Chapter151 Teamwork of A Couple
Teresa had a morning lecture to give, followed by a college event. By lunchtime, she dined with a group of young professors.
Ever since her connections with the Bennetts and the Garcias were revealed, the faculty had been incredibly warm towards her, almost to the point of being overwhelming. Office hours were a constant stream of colleagues dropping by to chat or offer homemade snacks and fruits claimed to be unavailable anywhere else.
Teresa was caught in a polite dance, unable to outright refuse anyone's gestures without potentially offending. After all, they were colleagues. Smiling and nodding became her defense.
To relieve her, the dean, aware of the situation and at Gabriel's request, arranged a private office for her. It offered a much-needed respite.
After lunch, under the pretense of grading student assignments, Teresa finally returned to the sanctity of her office for some peace.
she started to nod off mid-grading papers and eventually passed out on her desk.
Passing by her office, Terry noticed the ajar door. Peeking in, he spotted Teresa asleep on the desk. He watched her for a moment before carefully draping his jacket over her.
As he leaned in, the distance between them closed. Terry found himself studying Teresa's face, so fair and smooth, each tiny fuzz delineated by the afternoon sun. Her lips, tender and rosy, were gently pursed. Before he knew it, Terry bent lower and his body curved forward, instinctively planting a fleeting kiss on her face.
Though Terry knew he could never truly have Teresa, simply being by her side, watching over her, stealing that innocent kiss was more than enough to fill his heart with contentment.
"Hmm," Teresa murmured as she stirred awake right after Terry straightened up from his secret gesture. Her long eyelashes fluttered, signaling her return to the waking world.
"Terry, what are you doing here?" she asked, yawning lightly behind her hand, her eyes opening to see the jacket on her and Terry nearby.
"Just checking on you," Terry smiled, "Rough night?"
"A bit," Teresa replied, nodding and slipping off the jacket to hand it back to him, "Thanks."
Terry took the jacket, not bothering to put it on, and continued, "I came to discuss something but didn’t want to wake you."
"Hmm," she nodded, getting up to fetch a bottle of water from a cabinet for him, "What's up? Talk to me."
Terry set the bottle down on her desk, "Here's the thing, the academy is hosting a New Year's Eve party and they want the freshmen to perform a couple of decent dance numbers. I remember you were trained in ballet and are certainly more skilled than other teachers around here, so, think you could help guide the freshmen's dance?"
"Sure!" Teresa agreed without hesitation, "Just give me the time and I'll plan ahead."
Teresa felt that being among the girls at the age of eighteen or nineteen brought out her own innocence and simplicity, making her feel like one of them.
"Great, it's settled then."
"Yeah."
Then, the buzzing of Teresa's phone on her desk caught their attention. The screen flashed the word “Husband.”
It wasn't a label Teresa had chosen; Gabriel, that jerk, had changed it himself when he got a hold of her phone. It wasn’t too much, so Teresa had let it slide.
"I'll let you get to that. I'll send you a message with the details later," Terry said, preferring not to overhear Teresa's endearments with Gabriel, and left with a swift turn.
"Okay," Teresa replied, waiting for Terry to leave before answering the call.
"Sweetheart, have you had lunch yet?" came his husky, tender voice, as warm as the late autumn sunshine spilling through the window.
Glancing at the time, Teresa realized it was already half past one, "Haven't you eaten yet?" she asked.
"No, I've been busy, and well, I couldn't stop thinking about you."
Teresa rolled her eyes, "Gabriel, if you starve yourself into a stomach ulcer, don't expect me to deliver meds to you. And if you land in the hospital, don’t count on me to nurse you back to health."
"What about when Liam was feeling under the weather? You fuss over him like crazy," Gabriel teased.
"Gabriel, you've got your loved ones, your son, your parents, your grandpa; you're not lacking anything. Why would you even compare yourself to Liam?" Teresa wasn't angry, just astonished at how a thirty-year-old man could be so childish.
Gabriel fell silent.
"I'm hanging up," she declared, a touch of annoyance in her voice, and promptly ended the call.
She gazed at the nearly half-graded stack of student assignments on her desk. Considering she had a light afternoon at school, she scooped up the remaining papers, grabbed her phone and purse, and headed for the office door.
On her way to Nebula, she needed to pass by Teresa Pavilion. So, she got in the car, told the driver to go there, called the manager, and ordered some homestyle dishes and a soup to go, stating she would pick it up in approximately twenty minutes.
With the call ended, she settled back into her seat and resumed grading.
Her concentration on the papers was so intense that she hardly noticed they arrived at Teresa Pavilion. The manager, standing at the doorway with the carefully packed meal, handed it to her as soon as she pulled up, and without delay, she continued her journey to Nebula.
The drive from Teresa Pavilion to Nebula was at least twenty minutes; from the school, it all added up to nearly an hour, or even more if traffic was bad. Teresa was puzzled over why Gabriel was so willing to spend so much time commuting every day; insisting on dropping her off at school in the morning before he circled back to Capital Construction or Nebula.
Back to grading papers in the car, she completed the task just as the Nebula office building loomed into view.
She had been to Capital Construction just yesterday, but this was her first visit to the towering offices of Nebula.
Compared to the towering Capital Construction, the Nebula office building was not only significantly shorter but also far more modest, with a total of forty-two floors constructed over a decade ago.
As the car approached the grand facade of Nebula and came to a halt, the bodyguard stepped out first, opening the door for Teresa.
Clutching the package of food, Teresa exited the vehicle and made her way into the Nebula office building.
