Chapter 14: Losing Control

Norika Harada was twenty-three years old, yet her personal life was a complete disaster.

Upon stepping inside, Quillan noticed that all the food on the table was packed in takeout containers—clearly food Norika had ordered from a restaurant. Over by the bathroom entrance, a pile of dirty laundry was heaped up, including her work suits, and Quillan even caught sight of black panties and... a bra!

The washing machine hummed as it worked hard to churn through a load, yet it couldn’t even fit all the clothes in one go. It went to show just how long Norika had gone without doing her laundry!

Norika’s place followed a single-room studio layout, meaning the spacious main room doubled as the bedroom. Walking inside, the bathroom was on the left and the kitchen on the right, making the entire layout clear at a single glance.

Quillan saw his luggage sitting not far from the bed—right beside a futon set up on the tatami...

No wonder Norika had mentioned he could stay over at her place for the night. Initially, seeing that her apartment had a studio layout, Quillan had misconstrued the situation, assuming he would be squeezing into the same bed with this gorgeous teacher again!

Now, seeing the tatami futon already laid out beside his suitcase, Quillan knew his assumption had fallen flat.

After finishing dinner, Quillan cleared away the takeout boxes and prepared to take a shower. Wrapped in her bathrobe, Norika didn’t dare come out from under the blanket. She felt immensely embarrassed, so much so that she was too shy to speak a word.

As a teacher—and a homeroom teacher at that—to have such an awkward encounter with her own student was embarrassing enough. Not only had she foolishly slept in the same bed with him for a night, but now she had brought him back to her place and exposed such a messy side of her life. For a woman, this was truly mortifying!

As Quillan pulled a change of clothes from his luggage and walked toward the bathroom, Norika finally poked her head out from under the blanket to sneak a glance. Just as she did, Quillan happened to pass by the washing machine. At that moment, whether intentionally or not, Quillan paused, looked back at Norika, and flashed an evil grin.

"Huh?"

Norika was still feeling puzzled, but when her eyes shifted to her underwear lying nearby, a blush instantly rushed all the way up to her neck, leaving her thoroughly mortified.

Taking advantage of Quillan entering the bathroom, Norika hurriedly scrambled off the bed to tidy up her underwear, completely ignoring the fact that her revealing attire put her at risk of exposing herself. But just as she reached the washing machine, the bathroom door swung open.

Quillan’s smiling face popped out from inside the bathroom. Almost instinctively, Norika covered her vital areas and let out a loud scream.

However, it was already too late. One could easily read from Quillan’s mischievous grin that he had seen it all along. Seeing Norika crouching down in fright from his prank, her body trembling non-stop, Quillan shook his head and teased, "Tsk, tsk... Miss Harada, it’s not like I haven’t seen it before. Why get so nervous?"

"You jerk! You did that on purpose, didn’t you?!"

Norika went completely berserk, howling at Quillan with clenched teeth. As she shouted, tears actually welled up in her eyes—she looked like she was on the verge of a total breakdown!

Quillan hadn’t expected Norika to react so intensely. He was taken aback—his original intention was just to tease her and play a small prank, but now... it seemed the joke had gone too far.

Never in his wildest dreams did Quillan expect a minor prank like this would terrify Norika into bursting into tears!

After all, she was still his teacher, and as a student, Quillan was the primary culprit behind her loss of emotional control. He couldn’t just stand by indifferently. Thinking it over, he first helped Norika gather up her clothes, then reached out and took her by the arm.

"Miss Harada, it was just a small joke—there’s no need for such an extreme reaction, is there?" Quillan helped Norika over to the bed. Norika pushed Quillan away with all her strength and hid back under the blanket, choosing to completely ignore his words.

Quillan shook his head. Just then, the washing machine let out a chime, indicating it had finished washing the current load. Quillan walked over and switched the setting to spin-dry.

Only after Quillan finished doing all this did Norika finally speak: "You pervert, do you like looking at girls’ underwear and bodies that much? Don’t you know you’re my student? As a student, shouldn’t you show proper respect to your teacher? Why are male students so impossible to teach?! Is there a single decent man in this world?!"

After letting out a wave of complaints, Norika’s mood visibly improved a bit, though she was still sobbing.

Although Norika kept complaining about Quillan, he could tell that her emotional breakdown wasn’t quite as simple as it seemed. Furthermore, Quillan could guess that the real reason Norika had burst into tears definitely stemmed from something else!

As for what that reason might be... Quillan temporarily decided to put his shower on hold. He walked over to the bed and asked Norika, "Actually, Miss Harada, are you a lesbian?"

"Eh?" Such a blunt question left Norika momentarily dazed. Once her mind processed the meaning of the word "lesbian," her expression changed instantly, and she shouted at Quillan, "Hey! You’re the one who’s homosexual! I just hate stinky men—is there something wrong with that?!"

"As long as you’re not a lesbian..."

Quillan continued his deduction: "In that case, Miss Harada, you must have had some past experience that made you harbor a deep hatred for men. And last time, during that phone call with your parents, you got super nervous the moment they mentioned arranged matchmaking. My guess is that your unprovoked outburst tonight definitely has something to do with that, right?"

"You’re the one having unprovoked outbursts!"

Norika deliberately ignored the core of Quillan’s question, her eyes darting around evasively. Clearly, Quillan had hit the nail right on the head!

The reason for her emotional breakdown was far from that simple!