I see him long before he sees me.

He's standing in the middle of the large lecture room filled with students. In the same mien, I left him four years ago. There were a couple of Teacher assistants, professors gathered around him, and Eman, of course - His fiancée Arm in arm, she seemed to be leaving her mark just like wolves do so no one would come close to her territory. Even from here, I can see her long, red-manicured nails scratching into his blazer, the way her valuable tips score into his tender ribs. Though he doesn't react outwardly, I remember how discreet he liked to be.

Medicine and the promise of higher upcoming hierarchy, he must be in his own personal heaven.

The Professor seems to be listing intently to whatever the New Dean, Rosie Chamberlain, was saying that he didn't notice my arrival. Therefore, I walked swiftly toward the computer in front of the whole auditorium, I stayed beside it, letting my eyes do all the talking from a distance as I blink rapidly to dispel the image. A trip down memory lane is not why I'm here.

"There's the Dean," Alexander whispers into my ear, "and a couple of professors. The young one is Professor Yilmaz."

I nod as if I hadn't been able to figure that out on my own – even if I broke everything between us a few years ago. Everyone knows who Professor Yilmaz is. He's as much celebrity as he is a professor at this point.

My eyes remain on Ibrahim for a few seconds longer during this short reprieve before I rock his world to its core. I use the calm before the storm to compare this older version of him to the one that I once knew.

He's let his hair grow longer; the brown-ish mane explodes in various unruly directions. His green eyes are as hypnotizing as ever; even from here, they stand out like two glowing emeralds. He rests his weight casually over one hip; his tall frame still lean, exuding power and confidence. His self-assurance hasn't diminished one iota. I can tell by that cocky grin of his that he seems to have only grown cockier. He still has that rich, deep laugh that automatically raises the spirits of everyone within hearing range. Unfortunately, he was handsome as ever - more so if I must be honest. Thirty-two suits him brilliantly.

I've arrived prepared for him, though. "Come on, let us introduce ourself," Alexander grins my way. I grin back, my eyes still on Ibrahim. "I will stand here. You go."

He chuckles and leaning close to my ear, whispers, "Don't be shy,"

Alexander never got me right. He was so different than me. He didn't know that what I was feeling at that second wasn't shyness, but power, I aspired to practice as well as the Devil once did.

All of a sudden, Ibrahim stops talking, mid-sentence it appears. He straightens out over his long legs. His shoulders stiffen. Emerald eyes roam around the auditorium slowly, as if he senses something askew in his perfect world. As they near me, I tilt my form toward the computer as I prepare the slides to view, shielding me from his view. My heart starts racing in a way it only ever has around him, but I ignore it and remind myself of why I'm here.

I remind myself that as beautiful as he is on the outside, on the inside, he is one vicious, heartless bastard.

"Professor Yilmaz!" Alexander calls out. Out of my periphery, I see him raise a hand in the air and wave.

"He's coming over," Alexander exclaims excitedly, doing up the buttons on his classic coloured Oxford button-down. "Let me introduce you."

I could see from the mirror beside the entrance door the reflection of the professor who was wearing his everyday business casual attire chinos with a sweater and a blazer. Somethings never change.

I nod again to Alexander, still giving the professor my back as I was mastering the slides to appear on the processor. Alexander was about to start the lecture. I was preparing them.

I am wearing a loosely fitted and oversized hoodie and combined with my petite figure, I was sort of lost in them, with an added hoddie hat. I was making it impossible for the Professor to see me - just yet.

"Professor Yilmaz," Alexander says in a voice full of misplaced respect and admiration. He shakes the Professor's hand. "I can't believe it. I cherish your research so much. It will be an honour to work with you this semester."

"Mr O'Hare," Ibrahim replies.

My heart jumps in my chest at his voice. It's sure and smooth all at once, just as I remember it. He continues in that perfect modulated voice of his. "It a mutual admiration, Thanks so much for accepting my invitation."

"I won't make you regret choosing me, Professor," Alexander acknowledges.

Alexander makes a right old arse of himself - fawning and gushing. He finally recovers enough to say, "May I introduce you to Wahaj, She obtained an undergraduate bachelor's degree with honours in biochemistry within the last three years in the college I managed to get my masters in and now she has been accepted to continue med school in this college,"

In the US, Medical degrees are considered second entry degrees, meaning you cannot enrol directly in a Medicine Bachelor's. You first need to do a Bachelor's (undergraduate) degree in a related Science subject before you apply to a medical school. Then, you can enrol in a Medicine degree that usually lasts 4 years.

Alexander continues his praise, "She has already helped me publish three of my papers and that one paper that was about generating broadly applicable genetic tools that you were so fond of was mainly Wahaj's work,"

I hear the pride in his voice and grin because I may not have a master degree yet, but, to his contrary belief, I wasn't dumb either; plus, I'm one of the highest-ranking execs in this college.

I turn around as I stop fiddling with my computer and into the professor Yilmaz's anticipating eyes. Four years after, Ibrahim's expression shows no outward reaction to me. I'd be upset if I didn't know him better.

Alexander makes the introductions, mentions that I have continued my studies at his previous college and now after Alexander published the three research paper. Most academies were enamoured to recruit us. When I choose this school, Alexander followed. I aspire to continue my Medical school to practice medicine while Alexander wants to have his PhD degree to continue helping kids in his research.

Ibrahim's features display a keen interest, though no more than necessary. But though I may have only had a short-lived period with him, I did learn quite a few bits. For example, I learned that while he was an expert at keeping emotion off his face, he could never wholly keep it out of his eyes.

He finally introduces me to Eman, His fiancee, and she seemed to be shocked at first and didn't know how to mask her emotions unlike Professor Yilmaz. She excused herself immediately after Yilmaz gave her a sudden look. When she returned, she started to engage in a conversation about our interested fields before she praises the paper that both Alexander and I wrote.

"So, Ms Muhammad," he advances, curling up one half of his mouth in that signature semi-smirk that calls to the masses in this university, "how do you find our school?"

"She studied till her junior year in this college, but not any of her credits were transferred that is why she had to change majors," Alexander interrupted listing my life after the professor, making the professor's eye turn into a dense colour of green, "You were never in his class?" Alexander questioned me this time.

I didn't deny or agreed to his claims, but Alexander answered his own mystery, "She is modest girl, the professor must not have remembered you from the sea of student that pass every semester,"

I, on the other hand, did reply with an affirming answer for my current situation, "I will have two classes this semester with you professor,"

I looked into his intense green eyes as I said that, "So you are planning to continue as a medical trainee, not a master student," he asks pleasantly.

I nodded, "I have the options, don't I ?"

"Still in need of affirmation, I see!" He whispered as Alexander and Eman's loud discussion made them unable to catch his mummer.

"Excuse me," he says with a thick voice filled with emotions. Not to me but to Eman and Alexander before he exits outside the auditorium.

You see, Alexander is an assistant professor in the research department that is why he was invited to work with professor Yilmaz on his research paper that is main focus is on understanding mechanisms of virulence gene regulation in pathogenic bacteria. He conducts those researches in the children's hospital. Due to the paper submitted by Alexander and I, the professor work has unveiled novel regulatory mechanisms for second messengers, small RNA species, as well as RNA-binding proteins.

He would work on counting this paper, or, at least, that would've been the plan had I not shown up here. Now things may get a bit more... complicated for the professor.