7

Since that incident, Veronica and Frans' relationship had become increasingly awkward. They exchanged greetings only on campus, and even then, it was strictly between a lecturer and a student, nothing more.

Frans had stopped visiting Veronica's apartment. He arranged for food and her allowance to be delivered by delivery drivers. Frans intentionally did all this to make Veronica not fear him. However, in her apartment, Veronica truly missed Frans' presence. It had been a very long time since he had returned home.

No longer did he praise her for serving his favorite green tea. Occasionally, she'd ask Frans to tell her the quiz questions for the next day, which he would respond to with a sigh and a gentle tap on her forehead.

Today, just like the day before, Veronica also missed her handsome professor and husband. It had been two days since she had seen Frans, despite his scheduled classes.

He hadn't come to campus, nor had he visited her apartment for nearly a week. Where was he?

Frans, who hadn't shown up, was temporarily replaced by a substitute lecturer. It was said that Frans was attending an education event outside campus for a few days, or perhaps even weeks. Considering that his job at the company had been neglected, he needed some time off from teaching.

However, besides being occupied with a pile of work that was nearly untouched, Frans also forgot to inform Veronica. This made Veronica increasingly worried about her husband's condition. In fact, she had started to think of worst-case scenarios, as Frans had yet to show his face.

With Frans missing for almost a week, Bianca resumed her bullying of Veronica. She hurled inappropriate words at her. Since the lecturer who always defended Veronica was absent, Bianca thought it was the perfect time to vent her pent-up anger.

Veronica just remained silent, continuing to have her lunch as if she didn't notice Bianca's presence beside her. Engaging with her would only prolong the issue and lead nowhere.

"Ha... Lame!" Bianca patted Veronica's shoulder while she was eating her lunch.

Veronica remained quiet and continued with her meal, ignoring Bianca who was next to her. She knew that responding to Bianca would only make the problem worse.

"Ah, so now you're not just ugly, but deaf too," Bianca folded her arms across her chest and continued, "Are you daring to ignore me, you ugly duckling?"

Veronica finally stopped eating and closed the lunchbox after only a few bites.

"I'm sorry, Bianca, but every word you say can no longer shake my confidence. I don't want it to happen again, so I'd rather be deaf when you talk," Veronica replied as she put her lunchbox back into her bag and left Bianca, who wore an irritated expression.

"Guys, we need to teach that geeky student a lesson!" Bianca said angrily to some of her friends in the class.

She placed her hands on her hips and wore a victorious smile. Her friends from the same group seemed to be on the same page. As if synchronized, they began planning to prank Veronica.

"Bianca, we should teach her a lesson when she goes back to her hometown. That way, we can mess with her freely. It's been too long since we did that. Ever since Mr. Frans started teaching here, we couldn't disturb him," Yuna, one of Bianca's close friends, nudged her arm before saying, "Oh, speaking of Mr. Frans, where is he? We haven't seen him at all."

"I don't know, Yuna. My dad said Mr. Frans requested a leave for the next two weeks," Bianca replied, sitting on the table, "You know, I really miss him now. Very, very much."

"Are you in love with Mr. Frans, Bian?"

"Of course, Yuna... who wouldn't fall in love with a lecturer as handsome as him? He's tall, muscular, and his broad chest must be very comfortable to lean on. Hugging and... well, I'm just in love with him. He's an extraordinary man. I've flirted with him, but he's completely unaffected by my charms, which only makes me more curious and determined to get closer to him." Bianca bit her lower lip and immediately began daydreaming about sleeping in Frans's arms.

"Bian. Bianca, are you daydreaming?" Seeing Bianca lost in thought like she'd taken some sort of medicine, Yuna shook her friend.

"What's your problem, Yuna? Can't you see I'm busy here?" Bianca grumbled, pouting her lips.

"What are you thinking about that has you daydreaming like that?"

"I'm imagining sleeping in Mr. Frans's arms and spending a whole night making love to him. I don't care if he loves me or not. What matters is that I can sleep and enjoy his body," Bianca said casually, as if sleeping with a man wasn't a big deal.

"You're crazy!" Yuna muttered while lightly smacking Bianca's forehead.

"I'm not crazy, Yuna. But I'm crazy about Mr. Frans. Oh, if only he'd touched me yesterday. I would have served him with all my heart, taking him to the peak of worldly paradise." Bianca cupped her own cheeks, lost in her wild thoughts.

Yuna shook her head, unable to comprehend Bianca's train of thought, which always seemed to revolve around wanting to sleep with the man she loved. When they were in the twelfth grade, Bianca had even slept with the head of the student council, who happened to be her boyfriend at the time. They did it in the school's health room when Bianca pretended to faint during the flag ceremony. Yuna had been their lookout to make sure no students or teachers caught them.

Veronica's heart ached and throbbed upon hearing all this. She had stopped in front of the classroom door, planning to grab her wallet from inside. However, upon overhearing Bianca and Yuna's conversation, she immediately canceled her intention to enter the classroom. The thought of her husband being fantasized about by another woman was unbearable.

When campus hours arrived, Veronica received an assignment to summarize all the teaching materials from a particular lecturer and had to submit it today.

"Finally done," Veronica sighed, closing her laptop in front of her. She quickly packe

d up to deliver the laptop to the respective lecturer.