We walked along the corridors to his office. It was very different than the other times we had walked together like that. He would usually be chatting away pleasantly and I'd listen, smiling occasionally, just being happy to share a moment with him. This time, we were both dead silent. Once in his office, he made me sit and closed the door behind us before taking place behind his desk.
"I read your paper on Saturday and I was very surprised." I didn't expect him to start correcting during the week-end. I thought he would have been too busy planning his wedding with Natalie.
"But it wasn't a good surprise this time. It looks as if you didn't even work on it over the past two weeks."
My eyes started burning. He was pretty much right.
"Then, when I looked at the other students' assignments, I found that two of them had a very similar writing style to yours. They were well-constructed, had good grammar. I thought they looked as if they had applied some of the advices I gave you, except that these two students never came to see me. They've hardly been to my classes since the beginning of the semester and they both flunked the midterm I gave last week. So how were they able to come up with such good papers?" He paused. He was looking at me in a way I had hoped he would never look at me. There was disappointment, anger, disbelief... I lowered my gaze.
"So what?" I whispered.
"I want to hear your version before bringing this up to anyone else," he said, speaking more softly. "I think these two assignments were also written by you. Am I wrong?"
"Of course, you're wrong!" I heard myself blurt out.
"Damian, plagiarism is serious. You could get in big trouble. I'm sure you had your reasons for doing it. If you tell me, I can take your side and I'm sure you'll end up being fine."
It was annoying, this perceptiveness! Why was he so much smarter than me?
"What?" I said, "you think I can't write a paper that's worse than these two guys'? Maybe I'm not as smart as you thought." This time, I had the feeling I hit a nerve. Daniel rarely got angry, but this time I thought he got as close to it as he ever would. When he spoke, the tone behind his words was quietly seething.
"Why are you trying to protect those students?"
"I'm not trying to protect them," I cried, "I'm trying to protect you!"
Daniel was stunned. For a moment, there was no anger on his face, just a questioning look. I got up and walked away without saying anything more. I never thought that things would go downhill so fast. I rushed to the emergency staircase at the back of the building. There was no one, all was quiet, so I stopped there for a second, resting my back against the wall. Soon however, the door opened again and Daniel walked in. Despite his confusion, he was still his composed and beautiful self, looking as dignified as I felt pathetic.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing..." I shook my head, looking at my feet.
"Look, if I'm involved in this, maybe I should know what's going on."
"I'd rather not..." Tears were rising behind my eyes. I felt a hand smooth my hair away from my forehead. It was warm, almost burning.
"Damian, if you're in trouble, let me help you."
"I'm not just some kid who needs your help, Daniel! Do you think you owe something to my grandmother and you have to be my babysitter or something?"
My last words were a bit inaudible, but I think Daniel got the gist of it. To my surprise, he smiled a little, amused and sad at the same time. "Owing something to your grandmother? I didn't see it that way. Maybe that's how I've been feeling all along, we can't rule that out."
He paused to stroke my cheek with the lightest touch of his fingertips. "But does it matter?" he murmured.
I had no idea what we were talking about anymore. My mind was blank, there were no more blackmailers, no incriminating picture, no papers... My heart pounding in my chest, the sound of his voice, and his fingers brushing my face were the only things left in the world. When he talked again, I felt his breath close to my ear. "Ok, let's make a deal. For one week, I'll pretend I haven't noticed anything. I'll leave this situation to you. But after that, I won't have a choice."
He took a step behind. His hand left a cold imprint where it had lingered seconds ago. As my breathing became normal again, I thought there was something different than usual in Daniel's expression. Was it worry, fear, apprehension? I couldn't place it, and it fled his face an instant later.
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