  Alessandre stood up as I read Aiden&quot;s message to me. I felt him staring at me, and I shivered at the coldness of his stare, but I pretended to be unaffected by his presence.
  I would pretend I was not with him just to get away from him. That is the only way I am going to avoid being humiliated.
  I try to avoid staring at him because I do not want to cry in front of him. When I saw his face, I am sure I would not be able to contain myself and would cry.
  All of his nasty remarks, insults, plus the fact that he and Cassy had kissed in front of me earlier seemed like a bomb that burst in my being. I know how sad I am for wishing for a nice connection with Alessandre.
  We were doing OK, I thought. I assumed things were fine because he had not been disrespectful to me in the last few days. But I was the only one who was thinking about it at the time. Everything is in my head, since

  Time flies by so quickly. I almost missed the fact that it was December. I scarcely noticed the passing of months because I had a lot of documentation to submit and also had to review for the end of the first semester.
  As we proceeded down the corridor, I heard Lyka say, &quot;Hey! Anna, where do you want to go now?&quot;
  Because we recently finished our last exam, there are a lot of kids distributed across the campus today. The dreaded &quot;hell week&quot; is finally gone. Despite the fact that we appear tired and sleep deprived, we have a wide range of smiles on our faces.
  In contrast to last week&quot;s circumstance, other kids were joking and laughing.
  Because our concentration is concentrated on reviewing the lessons that may be on the exam, students barely speak to one another.
  &quot;Why, what is going on?&quot; I inquire.
  To make room for her, I decreased my pace. W

  "How is your wound?" he inquired as he examined my arm.
  "Thankfully, the gown concealed my bruise on my right arm," I added as I raised my right arm to show him that my bruising was hidden by the gown's long sleeve.
  Sister Rosette chose this garment after Alessandre supposedly told her about the previous incident. Fortunately, because my cut was on my right arm, it was concealed by the dress's long sleeve.
  Alessandre gave me a kind nod. Before rising from his swivel chair, he took a big breath. He has not let go of his grip on my waist. It is funny, but anytime I feel the warmth of his body on me, I feel at ease and relaxed.
  "Let us go," he murmured as he motioned me to his office door.
  When we exited, we ran into Sister Rosette, who was conversing with Alessandre"s secretary; I believe the two of them already knew each other, as sister appears to be at ease with him, as does

Alessandre stood up as I read Aiden&quot;s message to me. I felt him staring at me, and I shivered at the coldness of his stare, but I pretended to be unaffected by his presence.
  I would pretend I was not with him just to get away from him. That is the only way I am going to avoid being humiliated.
  I try to avoid staring at him because I do not want to cry in front of him. When I saw his face, I am sure I would not be able to contain myself and would cry.
  All of his nasty remarks, insults, plus the fact that he and Cassy had kissed in front of me earlier seemed like a bomb that burst in my being. I know how sad I am for wishing for a nice connection with Alessandre.
  We were doing OK, I thought. I assumed things were fine because he had not been disrespectful to me in the last few days. But I was the only one who was thinking about it at the time. Everything is in my head, since the truth is that he still despises me. Who would want an orphan like me, though?
  I screwed up

Chapter 31