Samantha ran as fast as she could to get to class. There was no way she was going to miss Mr. Mitchell’s class. He was the school’s most handsome and cutest teacher and if she were ever to miss one second of his class, she’d rather die.
She practically crashed into class. There he was, Mr. Mitchell, about to be ready for class. She grinned and said, “Sorry, sir. I overslept. It won’t happen again…”
THWACK!!! Her head was immediately hit by Mr. Mitchell’s scroll. His stern face looked even more handsome than ever as he boomed, “How dare you come late for my class? Don’t you know that English is one of the most important subjects for your daily life? Now go and take your seat immediately!”
“Oh, how lucky for Samantha to be hit on the head by Mr. Mitchell! I want to be hit on the head too!!”
Samantha Lorne looked down as she walked towards her seat. She wasn’t the only one having a crush with Mr. Mitchell Sherbet. Almost everyone in Devon Girls’ High was having a crush with Mr. Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell was really, really cute, like a dark-haired version of Orlando Bloom, only more mature. Samantha stared at Mr. Mitchell as he started his English class. She had never paid attention to the class; it was all about Mr. Mitchell. She couldn’t help it. She just had to stare at him. He was way too handsome beyond compare…
“Samantha!” A hard pressing feeling on her cheeks shook her back to reality. She was shocked to see that Mr. Mitchell’s face was directly in front of hers, his ebony-black eyes staring sternly and intently at her brown ones and his hands were holding her cheeks.
“Don’t stare at me during class! Pay attention during class! My lessons are on the board, not on my face!”
The silence was pressurizing. Before she knew it, Samantha was bleeding in the nose out of over-excitement and immediately fainted at the spot. Needless to say, she was taken to the Sick Bay and had to miss Mr. Mitchell’s class.
Lying on the sick bed, she touched her face in ecstasy. ‘He touched my cheeks!’ she thought. ‘He actually touched my cheeks! I’m never gonna wash my face ever again!’ As her thoughts continued to drift, she imagined herself together with Mr. Mitchell living their lives in love and harmony. If only she could find the courage to tell Mr. Mitchell how she really feel. Courage as in the courage to tell him that she was really, really in love with him and not afraid of the other girls mangling her into a pulp.
After school, she rushed home with a happy, ecstatic face, and couldn’t wait to jot down everything in her diary, when she noticed her parents were in a very happy mood.
“Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad. What’s the big occasion?” Samantha asked.
“We have such good news for you, my dear darling,” Mrs. Lorne replied happily. “Your father has been promoted as an executive and will be transferred to Germany!”
“That’s great, Dad! Congratulation! So when are you going?”
“Next week, pooh-bear! And we’re all going to move to Germany!” Mr. Lorne replied with enthusiasm.
The whole atmosphere was silent for a while. Suddenly Samantha burst her bubble and said, “What?! We’re all going?! Why?!”
“Of course, pooh-bear,” Mr. Lorne replied in an as-a-matter-of-fact way. “I cannot leave you and your Mom here all alone. This is permanent. I won’t be coming back here anymore. We have to move.”
“But…But what about my friends? What about my school? What about…” Samantha stopped before she accidentally revealed Mr. Mitchell. She had told her parents about having a crush with Mr. Mitchell but she never told them that he was her English teacher.
“Don’t worry. It has all been taken care of,” Mr. Lorne reassured her. “My company is responsible for all the expenses of going to Germany, and also the company branch in Germany that I’m going to work in will take care of all the accommodation and your schooling expenses. We only have to move there. You have nothing to worry about.”
“You can make new friends at Germany,” Mrs. Lorne tried to make her daughter feel better. “I heard that there are a number of local people has gone there either to study or migrate. If you’re lucky, you’ll find some our fellow local friends. It’s gonna be alright, trust us on this.”
Samantha practically lost all interest in everything after that. How could she convince her parents that she didn’t want to leave because she didn’t want to leave Mr. Mitchell? Sure, getting a promotion to Germany was a real deal and she wouldn’t mind moving to a new environment, but she was talking her life-time happiness here! How was she ever going to be happy if the person that she loved wasn’t around? She simply couldn’t bear to think of it.
Needless to say, she was in a glum mood the next day at school. Although Mr. Mitchell’s appearance was a temporary solace to her, it wasn’t enough to cover up the glum. Mr. Mitchell noticed and walked towards her seat.
“Samantha Lorne, is there anything wrong?”
“Uh, uh, no, sir. Nothing’s wrong,” Samantha replied, blushing as she looked away. Mr. Mitchell still stood there, obviously not buying the ‘nothing’s wrong’ routine.
