can't pull away and break my heart like that. I'll start listening to you more if you start talking to me more about your feelings and what's on your mind. If you can agree to that, then I'm yours," I say as I tangle my fingers together nervously.

Sebastian sighs with relief. "I can agree to that. Layla, I'm scared that I'm hurting you by being with me. I should have talked to you about my fears rather than make decisions for you," he says and I nod my head.

"It looks like you might get your girlfriend back after all. She would never have left you over that, perhaps she would have convinced you throughly that you two are good together if you gave her the chance," Sebastian chuckles and wraps his arms around my waist when he reaches me. His hand reaches out for my forearm, he brings it up to his lips to kiss my wrist.

"Who do you belong to?" he asks me as he pulls my hips against his, encouraging me to feel his erection.

"You, Sebastian," I look up at him with doe eyes.

"Your body belongs to me. Your cunt is mine. I'll be sure to share your body for our mutual pleasure, but I'll be damned if anyone else has access to your heart," he growls at me.

"Yes, Sebastian," I wrap my arms around his neck. "If you fuck me and leave me again, I will come after you and do some serious damage," I hiss at him.

"End me if I ever do that again," Sebastian dips his head to meet my lips. His fingers caress my cheekbone as he holds me in place with one hand on my face and the other around my waist. After briefly brushing his lips against mine, he moves his fingers from my cheek and through my hair, tilting my head upwards to meet his lips. I moan at the touch and as he presses his tongue into my mouth. His tongue gently caresses mine and we stand there for minutes, as tangled limbs, connected by our mouths.

When he pulls away, Sebastian's panting once again. I blink at him in awe, my heavy breathing matching his own. "Show me how much you've missed me. Show me how I belong to you," Sebastian grins at my request.

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Sebastian undoes one of the bows holding my straps together on one shoulder and proceeds to undo the other while he looks me in the eye. Reaching behind me, he undoes my bra strap and smiles when he finds the piercings he had gifted me still in my nipples. "You didn't take them out," he says under his breath.

"As an apology gift you can get me a new piercing for my bellybutton," I push down the dress from my torso and past my hips so it hits the floor. I'm standing in the pavilion in nothing but my lingerie and heels. "Anyone could find us up here," I whisper as he pulls me back against him.