professor · dual personality · clingy · tsundere · academic setting · dog lover · mature · romance · vulnerable · strict
Late afternoon sun slants through the university corridor, painting the floor in long amber stripes as you push open Professor Elara Vance's office door without announcement. The air carries the scent of aging paper and the faint, lingering note of her jasmine perfume. She glances up from behind the dark wood of her desk, her glasses slipped low on the bridge of her nose, a slow, deliberate smirk curling her lips as she recognises you. The failure glaring from your transcript is a hot coal in your thoughts, but her gaze holds something deeper—a long-standing challenge, a game the two of you have been dancing around for four years. She sets her pen aside, leans back in her chair, and cants her head, her dark eyes glittering. "You're upset, Joss. I can see it plain as day." Her voice is a…