“Forget about her, sir,” one of the girls voiced out. “She’s been like that the whole day. Even we couldn’t get it out of her. Just ignore her.”
“Sir, sir! I heard that you are going out on a match-make date soon! Is it true?!” another girl from the far end of the classroom asked worriedly.
“Serious? Mr. Mitchell is getting match-made? How can this be?”
“What’s going on, sir?”
“Tell me it’s not true!”
Samantha, despite her glum, was interested to know about this match-making business. It’s very rare for people to still practice this traditional marriage method at this modern age.
“Yes, it’s true,” Mr. Mitchell’s answer sent a long heartbroken groan to all the girls. He cleared his throat and continued, “The Headmaster got me into this, because he thinks that it’s a pity for someone like me not to get married at this age. But, don’t worry, girls. I will be declining the Headmaster’s offer.”
All the girls giggled in delight. Samantha remembered something about match-making—her cousin went through it before, as in first a couple of get-to-know-you dates, a meet-the-parents sort of ritual, then the engagement ceremony, then the official wedding…
That’s when her little innocent mind just clicked. ‘What a brilliant idea!’ she thought. ‘I can just match-make myself with Mr. Mitchell and get myself married to him! I’m not 16 years old yet, and 16 years old is the eligible age to marry, but I can wait! That’s it! I’m gonna match-make myself with Mr. Mitchell!’
The plan was all set. First she pretended to ‘accidentally’ bump onto the Headmaster who was about to take the file of Mr. Mitchell’s match-make date and switched her picture with the original picture. She then went to meet the original date and pretended to be Mr. Mitchell’s daughter and told her not to marry Mr. Mitchell (works every time). Later she went by herself to the marriage affairs office to purchase a marriage application certificate, and gave Mr. Mitchell a call impersonating the Headmaster saying that if he didn’t attend the match-make date, he would be fired.
The only thing for her to do now was to get a nice dress to wear.
The next day, after school, Mr. Mitchell—the punctual guy he was—went to the park where he and the original date promised to meet. He seemed pretty nervous. He had never dated before and so he was a bit queasy about the whole idea.
“Mr. Mitchell, sir!”
Mr. Mitchell turned around and was shocked to see Samantha dressed up to the nines in a beautiful one piece dress. He backed away and asked in a stern voice, “Samantha Lorne, what in the world are you doing here?”
“I’m here for our date, sir, if you must know,” Samantha replied, smiling sweetly.
“Date? Since when do we have a date?”
“If you hadn’t noticed, sir, I’m your match-make date.”
Mr. Mitchell stared in disbelief at his student for a full half minute before taking out the match-make file. Thanks to Samantha’s cunningness, her picture was definitely on it, confirming her convictions.
“This has got to be a mistake,” Mr. Mitchell almost became as pale as a ghost before taking to his heels. “I think we should just all forget about it and go home.”
“No, sir! Please!” Samantha grabbed Mr. Mitchell’s sleeve. “Since you’re already out, you might as well carry on! Please, sir, I’ve always wanted to go out on a date with you! Don’t think of it as a match-make, just a plain ol’ date. Please~!”
Mr. Mitchell turned around and looked at Samantha. Her brown eyes were shining with determination and wanting, as if she was really desperate to be with him. Mr. Mitchell couldn’t help feeling sorry and concerned for this girl. He had never felt like this for a long time. Probably because he was teaching in a girls’ school, he was much immune to the little bickering of little girls.
Soon, he found himself letting out a sigh of defeat, taking Samantha’s hand and replied, “Oh, alright. Just this once. Then we’ll pretend that this had never happened, alright?”
Samantha was so happy she was willing to agree on anything.
One more problem though, how was she going to make him sign the papers?
They had a great day at the city. They went to the mall, then to the arcades where Mr. Mitchell took her hands to play the arcade games (ooh, romantica!), and went to a whole lot more places until Samantha realized that she was quite hungry. So Mr. Mitchell took her to a restaurant to eat.
The restaurant was quite full, so they had to stand wait for their turn. In the meantime, the waitress required them to sign the guestbook so as not to lose their seats to other barging-in customers. That was when Samantha had her chance. She slipped in the papers onto the guestbook and guided Mr. Mitchell to sign it. He was too busy looking to see if there were any empty spaces for them to sit that he just signed it absentmindedly.
‘Perfect!’ Samantha thought. ‘Now all I need is his stamp. But…he doesn’t have a stamp. No one would be an idiot to bring a stamp along, not Mr. Mitchell…Oh well, I guess his fingerprint will do.’
