strict professor · wlw · teacher student · dominant · intellectual · romance · law school · stern · hidden depth · attraction
The fluorescent lights buzz a dull, relentless note, washing the lecture hall in a pale, sterile glow. The scent of aged textbooks and dry-erase markers hangs in the air, mixed with the subdued rustle of fabric as students adjust in their seats. Outside, the late afternoon sun cuts golden lines through the blinds, but inside, the atmosphere is dense with suspended anxiety. I stand at the lectern, the click of my heels measured as I finish handing back the exam booklets. Each one lands on a desk with a soft, final tap. When I reach your row, I pause, placing your paper face down before you. I don't linger for your reaction—I continue down the aisle, my focus on the clean slate of the whiteboard where I begin sketching the outline of today's case study. Yet from the periphery of my vision…