Chapter Two

I didn't answer him again.

I went upstairs to my room.

In the middle of the night, a noise downstairs woke me up.

Half-asleep, I opened my door, wanting to go down and see what was going on.

I'd just reached the top of the stairs when I heard Sophie's voice.

"I just want to know what I did wrong. Professor, does Mrs. Hale think something's going on between us?"

"You keep ignoring me. You don't even answer my texts."

"If that's it, I can go explain things to Mrs. Hale."

By the end, her voice was choked with tears.

Sophie was the only girl among the students Ethan had advised in the last two years.

Maybe that was why everyone else in the lab looked out for her a little more, whether they meant to or not.

Even Ethan mentioned her name a lot more often.

After a long time, Ethan's helpless voice came.

"It has nothing to do with you. Don't blame yourself."

"Really?" Sophie asked through her tears, only half believing him. "But you won't even talk to me."

"Mm."

Sophie finally laughed.

I walked slowly down the stairs.

I came down just in time to see Sophie throw herself into Ethan's arms and wrap her arms tightly around his neck.

I glanced at them and didn't say anything.

I walked around them to the kitchen to get some water.

Ethan's face changed.

He shoved Sophie away.

Sophie hurriedly wiped her face and explained to me carefully, "Mrs. Hale, it's not what it looks like. I just got so emotional, so I..."

I turned my head and smiled. "It's fine. You don't have to explain."

"I'd like to get some sleep. Could you two keep it down?"

Sophie's face froze, and she looked at Ethan without thinking.

After he sent Sophie home, Ethan came upstairs to find me.

"Emma," he said, sounding tired, "something's wrong between us. Let's talk."

I smiled. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Sophie?"

Ethan went quiet.

I sighed. The way I looked at him was unusually calm, as calm as looking at a stranger.

"Ethan, I don't think there's anything to talk about. Sophie is your student, and she's your only female student. It's completely normal for you to be nice to her. I won't get angry about it, and you don't need to come explain it to me."

I said, "There's nothing to explain. I understand."

Ethan's face went white.

Those were his own words, the ones he'd said to me during I don't know which fight about Sophie.

Now I was handing them back to him, word for word.

He wanted to say something else, but his phone rang.

It was Sophie.

Ethan looked at me and hesitated.

In the end, he answered anyway, and he even put it on speaker.

On the other end, Sophie was crying. "Professor, I was in a car accident. Can you come? I'm so scared."

Ethan frowned.

"Did you call 911? Don't panic. I'll send someone over."

He hung up.

Then he made another call, I didn't know to whom.

He explained the situation in a few words and hung up.

He looked at me, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

I spoke first. "If you'd known this would happen, you should have driven her home yourself."

Ethan was quiet for a long time before he said, "It wouldn't have been appropriate for me to drive her."

The corner of my mouth twitched.

In the end, the conversation went nowhere.

He went back to his own room.

But I couldn't sleep.

Half an hour later, I heard the front door close very softly.

Soon after, a car started.

Ethan had gone to Sophie after all.