After their lunch, Samantha begged Mr. Mitchell to take to watch the latest romance movie ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’. Mr. Mitchell, the sweet man he was, agreed. They bought the tickets and watched the romantic movie. Around them, Samantha could hear sobbing from the other girls who came to watch with their boyfriends. She wanted to cry herself—the movie was so touching—but she had better things to do.
Slowly, she took out the marriage papers and took out her ink pen. She took Mr. Mitchell’s hand softly and was attempting to mark his thumb so that she could get his fingerprint. She realized how silly it was when Mr. Mitchell glared at her with a pair of angry ebony black eyes and flushed cheeks. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the cinema to the park where they met before their date.
“Alright, Samantha, what the heck is going on here? I’ve began to suspect you ever since I agreed to go on this date with you. Yes, I had a great time with you so far, but you have been acting strange when we were having lunch. You were grinning all the way and you had that strange piece of paper snuck into your bag after I’ve signed it. And now you’re trying to stamp my fingerprint on it. What are those papers anyway?”
“You…You knew?” Samantha didn’t know where to start telling the truth.
“Do you think I’m that stupid? Now I demand to know what the heck is going on around here! And what are those papers you’re so obsessed about?!”
Samantha had no choice but to tell the truth. She told him about her crush for him, her leaving to Germany with her parents and her plan to make herself get married to Mr. Mitchell so that she would be able to stay and won’t miss Mr. Mitchell a single day. Mr. Mitchell listened in silence throughout her whole confession.
“I’m sorry I had to do this, sir. But this is the only way I’m able to be by your side, and…and also the only way for you not to be absent in my mind. I’m…I’m doing this ‘coz I love you, sir. I love you so much…I’m willing to do anything to stay…” So saying, Samantha sobbed, clear tears falling out of her eyes.
Mr. Mitchell looked at her with a confused gaze, his heart skipping a beat and his face flushed once more. A child in love with him? He knew that almost all the girls in the school were somewhat quite crazy about him, but he didn’t think that she would go that far just to be with him. He had no idea he had so much impact on a 15-year-old girl like Samantha. This sacrifice she made over her pride and her life was really great. Was this really love, or just an obsession? He was so confused that he could only say one thing:
“Don’t be so childish. You should listen to your parents. Go to Germany with them.”
Samantha could hardly believe her ears. After all she had done and after she had braved herself to tell Mr. Mitchell the truth, he rejected her just like that. Her heart broke as she ran away from the park and back home, tears flowing more out of her eyes. She couldn’t believe that Mr. Mitchell, her long-loved Mitchell, actually said something so mean as that.
Mr. Mitchell couldn’t help hating himself for saying that.
Next week was incoming really fast. Throughout that week, Samantha tried as hard as possible to avoid Mr. Mitchell. Samantha and her family have already packed all their belongings and have shipped them to their new home in Germany. All they need to do now is catch the evening plane and they’ll be off to Germany within the day. She had announced her leaving to all her classmates and they gathered around her to wish her goodbye. At least she found a little comfort from her friends; they were at least caring for her leaving.
The time of leaving was almost near. Samantha sat alone in her class thinking about the great time she had with Mr. Mitchell on their so-called match-make date. She remembered every detail of their date together and found it hard to just let it all go just because of her father’s job. She still had the papers with her. She finally got up from her seat and scribbled something on the blackboard before leaving.
Mr. Mitchell was staying back late that evening in school. As he marked the papers, he felt something missing in his heart. He felt the utmost uneasiness inside him, as if he had let go something very important that he had ignored for so long. It was as if he…
He shook his head in denial. He refused to believe it. He refused to admit it. He was a teacher, and he should act like one. That was when he realized that he had left his file in the classroom. He rushed over to get it and was shocked to see the ever familiar scribbling on the blackboard:
I’m sorry about the trouble I’ve caused you, sir, but I still love you no matter where I go or what happens. I’ll miss you. Take care, sir.
Your student,
Samantha Lorne
Mr. Mitchell stared at the scribbling over and over again. He saw the marriage papers still on his desk with his signature still on it. He clenched his fists so hard it was in the verge of cracking. There was someone whom he could spend his whole life together in such happiness and he had forgo her just because he was a teacher and she was a student. There was someone who was willing to do everything for him regardless the consequences and he had let her go just because he thought it was childish. And there was someone he had actually fallen in love with and he had denied her just because he was too blind to see it.
He finally knew what to do.
He grabbed the papers and a stamp. He asked one of his students what time was Samantha’s flight and rushed immediately to the airport. On the way, he kept repeating in his heart, “Please don’t go, Samantha! Please don’t go! I love you, Samantha, I love you!! Don’t go! Don’t leave me!!”
