Professor F

August stepped out of Pierre's car while his younger cousin who was with him at the airport, Philip runs to the front porch and went inside.

Pierre then walked with her after grabbing her luggage. "Come inside. It's freezing."

She hesitated and saw the front door opening, an old woman wearing a sweater, pants and boots waved at them, smiling. "Happy Christmas! Come inside and have something to eat."

Pierre took her hand in his and pulled her. "I'm carrying you if you won't start walking."

She blushed. "Y—Yes. I will. N—Now."

As soon as she stepped inside, she saw kids running around and people staying in the couch by the fireplace. Pierre's family has a three story house and a wide lawn but still the place looked busy and chaotic—in a good way.

"We have a pretty big group." Pierre explained and he started to introduce her to his family and relatives. "My friend."

And she knew, as expected, they all gave Pierre a meaningful look. "She's a good friend. My tutor at Pearsons!"

"Everyone starts from there." His other cousin with blonde curly hair said but she can't remembered his name. Was it Paolo? Pio?

They couldn't react to their remarks since Pierre's mother invited them to the dining area and started serving them food. They never asked why she's staying with them and even had the guest room ready for her.

It was quarter to two in the morning when the invited relatives left and she insisted to help in cleaning up. Pierre's parents then went ahead while Pierre stayed behind and made two cups of coffee.

"Keep warm by the fire place." Preston, Pierre's father said.

They both nodded and watched them get inside. She looked at her cup of coffee and sighed, sitting on the couch. "I'm sorry for crashing. You have a wonderful family."

He spreads his legs on the floor and leaned his back on the chair next to hers after putting his cup on the table. "Wrong. I invited you."

She smiled sadly. "I'm glad you did."

silence. "Wanna talk about it?" He

giving his time and attention. She continued,

as an excuse to make herself feel better. That it's wrong

"Wrong. It's only wrong because something bad happened. It was right when everything was according

at him. He's right. He said all the right words to

make you anything less. You're still the same smart

warning to fall. She looked down to hide them. Hearing his words, she remembered how it all started with Flynn, like a

the tears falling as she sniffed, trying her best to suppress her sobs. "I—I'm—" She couldn't speak straight and was surprised

I'm not going

by the darkness and the only

if you think he's worth your tears and your pain, then I'm here to somehow make it go away." He moves closer and sits

out—sobbing and sniffing behind him. She doesn't know when her tears would run

Maybe forever.

doesn't know if she'd be able to

glad to

••••••

spent the next days until her flight back to Seattle with Pierre's

on the couch and she woke up in the guest room later that day. Pierre brought her to

of her, most of then are shots before she would notice him

"Delete them." She pouted.

the photos he took while they're walking inside a museum. "These are rare moments with you. I wanna capture

comfortable about what he said.

can try. They're already on my

following day was spent with his cousins at a local bar. They were fun, playing pool and they loved the old

an old studio, he said it's where he took

wearing glasses greeted him as they reached the lobby. "Are you going to

can still use the