V-DAY: ASHTON ONE-SHOT

—— Thursday, 9 February 2017 ——

I walked out of school that Thursday evening, after a long day at work. Being a teacher was more than just educating students and marking their assignments, but it meant a great deal to me to work with children and nurture them beyond my English lessons. As my feet shuffled my tired self through the pathway down to the main road, I caught a student sitting by the fountain, alone.

I walked over to find Harry day-dreaming while he stared at the cemented ground.

"Harry," I lightly pat his shoulder, "Are you alright? Why are you here alone? It's half past 7 and there's almost nobody else in school."

"I'm waiting for my brother, Miss," he replied.

"Oh, dear. Will he be running late?" I asked as I took my phone out of my bag.

Harry shrugged, emotionless. I unlocked my phone and told Harry to dial his brother's number so that I could give him a call. With my phone to my ear, I listened carefully to the ringing on the line. I saw Harry's face lit up before he swung his bag strap over his shoulders and so, I turned around. A man was walking towards us with his ringing phone in one hand. When he was about to answer the call, I ended mine and the ringing stopped. Harry ran over to the man, whom I had then assumed was his brother, and he rested his arm around and on the boy's shoulders. The man had brown curls that was long enough to set perfectly on his shoulders and he carried a guitar case on his back.

"I'm so sorry, Miss–,"

"[Y/N]," I chipped in.

"Sorry for the unconvenience, Miss [Y/N]," he apologised.

"It's not an inconvenience, don't worry about it!" I smiled at him, then turned to Harry, "You have a good rest, alright? I'll see you in school tomorrow."

"You too, Miss [Y/N]!" Harry smiled.

"Thank you so much," Harry's brother smiled with a twinkle of the night lights in his eyes.

"Good night," I nodded slightly to him before I walked back down to the main road.

—— Friday, 10 February 2017 ——

I booked my Uber ride before leaving the office. I had tons of worksheets to mark and a whole lot more projects to look into over the weekend. With a heavy briefcase, I dreaded the long walk toward the main road. The Uber driver was said to be 15 minutes away, so I planted my stuff on the s of the fountain and decided to rest my aching feet out of my heels while I waited. A couple of minutes later, Harry came to sit beside me.

"Are you okay, Miss [Y/N]?" he asked, softly.

"Yes, I am," I gently smiled, "Is your brother picking you up late again?"

"I think so," he shrugged.

For a second, I was dazed, but I immediately cancelled my Uber ride booking afterwards. Harry quickly got lost in playing his gaming device and while he was at it, I searched through the call my phone to find Harry's brother's number. It didn't take long but before I could click upon his number, I received a call from him.

"Hello? Mr. Irwin, I'm with Harry right now and–,"

"Were you already going to call me?" I could hear the voice on the phone with my free ear, from the surroundings.

I looked up and saw him walking towards us with his phone to his ear.

"I saw you with your phone and I thought you were going to call me," he laughed, "so I called to see if it was your number."

I pushed a little smile through. I turned to Harry who was still engrossed in his game and gave him a pat on the back.

"Come on, your brother's here," I said as I sat back down.

"Miss [Y/N], are you waiting for someone?" Harry's brother asked.

"No," I shook my head, "I mean, yes, I was, but I thought you were going to be really late so I cancelled my Uber."

He widened his eyes at me and apologised for him not being punctual.

"If you need a ride, I can give you a lift," he suggested.

"No, it's fine! There's no means to trouble you for that," I protested, as I tapped away on my phone screen to book another ride.

"Miss [Y/N], I know where you live," Harry barged in, "and actually, it's on our way home."

"It's on our way home," his brother repeated.

I stared at my phone as I was one button away from confirming an Uber ride home.

"Come on, Miss [Y/N]. I insist," he continued, "It's the least I could do for the trouble that I've caused you."

I tilted my head back a little to look up at him and smiled. I nodded and grabbed my briefcase only to have it taken from my grip. He walked ahead and led me to his car. He even opened the door for me, which I found was totally unnecessary, but his kind gestures were appealing.

"I have this band thing going on, which tends to make me stay a little longer after practice sometimes," he spoke, breaking the stiff awkwardness in the car.

Harry made some comments from the backseat that I couldn't comprehend.

"My name's Ashton, by the way. Please don't call me 'Mr. Irwin'."

I turned to him and smiled. Not long after, we reached my place and I thanked Ashton for the ride, then he drove off.

—— Monday, 13 February 2017 ——

It was a dreadful day at work, being attacked by kids in love. How dare they asked me if I was content with my single life and whether or not I was prepared to live the rest of my life lonely? Sure, I was very well aware that I haven't been in a relationship for more than half of my life now; but that was only because I chose to.

"Miss [Y/N], when was your last Valentine's date?"

"Miss [Y/N], what do you think I should get for her on Valentine's Day?"

"Miss [Y/N], do you really think he likes me?"

It was a good thing that they were young and still trying their best to understand what love meant. When the bell rang indicating the end of my class, I couldn't wait to spend the rest of the hours just reviewing my students' work.

It was only 12:00 PM or so and I was not even half-way done with my work, but I got called out from the office.

"[Y/N], dear, a student's parent's waiting to see you," my colleague informed me.

A little bummed, I shuffled my feet lightly out the doors and found Ashton, standing by it.

"Mr. Irwin!"

His eyebrows furrowed. I laughed.

"Sorry," I paused and took a slow deep breath, "Ashton."

