A few days passed, and September slipped in before I even noticed.
The local high school where I worked called. Though, the voice on the other end sounded hesitant for some reason.
"Sir Abe… we would… like to request your presence just for this day, as we are short staffed at the moment."
The person on the other end swallowed. Faint, but I noticed.
"Would that be alright?"
"That's fine," I replied promptly. "I'll be there thirty minutes from now."
The call ended there.
As I tucked my phone away, Anathasia looked up from the chess set on the small table.
"Work?"
"Yeah… work."
She nodded, then started putting away the chess set.
"Wanna come with though?" I asked, watching her return the pieces inside the board before closing it and letting it float back onto the shelf.
"You sure?"
"Mhm. We're both technically teachers anyway. Our licenses are still being processed, but we have the degree."
She leaned back on the couch, her legs crossed.
"Staying in the house would be pretty boring…"
"We haven't even seen sunlight lately too," I added.
Anathasia nodded in agreement, crossing her arms.
"Good point… I haven't touched anything other than my phone recently either."
"Alright, five minutes—"
My clothes suddenly shifted.
In the blink of an eye, I was already wearing my uniform. Anathasia, on the other hand, remained the same as always. Her long flowy skirt paired with a light blue cardigan and a simple shirt underneath.
"No need. We can go now, actually." She smiled as she stood.
"Let's go?"
"…I should've expected that." I laughed softly and followed after her.
—
A few minutes later, we arrived at the institution where I was assigned.
A public school, yes. But far larger than most in the city. It probably rivaled NSGU to an extent.
I parked the car in the designated lot inside the school premises. As we stepped out, I immediately noticed a few people staring at us.
Though—
"So this is the school you're teaching at?" Anathasia whistled quietly, her eyes wandering across the buildings and facilities around the campus.
"Yeah." I pressed the key fob, locking the car. "It's huge… and a pain to get around in."
"Just like NSGU, huh?"
"Yeah. Worse, probably." I shrugged slightly before gesturing for her to follow as we walked down the pathway.
"My office should be on the main building's second floor. We can just stay there after I'm done."
She caught up and walked beside me, her hands clasped behind her back.
"Hm… really now…"
Students moved from room to room as we passed. Some chatted in small groups while others wandered around the open areas of the campus.
By the time we reached my office on the second floor of the main building, two men were already waiting outside the door.
Almost immediately, they turned toward me the moment I approached.
They looked… panicked.
Then their eyes shifted to Anathasia, who stood beside me casually, gazing out the open windows.
Their attention snapped back to me just as quickly.
"Sir. Abe," one of the men said, stepping forward with a strained smile. "I'm glad you could make it."
"Mhm. The school was understaffed, is what they told me."
The man nodded, while the other remained by the door, avoiding my eyes.
Anathasia, meanwhile, seemed completely distracted as she continued looking outside.
"Yes, that would be correct," the man said quickly.
"And I apologize for the late introduction."
He stepped forward and extended his hand.
"I am Charles Batumbakal. Nice to meet you."
With a polite smile, I shook his hand.
"I'm Kyle Ruzen Abe," I said, gesturing toward Anathasia. "And she's my wife. Anathasia Dunaleff Abe."
At the mention of her name, she finally turned toward us and smiled.
Mr. Batumbakal immediately looked at me.
"You have a beautiful wife… Sir. Abe…" he hesitated for a second.
Still with a smile, I cut in.
"So, what's the issue, Sir Batumbakal?"
He paused, shifting his gaze between me and the other man standing by the door.
Reluctantly, he looked back at me.
"We need your help," he said, his voice slightly unsteady. "Two of the English teachers in this school have called in sick, and there isn't anyone available to take their classes…"
Silence followed.
Mr. Batumbakal looked away, though I didn't really understand why asking for something like this seemed so difficult for him.
I glanced back at Anathasia.
[Think you could handle a class of kids?]
[It's just English, right? It shouldn't be too hard.] her voice echoed inside my mind.
[Great… I was—]
[Planning on asking me to help with the vacant position?] she replied immediately.
[Yeah… but you don't really have to.]
She simply shook her head, letting out a soft laugh as she stepped forward, a small smile forming on her lips.
"Sir," she said.
Mr. Batumbakal immediately turned to her.
"Yes, Madame Abe…?"
"My husband and I are both English majors, actually," she said casually. "Would it be alright if I substituted as the second English teacher for today?"
His face practically sparkled as he nodded.
"Yes—yes, that would be a great help, Madame Abe." He paused before taking a step back, lowering his head slightly.
"We apologize for the inconvenience, Mr. and Mrs. Abe. One of our biggest investors specifically made sure to—"
"It's fine," I cut him off with a smile. "We're all colleagues here. It's not an inconvenience. It's work."
He lifted his head, then nodded silently.
"Then… the class schedules should be inside your office, Sir Abe. Please don't hesitate to ask the faculty if you have further questions."
A brief pause followed.
He lowered his head once more before turning away. He and the other man disappeared down the hallway.
With that, I was certain.
"Looks like Mr. Li Mingyuan really has his teeth deep into these things…"
Anathasia walked toward the door to my office and casually pushed it open.
"Not really a surprise, is it?" she shot me a glance. "We did have him deal with keeping things under wraps."
"That's true," I said as I followed after her. "I don't really have any complaints either."
Once inside, the room was… empty.
Paperless shelves lined the walls, completely bare. But at least there was a black oakwood desk and two couches placed to the side.
And—
"Isn't this a bit too big for a teacher who's only been here three to five years?"
Anathasia walked over to one of the couches and immediately laid down.
"Isn't this a plus though? I can come here and still rest anytime I want."
"This is my workplace though…"
She pushed herself up slightly and pointed at me.
"Exactly. I can deal with the papers if you start getting buried under them."
I sighed and shifted my gaze toward my desk, where two folders were resting.
One of them slowly floated toward Anathasia, who was still lounging on the couch.
"Schedules and attendance are here… but no lesson plans," I murmured, rubbing my temple.
"Then let's improvise," she casually chimed in as she got up from the couch. "We can always just ask the children what their last lessons were."
Anathasia twirled a lock of her hair around her finger as she stood up, the folder in her other hand.
"It's Secondary Education. Literally our major."
I picked up the other folder from the desk and turned to her.
"Alright then," I stretched my arms over my head. "Let's get started with this, shall we?"
Anathasia simply nodded, smiling at me.
—
A few hours later, by the afternoon, everything in our schedules had ended faster than expected.
So the two of us went back to my office to spend the rest of our vacant time.
Anathasia plopped onto the couch the moment her folder landed back on the desk.
"That was… tedious," she said, her voice muffled against the pillow she buried her face into.
"Still, great work out there," I said as I slid onto the other end of the couch.
She continued grumbling under her breath, still hugging the pillow close to her.
Then there was a sudden knock on the door.
"Excuse me, sir Kyle. I'm here to submit the quizzes from class 3-A earlier."
I looked toward the door as it slowly opened. A boy wearing glasses stepped inside, holding a small stack of papers in his hand.
His eyes darted around the room before landing on me, sitting on the couch.
"Sir, here are the papers," the boy said politely, nudging his glasses awkwardly.
"Ah, thank you," I replied as he handed the papers over.
Though his gaze briefly drifted toward Anathasia before he quickly shook his head.
"Well then… I should excuse myself now…"
The boy promptly left the office, leaving me alone with Anathasia and the stack of papers.
After a moment of silence, Anathasia finally pushed herself up from the couch and turned to face me.
"Let's give Lena a sibling."
I froze in the middle of checking the papers in my hand and slowly looked up at her.
"What?"