Page 13 of Unapologetic Obsession
I gritted my teeth while Damon tried to suppress his laughter. Forcing my eyes away from my twin, I glanced at the brunette who had phrased the question, along with the rest of the class—the aforementioned students and the banes of my existence.
“You’re refusing to teach us without knowing anything about us,” the brunette continued, her bravado rising when a few other students nodded in agreement. “If you give us a chance, you’ll see we are not so incompetent.”
A sea of young faces stared at me, their lips pressed tightly to contain the fear of my retaliation. As much as I tried to forget their existence, they were incessantly present like pests. They had been sitting at their desks for the last fifteen minuteswatching me argue with my brother, their eyes bouncing between us.
They were the other reason Damon came down to the university. Yesterday was the first day of classes, and I chased them away when I found them in my lab. I should’ve known they wouldn’t be easily dissuaded. The university offered them six credits—instead of the usual three—to entice them into signing up for my class. They complained to the administrators when I refused to teach, unaware this curriculum was too advanced for their feeble minds.
I raised an eyebrow at the brunette. “If you don’t like how I conduct myself, there’s the door,” I suggested, opening my arm toward the exit, my tone flat.
If possible, she appeared more indignant than before. She sat amid three of her peers, her notebook open and ready to take notes on a lecture I would never give.
But it was the person beside her who grabbed my attention. Eyes timid and tinged with apprehensiveness, she glanced at me, then quickly looked away.
Rose Ambani?
I turned to Damon and raised a brow, patiently awaiting an explanation.
“It was the other thing I needed to discuss with you,” he muttered. “I found out that Rose enrolled in your class.”
Few things in life surprised me, and this was one of them. My family loathed hers. The Ambanis owned an investment firm, just like us. The business rivalry between these two companies had spiraled into personal attacks and grievances over the years. It didn’t help that both families were legacies at this university, and the campus was plagued with them. I had never paid attention to the notoriously shy member of the Ambani clan, but Rose had suddenly piqued my interest.
Why would she sign up for a class taught by me?
I wasn’t involved in the feud, and as far as I knew, Rose was neutral. She was even friendly with Damon. While coexisting wasn’t a problem for me, accepting an Ambani as a student was a step too far and a mortal sin where my father was concerned. I didn’t need him breathing down my neck, too.
“I’m not here to field our family drama,” I replied bitingly. “Get rid of her. Not interested in whatever she’s playing at.”
He shot me a warning look, the corner of his mouth turning into a frown. “Rose isn’t like the rest of them, and I doubt she has ulterior motives for taking your class. Do me a favor and play nice. I don’t need more drama with her family,” he whispered.
More like he didn’t want drama with a specific member of her family. Damon didn’t fuel this feud because he was interested in Rose’s cousin, Poppy, though he would never admit it out loud. “How’s that my problem?”
“The bad blood’s affecting my business.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Your business or personal life?”
He pretended not to notice the jab. “It’s gotten to the point where clients are avoiding both companies.”
Damon and I owned a fair share of our family business, but he was the one who ran the day-to-day operations and became the co-CEO alongside my uncle. The job—and the girl—meant something to him. I may not care about the students, but I didn’t want to give Rose ammunition to impact my brother negatively.
“Fine,” I conceded sullenly.
His shoulders visibly sagged. “Thank you. And do me one more favor. Let the students stay.”
I groaned out loud.
“Need I remind you, no teaching, no lab? It’s not so bad to mold young minds.” His tone held a hint of amusement that fed my annoyance. “They might surprise you.”
“Your optimism is delusional.” I spat out the word as if it tasted sour.
Damon pushed off from the counter with a huff. “We both know you don’t have a choice in this matter.”
I glared at the fucker, who seemed to take immense pleasure in my misery.
With a toothy grin, he moved toward the door. “I’ll see you later. Oh, and try not to scare Rose away,” he reminded me.
I stared at his back with a steely gaze as the traitor left me to face the roomful of enemies. The notion of sharing my carefully curated laboratory with these novices was grating on my last nerve. My gaze swept over the crowd of students sitting upright, awaiting my instructions.
Unwillingly, my eyes returned to the shy Rose Ambani, who still couldn’t find the courage to look at me. She was a small thing, easily lost among the rows of students, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. She looked like fucking Bambi with long lashes framing her brown doe eyes. On second thought, her smooth caramel skin and generous pink lips made her look like a doll. Though her most prominent feature was the long, chocolate-colored hair that overtook everything else.
