Duality

Waking up the next morning, Jonathan sat at his lonely table against the wall nursing a cup of coffee- black, two sugars. The morning reporters flashed photographs of the Wayne family, particularly their fallen members Thomas and Martha Wayne. Years had past since the early death of Gotham’s finest yet no one seemed to move on. On the streets, there was always someone speaking their name, or walking into some building they funded.

The professor sipped his coffee, rolling his eyes occasionally at the awful quality of production. As he finished his drink, Jonathan left the empty mug in the sink and wandered back to his bedroom. He opened the closet and pulled a pair of neatly folded black pants from a shelf and a crisp white shirt from a hanger. Jonathan reemerged into the living room with his clothes in hand. He stood before the television, changing to the channel to a more reputable news source as he stepped into his pants.

As the professor reached the last few buttons of his shirt, Jonathan squinted his eyes beneath his spectacles and took a step closer to the window. He could have sworn he saw the ‘stoop girl’ walk by his building.

“Get a grip, Crane.” Jonathan scolded himself opting for no tie as he stepped into his shoes and pulling his jacket on. Today was important for the professor and his mind had to be in the right place for everything to be executed properly.

There was a nip in the December air as Jonathan stepped out his building, shutting the door behind him gently. The walk to the university was quick from his apartment so the journey wouldn’t be so bad in the cool air. A slender hand gripped his briefcase tightly as the wet and slushy streets were more difficult to walk in that anticipated.

Jonathan moved swiftly through the sea of students huddling in the commons. Just as he reached his office, his secretary cleared her throat. The professor looked over his shoulder, his hand still wrapped around the door handle, “Yes?”

“A package arrived for you earlier. I put it in the lab, by your podium.” She clutched the planner in her shaky hands and scurried down the hall after receiving a curt nod of understanding from the professor.

Inside the dark office, Jonathan tossed his jacket onto the coat stand by the door and sat at his desk. The clock hanging over his monitor let him know there were fifteen minutes before he needed to get on his way to his first lecture. In an instant, the professor’s hands were flying across the keyboard plugging in all the numbers he had been crunching since he left the office the evening before.

As he began gathering his graded papers that had managed to scatter across the desk, Jonathan noticed he was a week behind in his planning. He held the papers tightly and killed the monitor before storming out of the office, the door slamming shut behind him. Outside the locked classroom, there was a small queue of students anxiously awaiting their professor. Jonathan smirked to himself at the eager minds, waiting to soak up knowledge.

Class began as it always did. Papers or exams were returned before jumping right into notes and lectures. The entire time, Jonathan’s eyes kept traveling to the large box resting beside his podium. As his pupil in the third row, a time keeper, raised her hand, Jonathan took of his glasses and finished his bit before dismissing students for an hour break. Watching his students file out of the room, the professor couldn’t help but feel a small smile creep onto his face.

He was on his way back to his office with the box in hand when he heard a gentle voice laced with venomous sarcasm. The professor stopped in his tracks and peered into the classroom. The woman’s back was to him, her hair wrapped up a tight bun on the top of her head. His eyes traveled from the bun on her head right down to the matte black shoes on her feet with notorious red bottoms.

However, as Professor Crane admired the woman’s figure, it was a faint scar. As she maneuvered around her desk and reached for a white board marker, the woman’s warm brown eyes caught sight of the lurking professor. Her matte red lips curved in an upward grin as she saw a glint of excitement in those icy blues eyes now free of the spectacles. She winked quickly before turning her attention back to the room full of eager pupils.