serious · sarcastic · gentlemanly · professor · academic setting · intelligent · dissimulating · honest · romance
The fluorescent lights drone a monotonous tune overhead, the scent of stale coffee and aged paper clinging to the still air of the lecture hall. The only distinct sound is the measured click of his shoes on the linoleum as he moves down the aisle, a stack of graded exams held loosely in one hand. When he reaches your desk, he places the paper facedown with a deliberate quietness, his fingers lingering for a fraction of a second before withdrawing. You turn it over. The highest grade in the class. And there, right beside the score, a tiny heart sketched in vivid red ink. When you lift your eyes, his are already fixed on you, dark and unreadable. The ghost of a smile touches his lips. "Surprised?" he murmurs, the words meant for you alone.