He giggled like a schoolboy, but with intricate crinkles by his eyes. I was still confused as to why he wanted to see me.

"You're a bit too early to be fetching Harry, don't you think?" I nudged for his reason for being there.

"I'm not here to pick Harry," he replied, squinting his eyes past the rays of Sun shining from where my back faced.

I just continued to stare at him as I waited for an explanation. It took him awhile to move to my left so that the Sun would shine right at him. Then, he looked me right in my eyes and just stared into it for a couple of seconds. He was so deep in it, I almost felt like I was lost in his.

"I need to ask you a question," he said and when I gestured for it, "Will you go out with me?"

The shock of it got hold of me and I took a step back. I tried to process the situation and broke it down in my head. I was trying to understand.

"This is very unprofessional," I said, sterned, then I looked at him right in his eyes, "I'm sorry, Mr. Irwin, but I can't."

I was about to enter back into the office before he grabbed my wrist.

"Why not?"

"Because this is a school, and you don't just do things like this in school. It's just wrong," I said, tugging my hand away from his grip and entering back to the office. Our office doors were made of two-way mirror glass so, I stood right behind the door, knowing that he couldn't see me. Then, I just watched him walk away.

Later that evening, I got off from work and had already made plans for a movie marathon for my lonely self as a reward for actually completing my marking at work. I went home empty-handed for once and it felt good! I walked down to the main road and spotted a grey car that was parked oddly between the openings to the school — it was just in the middle. Just then, Ashton came out of the car and ran towards me. I didn't want to make a big scene of me trying to run away in heels so I tried to brisk walk... but his shoes caught up with me when I felt a hand pat my shoulder to make me stop walking. I turned around and Ashton smiled cheekily.

"We're not in school anymore," he smiled, "Now, you can't say that you can't say yes."

His eagerness was so close to being rubbed off on me but I stood my ground.

"I didn't mean it being school premises, Mr. Irwin–,"

"Just call me Ashton," he cut in.

"Mr. Irwin," I repeated, "I'm the teacher of your brother!"

"So?"

"So, Mr. Irwin, this right here," my pointed finger went back and forth between him and I, "...should NOT be happening."

"Well, if that's what you think," he mumbled.

Then, he pulled out a small bouquet of flowers that was hidden behind his back the whole time and he gestured it forward to me. I shook my head at first as I obviously refused to accept any gifts from him.

"I bought them for you anyway, just take it," he said, before just shoving it close to my face, making me grab it as reflex.

I took a minute to look at the flowers and when I gazed up, Ashton was already back in his car and ready to drive off. I felt that I might have been a little too harsh but the fact remained that teachers shouldn't go out with their students'... anybody.

—— Tuesday, 14 February 2017 ——

5:00PM and I was just about to reach the end of my 5th movie for the day, until I received a call from an unknown number. I lowered the volume of my television and answered the call. A young, sketchy male's voice spoke over the line.

"Hey, I went to your school but you weren't there. Are you sick or something?"

"Sorry, who's this?" I asked.

The caller had a buffer before he answered.

"It's your ol' cousin! Can't you recognise me?"

"Oh my! Oh, yes, I was–, no, I mean, I'm not sick. I'm just fortunate enough to not have any classes to teach today so I took an unreasonable leave," I paused, "Hang on, did you change your number?"

Then, my doorbell rang. I ran over and opened to door to find Ashton, with his phone to his ear.

"Hi."

I heard his voice through the line.

"Mr. Irwin, you have no reason to be here."

"As a matter of fact, I do," he responded.

"But, I really can't g–," I tried to say but he held his hand up and I stopped.

"Just hear me out, alright?" he breathed while I waited patiently, "I understand that you're being professional, [Y/N], I really do. The truth stays that one day, Harry's going to graduate from that school and you can't refer to me as your student's brother. What if you get transferred to teach at a different school? It doesn't make me-wanting-to-bring-you-out-on-a-date any less real. I'm coming to you at your doorstep as a guy, who just wants to spend some time getting to know a girl on a Valentine's date."

"Whoa..," I hid my face in my palms in embarrassment, "...you went through great measures just to convince me to go out on a date with you; seriously, Ashton?"

"Yes, seriously," he flashed a huge smile, "So, what do you say?"

I sighed, still in shock, and I saw a frown as his smile settled.

"I'm sorry to say this, Ashton, but I already have plans made for today," I told him with regret.

He immediately hung his head and faced the ground, not wanting to make eye- with me.

"But, I mean... if you like horror movies, it's up next on my movie marathon," I smiled as he gazed up to look at me, "Although, you are a little over-dressed for a movie marathon."

He giggled as I invited him in. He took off his coat and flopped himself on one of my beanbags. We didn't actually watch the movie at all because we were so lost in empty talks.

It was close to 11:00 PM and Ashton was about to leave after we were done with the 3rd movie that we didn't even watch. I walked him out and by the door, I tapped his shoulder.

"What? You're ready to kiss me, so soon?" Ashton teased me.

"No," I rolled my eyes, "Now, I have a question I'd like to ask."

He looked at me with a big smile on his lips as he raised his eyebrows, anticipating my question.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why me? Why go through so much? Why did you even bother trying?" I proposed.

"It felt right, it felt right, and it felt right," he answered, "It all just feels right, and I told myself that I'll never find out whether I'm right, if I didn't try."

He emitted warmth of joy with his words.

"Have a good night, [Y/N]."

"You too, Ash," I smiled.

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