Page 15 of Arrogant Professor

When I emerged from my dorm room, Helene was still on the phone. She held up a finger, gesturing for me to wait. I crossed my arms, annoyed. Then her gaze finally fell on me and she grimaced. Covering the phone, she hissed at me.

“What the hell are you wearing?”

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my slouchy jeans. My Fleetwood Mac crop top and chunky autumnal orange sweater were comfy and cozy, but a far cry from the designer clothes the Roche family usually wore.

“Would you like me to change?” I offered. “I just got these new shorts. They say BITE ME across the ass in sparkly pink letters. Super cute.”

Helene blanched. I stifled a snort of laughter, knowing she would shit a brick over that.

“You don’t wear those in public, do you?” she asked.

I shrugged.

“All over campus actually. I get a lot of compliments, too. The guys love them.”

Helene pursed her lips so tightly that she looked like she’d swallowed an entire lemon. It must be eating her alive that I would embarrass the family like that.

Ten minutes later, her chauffeur dropped us off at a local coffee shop on campus. It wasn’t a long walk, but Helene probably couldn’t manage the distance in her heels. After we got our coffees, we selected a nearby table. She sniffed with disapproval as I bit into a buttery pastry.

“You really shouldn’t eat that. The carbs will make you fat and Daddy won’t like it.”

Holding eye contact, I took another massive bite of the pastry. Helene huffed and consulted her phone with a sigh.

“It’s time to grow up, Giselle. This childish, rebellious act is getting old. You’ve been like this since you were a teenager. You’re twenty-three now, and when you graduate, you will be in the public eye, representing the family business.”

I set the pastry aside and brushed the crumbs off my fingers.

“Have you ever thought I might not be suited to the family business?”

She huffed with amusement.

“You’re a Roche. It’s your duty. Daddy worked hard to build this empire and now it’s our job to carry on his legacy.”

I turned my head, looking out the window. Students bustled by. A few golden leaves skittered across the sidewalk. For my entire life, my family had been desperately trying to mold me into the box they created for me. Time and time again, I didn’t fit.

Why don’t you change your major?

That conversation with Professor Stonebridge wouldn’t stop replaying in my mind. No one had ever suggested I could choose a different path than the one already laid out for me.

It was all I could think about now. The possibilities of something else were overwhelming, but I could feel a fizzle of excitement at the prospect, too.

“Is that what you want?” I asked.

Helene blinked at me as if I’d grown a third eye in the middle of my forehead.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Carrying on Dad’s legacy. Running the firm. Do you actually want that?”

She sputtered with disbelief.

“Of course I do. It’s a privilege—an honor. Do you have any idea how lucky we are to have this kind of wealth at our fingertips? Daddy set us up for life. We’re going to inherit a thriving, million-dollar company. You’d have to be insane to turn that down.”

And yet, here I was entertaining the unthinkable. Leaving it all behind to pursue…what? Glancing down at my coffee, I studied the bubbles in my foam.

I didn’t have an answer. Throwing away financial security for…nothing…sounded like a fool’s errand. No wonder Helene thought I was stupid to even consider it.

“Where is this coming from anyway?” Helene asked.

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