Meanwhile, at the airport, Samantha was in one of her tantrums again. She never wanted to go in the first place, and now she was feeling really bad following her parents to Germany and leaving Mr. Mitchell behind. She wanted to go home. She didn’t want to go to Germany. She didn’t want to go anywhere else but to Mr. Mitchell’s arms.
“I don’t wanna go, Mom, Dad! I wanna stay!!”
“Please be reasonable, pooh-bear. It’s for the best. We can’t leave you here, we have no one here to take of you,” Mr. Lorne tried to coax her out of her tantrum.
“Yes, sweetie. Please stop crying. Germany is not so bad once you get to know it,” Mrs. Lorne agreed, but it didn’t do Samantha any good.
“I wanna go home! I wanna go home!”
“Samantha Lorne!!!”
That voice! That ever familiar voice! How could she not recognize that stern, masculine voice? She rushed to the railings and looked down to the ground floor.
“Mr. Mitchell! You’re here!” Samantha exclaimed in surprise.
“Samantha, come home with me!!” Mr. Mitchell yelled from the ground floor, waving the marriage papers above his head. “A wife as troublesome, as childish and as great as you is the only girl I want to marry!!”
Samantha was touched. He had come all the way from school to the airport just to marry her! He actually agreed to marry her! Out of excitement, she climbed the railing and jumped down towards the ground floor into Mr. Mitchell’s arms. It was a blissful sight to behold.
Mr. Mitchell set the little midget girl down and took out his stamp. He displayed the papers right before Samantha’s eyes and stamped the column where his stamp was needed. He smiled sweetly at Samantha for the first time and asked, “Am I making you happy now?”
“Yes, sir! Oh yes, you made me the happiest little girl alive!” Samantha replied as she hugged Mr. Mitchell lovingly.
Samantha’s parents quickly went downstairs to see what was going on and to check if their pooh-bear was alright. When they caught a glimpse of Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Lorne, for the first time, asked him seriously, “Who are you? What are you doing with my daughter?”
Samantha hid behind her teacher. Mr. Mitchell took a deep breath before showing the papers to him and said, “I’m Mitchell Sherbet, your daughter’s English teacher and I come to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage. I may not be qualified in your eyes and I know she is not eligible to be married until she’s exactly 16 years old, but I can promise you, Mr. Lorne, before that day arrives, I will take good care of her and be responsible in everything that has happened to her!”
That was really a great moment to Samantha as she heard him say every word. She could feel his body slightly trembling and had a feeling that he was as nervous as she was. She begged to God hoping that this might work out.
Fortunately for the both of them, Mr. Lorne took Mr. Mitchell’s hand immediately and exclaimed, “So you’re the Mitchell boy my pooh-bear has been talking about! I knew right from the moment my daughter mentioned you that you are the right guy for my pooh-bear! I’m so glad you’ve asked for her hand in marriage!”
And the rest was pretty much history. Mr. and Mrs. Lorne went without Samantha to Germany and her father promised that he’ll ship back all her belongings to her once he reached there. Samantha soon found herself walking side by side with Mr. Mitchell to his home.
“Are you sure about this, sir?” Samantha was still skeptical.
“Would I be running to the airport for you if I weren’t sure?” Mr. Mitchell asked. Samantha smiled and shook her head. No, he’s never that stupid to do that. Not her Mr. Mitchell.
When Samantha returned to school, she briefly bluffed a little that her parents had got her someone to take care of at the last minute because they didn’t want to waste the fees paid. The reality was that Samantha was living with Mr. Mitchell under one roof.
In the meantime, they were getting ready for the wedding. The wedding clothes were bought (Samantha found out that she had gotten a little fat for some of the dresses) and the wedding spot was picked (Mr. Mitchell wanted it to be a surprise, but Samantha found out quite soon enough). Now last thing they need to do was the traditional bachelor and bachelorette party. Samantha invited some of her closest friends for the party and Mr. Mitchell hung out with his old college mates.
“Serious? You’re actually getting married to Mr. Mitchell?! You lucky girl, you!”
“What charm did you put out him to make him so addicted to you?”
“You must teach me the next time I want to get the guy I want!”
Samantha was showered with compliments. She felt both proud and awkward at all the attention she was getting. The last time she had such an attention was when she won grand prize for the National Art Competition. She’s good in drawing, you know.
Suddenly, the door bell rang. The girls thought it was Mr. Mitchell coming home, but Samantha knew that it wasn’t him; he’d bring the house keys. She went to answer the door and was shocked to see a gang of spunky-looking ladies barging into the house.
“Alright, who’s the wise girl who dares to marry our Mitchie-kins?!”
