News of Rhoda’s attack spread around the school like a wildfire. People’s sympathy for her soon rose above their previous dislike of her. Extreme dislike in some cases.
People even excused the fact that Rhoda had called the man to meet her after work that day, skipping out early on a departmental meeting just to see him. That she'd even planned on sleeping with him that night, just not at that location. This was excusable because any previous romantic dealings a woman had with a man or intended to have with him in the future didn’t give that man the right to abuse her or force himself upon her.
Admiration for Baron rose as well, though he was already highly esteemed around campus because of his teaching style alone. He won cool points from the men. The women hailed him as a hero. A local TV reporter even called him in for a televised interview.
Aurelia watched that interview on the big screen television in the student center along with a lot of other students. With each new question Baron answered superbly, she became even more impressed by him. Pride swelled in her heart.
Who knew that her man would turn out to be such a knight in shining armor?
Her man?!
He’ll be my man come December, Aurelia mused with a secret smile from her place at the end of a long sectional couch.
Unfortunately for her, Jordin Summerville, the extremely beautiful female reporter, looked like she wanted Baron to be her man. The sultry looks she kept giving him during the interview and the way her hand lingered during their opening handshake were all flirtatious.
“She is so feeling him,” Bambi said from her wheelchair, which was parked next to the brown sectional couch.
“Definitely,” Aurelia agreed without turning from the TV screen. “I wonder if he’s feeling her,” she pondered aloud, biting nervously on her bottom lip.
“It doesn’t look like it to me,” Claude said from behind them with a soft drink in one hand, a bag of popcorn in the other. “Which means he’s either gay, just not attracted to that kind of woman, or else deeply in love with someone else.”
“Professor Weaver ain’t gay!” a chorus of angry females protested from around the room.
“Stop hating, dawg,” said some of the men.
Claude held his hands up in surrender. “All right. All right. Don’t start a riot up in this piece.”
“Yes, please let’s keep it civilized in here, good people,” Bambi said, forever the peacemaker.
“Listen to the girl,” Claude advocated, sending the pretty Vietnamese woman a grateful grin. “All I was doing was stating possibilities for why the man wasn’t feeling that Kim Kardashian look-alike,” he went on to explain.
Aurelia, who’d remained silent while the other women protested, looked at Claude and said, “I think it is possibility number two. Professor Weaver is probably just not attracted to that kind of woman.” She had to pick the second possibility. It made more sense to her and held the least amount of emotional turmoil for her than possibilities one and three.
“I personally think he’s in love,” Bambi said, revealing which possibility she favored.
Aurelia felt heat bathe her from head to toe. She clenched her leather purse tighter in her lap. Forced herself to breathe, just breathe.
Could Baron be in love…with her? If so, when did that happen? How did that happen? They’d only had that one night together. Hadn’t kissed or even held hands since.
Not ready to deal with that possibility, Aurelia returned her attention to the interview, leaving Bambi and a few others to speculate about what kind of woman Baron might likely be in love with. Not surprisingly, an ex-stripper was not named among the choices.
“Professor Weaver, I’m sure you’ve been keeping up with the latest details of this assault case,” Jordin said, continuing her interview. “So by now you know that the alleged assailant claims that he is innocent, that it was his twin brother who committed that horrendous act against your colleague. A brother, who also maintains his own innocence. And that as a result, the police are having a hard time trying to decipher who the real guilty party is.”
“Yes, I am very much aware of the complex nature of this case,” Baron replied, sounding as somber as he looked. “With identical DNA as a factor, no fingerprints to lift off of a purse or even an earring, what could have been an open and shut case has become unduly difficult. However, I have every confidence in our local police department and crime lab’s ability to solve this case.”
“With your level of expertise, Professor, I’m sure you could probably help them solve the case even sooner,” Jordin said, giving Baron another one of those sultry looks.
Aurelia bristled in her seat at that look.
“I’ll certainly do what I can,” Baron replied, looking unaffected by the flirting reporter.
Aurelia let out a low sigh of relief at his reaction. Maybe the man is in love, she thought, starting to warm to the idea herself.
To all: After telling Paula too much about Rhoda, lol, I went back and tweaked this post a bit to reflect the 'beans I'd spilled' in another comment section. Now everybody knows what Rhoda's intent was the night of her attack.
ReplyDeleteBe back in an hour or so with new posts.