Professor F novel Chapter 72

August stepped out of Pierre's car while his younger cousin who was with him at the airport, Philip runs to the front porch and went inside.

Pierre then walked with her after grabbing her luggage. "Come inside. It's freezing."

She hesitated and saw the front door opening, an old woman wearing a sweater, pants and boots waved at them, smiling. "Happy Christmas! Come inside and have something to eat."

Pierre took her hand in his and pulled her. "I'm carrying you if you won't start walking."

She blushed. "Y—Yes. I will. N—Now."

As soon as she stepped inside, she saw kids running around and people staying in the couch by the fireplace. Pierre's family has a three story house and a wide lawn but still the place looked busy and chaotic—in a good way.

"We have a pretty big group." Pierre explained and he started to introduce her to his family and relatives. "My friend."

And she knew, as expected, they all gave Pierre a meaningful look. "She's a good friend. My tutor at Pearsons!"

"Everyone starts from there." His other cousin with blonde curly hair said but she can't remembered his name. Was it Paolo? Pio?

They couldn't react to their remarks since Pierre's mother invited them to the dining area and started serving them food. They never asked why she's staying with them and even had the guest room ready for her.

It was quarter to two in the morning when the invited relatives left and she insisted to help in cleaning up. Pierre's parents then went ahead while Pierre stayed behind and made two cups of coffee.

"Keep warm by the fire place." Preston, Pierre's father said.

They both nodded and watched them get inside. She looked at her cup of coffee and sighed, sitting on the couch. "I'm sorry for crashing. You have a wonderful family."

He spreads his legs on the floor and leaned his back on the chair next to hers after putting his cup on the table. "Wrong. I invited you."

She smiled sadly. "I'm glad you did."

There was silence. "Wanna talk about it?" He asked, cautiously.

She looked at the burning firewood. "It's over." Pierre was quiet as he looked at her, giving his time and attention. She continued, "I think it's really meant to happen. It's wrong right from the beginning. I was just—"

Who am I kidding? She knows she's only saying this, using that as an excuse to make herself feel better. That it's wrong to be with Flynn.

He sips from his cup of coffee. "Wrong. It's only wrong because something bad happened. It was right when everything was according to what you wanted."

She looked at him. He's right. He said all the right words to describe it. "R—Right."

"But it doesn't make you anything less. You're still the same smart girl I met months ago, August."

Her eyes started to shake, tears warning to fall. She looked down to hide them. Hearing his words, she remembered how it all started with Flynn, like a blurry flashback inside her head.

She felt the tears falling as she sniffed, trying her best to suppress her sobs. "I—I'm—" She couldn't speak straight and was surprised when Pierre holds her cup.

"Stop crying. I'm not going to comfort you."

"W—What?" She looked up and met his gaze. His face too hard to read because of the shadow created by the darkness and the only light is from the Christmas lights up on the tree and the burning wood.

His lips made a thin line as he takes the cup from her hands and placed it on the table. "But if you think he's worth your tears and your pain, then I'm here to somehow make it go away." He moves closer and sits in front of her.

She cried her heart out—sobbing and sniffing behind him. She doesn't know when her tears would run dry.

Maybe forever.

She doesn't know if she'd be able to celebrate Christmas like she used to.