Trapped In Hisstory

The researcher put both of his elbows on his desk, rested his chin on his intertwined hands as he looked at the screen of his laptop. He was staring at his group chat with Ruther, An, and Fuse, but Professor Adam sent him a message.

[Professor Adam: Sorry for chatting you when you are supposed to have a good weekend.]

[It is all right, Professor. What do you need to tell me?]

[Professor Adam: I moved up the topic regarding the Lockhart Family. Our previous lesson finished earlier than I expected, the lesson needs to be reported on Monday.]

Chance closed his eyes for a while as he tried to gather his thoughts. He actually thought that he could laze around for the first time in a weekend. He was expecting it to be tackled on Wednesday, meaning he would still have time. But now it changed to Monday. 

He sighed and began typing his reply.

[I understand, I will be on it immediately.]

[Professor Adam: Are you sure you can do it? Moving it early might be bothersome.]

[Professor, of course, it is all right. I will do it, I do not have much choice, do I?]

[Professor Adam:....I apologize for this, Howard.]

[Nothing to be sorry about it, leave it to me, Professor.] 

Chance sent him a smiling sticker, and the professor also sent him a sticker in return. The two of them stop messaging and Chance Howard let out a sigh again. This time, the sigh was louder than usual as he let his stress out with it.

'Goodbye, my weekend rest...' he thought and acted as if he was tearing up, wiping the lower part of his eyes dramatically.

His eyes wandered around and stopped on his laptop again. The group chat of the four of them was active, and he saw them looking for him.

[An: Where did our little historian go?]

[Fuse: Vanished XD]

[An: Eh? Did not even say goodbye!]

[Ruther: Must just be caught up with something.]

[Fuse: Hmm yeah emergency work]

[An: He did not send anything, not even a 'gotta go' or smth]

[Ruther:....he literally was just gone for a few minutes...]

[Fuse: Calm down An XD He will come soon]

Chance chuckled, reading their messages. 'I am just here, watching you all.' he thought.

[An: You still use XD in a chat where you can use emojis?]

[Fuse: Not really much of a problem xD]

[An: The emojis are literally beside your keyboard.]

[Fuse: got used to XD u are not gonna stop me]

An sent him a gif of a bored look and Fuse just sent him a smug look of a cat, annoying An even more.

[Ruther: =__=]

[Ruther: When will be the day where these two kids will stop bickering...]

[An: Fighting with Fuse or I will fight with you? Choose wisely.]

[Ruther: Oh, enjoy yourselves. Just tell me when you get tired and I'll fight with him.]

[Fuse: Ruth u traitor!!]

Chance laughed at the three of them. They are really fun to chat with...if only he has a lot of time and not always busy with work.

[An: Oh, Chance is here already. He viewed our messages.]

[Ruther: He has been here for quite a while. You two are too busy to notice it.]

[An: Well, maybe if you just said so, we'd stop fighting much earlier.]

[Stop arguing already XD]

[Fuse: XD]

[An: You too?!]

Chance never really use that to show he was laughing or even other emojis, but he wanted to suddenly send it. He smiled, then continued typing.

[Sorry, I received a message from Professor Adam and I need to go out for research.]

[Fuse: Right now?]

[An: Eh, you just received the message and will work immediately?]

[Well, it would be hard if I do not start now.]

[Fuse: Unlike you, he does not procrastinate.]

[An: Shut up]

[Ruther: Take an umbrella on your way, it might rain.]

[Ruther: Stay safe and tell us if you suddenly have a problem.]

[Ruther: Rain jacket too in case...]

[Fuse: Woah there daddy, your son will be fine.]

[An: Pfft what a caring dad.]

[Fuse: Oh, daddy, if I knew you were this protective, I would have like you as my daddeh as well XD]

[Ruther: Wanna die?]

[Fuse: Nevermind, I'll be fine as an orphan.]

[I will be fine, thank you. I will go now.]

[Chat with you all later!]

[An: Alrighty bye~]

[Fuse: Bye bye!]

[Ruther: Stay safe.]

Chance closed the tab and turned his laptop off. He had already taken a bath so he just gathered the things he needed and reached for his coat to leave his unit. He went to the parking lot near his building and got inside his car.

He threw his sling bag on the front seat and placed his laptop that was inside the laptop sleeve gently beside the bag. He placed his hands on the steering wheel and looked straight in front of him, letting out a deep breath. "Here we go again," he muttered.

He drove off and made his way to the Maximillian University. He does not want to go to other libraries. Since the university is open, then why not just go there? He thought. 

He arrived at the university, and he immediately went to where their library was. He looked around and expected that there will not be many people in the library because it a weekend, but he saw many students as well as professors inside the library. They were sitting with each other, reading the books they went to get from the racks and he saw some are doing group work.

He smiled. 'It is good to see that they are studying hard.' he thought.

He looked around to find an area where there are fewer people around and saw a round table with two seats across from each other. That was enough for him since it was empty and close to the racks.

He immediately headed to the table and was about to seat down when he saw something from the corner of his eyes. He looked around and was shocked by what he had witnessed.

He saw two students in the empty area together, with the book racks covering them. The pants of the guy were pulled down with the legs of a girl lying on the table wrapped around his waist, making out in the library!

The historian's face heated up. 'What the hell?!' he yelled inside his mind. He almost shouted but he cannot do that because they are in a library.

The girl hurried tapped the guy's shoulder to get his attention, and they both looked at the shocked young professor. "!!!" the guy immediately pulled his thing away, making Chance saw his dingdong.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry!!" he yelled, but in a whisper as he hurriedly pulled his pants back up and the other girl fixed herself as well.

Chance's face turned white and looked at him with a grimace, disgusted by what he had seen. "Seriously? In a damn library?" he asked and the students lowered their gazes, embarrassed.

A man holding books appeared in the area and saw the students with heads down in front of Chance. "You two looked like puppies being scolded by the owner, what happened?"

The two students looked at Chance, and the historian could easily guess what their gazes meant. They do not want him to tell others what he saw. Chance sighed, "Nothing, just scolding them for not studying..." he said, trying to cover for them.

The man looked at the students' faces and raised his index finger, pointing to them, "Oh, you two. Dang, were you two doing it again in the library?" the man said and the two of them blushed.

Not wanting to get the students in shame, he gestured his hand to them, "You may go now." he said and the two of them nodded and hurriedly went away.

"Sorry that you had to see that, you must have gotten distracted now." the man said.

"Oh, it's okay sir..?" he said, not knowing his name.

"Oh, I am Theodore Hill. Theo for short." the man said with a smile. 

"Chance. Chance Howard. I teach here in the university." he said, introducing himself in return.

"I know that, Sir Howard. I see you a lot in here." 

"Chance is fine." 

"Chance," he repeated with a smile on his face. He looked like the type of guy who is all-smiles, a kind person who you cannot hate.

Chance just smiled and placed his things on the table. He has to start reading the book about the Lockharts' death. Good thing that it was easy to know since its story was already written in a book, it is not a hard topic wherein he needs to stress over where to find information.

He went to the racks to look for a book when he shot a glance at Theo, who has a bunch of books in his hands. The library helper started putting the books back in their place when a book caught Chance's attention. The book that he needs to read.

Be One With Flames