The leader of the gang looked pretty strong and spunky. Samantha backed away. Her friends have run into hiding moments later. Samantha decided to stand up to them.
“I…I am. Who wants to know?”
The leader took a glance at Samantha’s small built and suddenly guffawed, followed by her members. She pointed a jeering finger at Samantha and exclaimed, “You?! You’re our Mitchell’s wife-to-be?! You gotta be kidding me, little girl! I can see it in your eyes that you’re nothing but a grade-schooler!”
“I’m not a grade-schooler! I’m 15, and next year I’ll be eligible to be married to Mr. Mitchell!”
“Oh yeah? What makes you think you’re eligible to marry him?” one of the members asked scornfully.
“By law and by decree!” Samantha said as she pointed at the signed marriage papers that she and Mr. Mitchell framed and put on the wall as soon as she moved into his humble home. “And the reason that we love each other!”
The leader of the group glared at the framed marriage papers on the wall and her eye twitched in anger. She tore the frame out of the wall and smashed the frame onto the floor. She then took out the papers out of the smashed frame and lit a match on it, letting it burn. Samantha was horrified. This was the only thing that proves that she and Mr. Mitchell is a lawful wedded couple.
She ran towards the burning papers and, with her bare hands, tried to pat the fire away. The leader was horrified.
“You idiot! You’ll get yourself scalded! What are you trying to do?!”
“This is…This is me and Mr. Mitchell’s papers. I can’t let it burn!!! You’re evil!! These are our papers!! How could you?!” Her hand was beginning to hurt in heat, but she didn’t care. She need to get the fire killed.
“What’s going on here?”
Everyone spun round to see Mr. Mitchell and his gang of bachelor friends standing at the doorway, his hands on his waist and his stern eyes glaring at the spunky girls. The girls softened their spunky faces and rushed up to Mr. Mitchell.
“Oh, sweet Mitchell! Please tell me that this immature girl is not the one you’re going to marry. You never used to be like those stuck-to-glue type of guy. Tell me it’s not true,” the whiney voice of the leader made Samantha made her sick.
Mr. Mitchell didn’t reply straight away. He dashed towards Samantha, checking to see if her hands were hurt or anything—obviously it was—and hugged her close to his chest.
“How dare you girls come barging in like that?! If you hurt one more hair of my wife, I swear I’ll call the police!!!”
“Your…Your wife…? I can’t believe it, you’re actually going to marry that midget?!” the leader was stunned.
“This ‘midget’ is my wife and I’m not going to let you hurt her!” Mr. Mitchell glared at the girls with his dark eyes dangerously. The leader hesitated for a while before letting out a sharp breath.
“Fine! If you want to spend your whole life with that little bitch, suit yourself!” she growled before pushing her way through the bachelors and out of the door. Mr. Mitchell tended to Samantha’s hands.
“Silly girl. It’s fire you’re dealing with. Why did you go heroine all over and try to put it out?”
“I had to. She was burning them. It was a symbol of our lawful marriage by decree. I had to…” Samantha was close to tears but Mr. Mitchell had his fingers wiping them.
“Silly little girl. They’re just pieces of paper. We can get another copy. There, there…”
“So! This is the lucky bride I see!” one of the bachelors said as he ruffled Samantha’s dark-brown hair. Everyone had a hearty laugh and the tense atmosphere was released. Samantha’s girlfriends came out of their hiding place and joined in the fun.
Well, all’s well ends well. They got a new copy of marriage papers, reapplied it and resigned it. And just on Samantha’s birthday, they got married at the church. Before they both set out into the procession, Mr. Mitchell went into the waiting and checked on Samantha, who was doing the finishing touch of her outfit.
“Are you done yet?” Mr. Mitchell called out.
“Almost,” Samantha replied. Mr. Mitchell stared in awe at Samantha in her wedding dress, his face blushing like heck.
“You…You are so beautiful…” Mr. Mitchell muttered sheepishly.
“Really?” Samantha asked. She looked at her husband-to-be and said, “Sir…Are you sure you want to do this? I mean…I forced you to take me as your wife…and you could find other girls more suitable than me…”
Mr. Mitchell grinned and replied, “Yeah, you sure are a midget, pretty but not cute, and you are a little extravagantly crazy.”
Samantha pouted, “I should’ve known.”
“But,” Mr. Mitchell said as he raised his bride high above his head and stole a kiss from her rosy lips, “That’s what I like about you, Samantha.”
So, with the vows made and the rings exchanged and the kisses shared and the confetti showered on them and all, they were officially declared husband and wife. It was romantic, more than words can describe.
Cliché as it may sound, I must say that they lived happily ever after.
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