Chapter 4 Professor Moo

Kai

I sit frozen in my seat.

My eyes stay locked on the figure in front of the room.

For a second I honestly think I’ve finally gone crazy.

The whole class is settling around me. Bags dropping, chairs scraping, people pulling out notebooks.

Meanwhile, my brain is busy doing something I genuinely cannot understand.

Did the universe finally decide it's time I pay for my sins?

Because seriously…

How?

I sit forward slightly.

He opens his notebook and looks up at the class.

“Good morning.” His voice is the same as I remember it. Quiet. Even.

“I’m Professor Lee. For those of you who haven’t checked your grades from the last assessment I’d suggest doing so before this lecture ends.”

I’m pretty sure I’m the reason he said that.

My gaze still didn’t move.

My eyes follow every movement he makes.

He picks up a marker. Turn to the board then back to the note.

Then he looks up again

His gaze lands on me.

Not the entire row.

Just me.

I give the most annoying smile before I can even stop myself.

The kind Jamie says makes me look punchable.

Great.

Now I look like an idiot.

He holds my gaze for just a second. Then he looks away and continues the lecture as if nothing had happened.

My jaw tightened slightly.

He recognized me.

That pause was not nothing.

But his face gave absolutely nothing away.

The lecture starts properly after that.

He writes three words on the board.

Abnormal. Behaviour. Defined.

“Abnormal psychology,” he says, turning back to face the room, “is not about labelling people. It is about understanding why people think, feel, and behave in ways that cause them or others significant distress.”

He pauses.

“The keyword there is significant. Not different. Significant.”

Someone in the front row is already writing furiously.

I look down at my desk. I don’t even have a notebook.

Fuck that. I don’t need it.

I look back up.

“There are four main criteria we use to define abnormal behavior. He writes them as he speaks. “Deviance. Distress. Dysfunction. Danger.”

He taps each word as he says it.

“Deviance — behaviour that goes against the accepted norms of a given society. Distress — behaviour that causes significant emotional suffering to the individual. Dysfunction — behaviour that interferes with a person’s ability to function in daily life. Danger — behavior that poses a risk to the individual or to others.”

He turns back to the room.

“These four criteria do not work in isolation. A person can be deviant without being distressed. A person can be distressed without being dangerous. Context matters. Always.”

I’m staring at his mouth.

Not in a weird way.

I’m not some obsessed psycho.

The way he talks is different from any professor I’ve ever tried —and failed— to pay attention to. And the way his voice sounds….

Okay, maybe I’m an obsessed psycho.

I glance around the room. A girl directly beside me turns slightly and I catch her looking at me from the corner of her eye. When I glance over she looks away immediately and focuses very hard on her notebook.

Focus on the professor.

Yeah right. I wouldn’t be paying attention either if not for the fact that I met him a few days ago.

Or maybe i might have. But for the wrong reasons.

My brain now feels like it’s lagging just by trying to hold three completely separate things at the same time.

How did I meet three versions of a person in less than a week?

First, my ex-girlfriend's mystery man.

Secondly, the man who made me cum in just a few minutes.

Which is already embarrassing considering it was all in my head made it worse.

Wait.

Does that make me a pervert?

Shit.

Thirdly, the professor who gave me an F.

Did the universe suddenly made me the main character?

When the lecture ends I don’t move immediately.

I watch him close his notebook and start gathering his things.

Okay. I need to talk to him. I mean that’s why I’m even here.

I need to figure out what my options are, and get out. Simple.

I stand up and start making my way toward the front.

I’m about halfway there when he picks up his bag and heads straight for the door.

I move faster.

“Excuse me…” I say.

“Kai!”

A girl steps directly into my path with a smile that takes up most of her face. Another one appears beside her almost immediately, as if they were waiting.

“Oh my god, you’re actually in this class.” The first one says like it’s something incredible.

Please, for the love of God, move.

“We’ve literally never seen you in a lecture before. Like ever.”

“I’ve been here,” I say, already looking past her toward the door.

“You have not.” She laughs. “I would have noticed.”

He’s already stepping through the door.

Now gone.

Fuck.

“Right yeah” I step sideways slightly.

The second girl moves with me blocking my path again. “Are you coming to the thing on Friday? Because Jamie said…”

Jamie?

Of course, that bastard is always saying things.

Never tell Jamie a secret without actually telling him it is a secret or the whole campus will know about it.

“Friday yeah maybe,” I say laughing. “Sorry…excuse me one second.”

I break away from them as politely as I can manage, which probably isn’t very polite, and push through the remaining people toward the door.

I step into the corridor and look left.

Then right.

The hallway is full of students moving in every direction and I can’t see him anywhere.

A girl passing slows slightly when she sees my face. “Hey Kai. You alright?”

“Yeah.” I look down the corridor again. “The professor from this room… did you see which way he went?”

“I think toward the staff bathrooms? Down that way.” She points left.

“Oh thank you, sweetheart.”

Mwah.

I press a quick kiss to her cheek and keep moving.

“You’re….wel…come.”

I follow the corridor down, past a row of notice boards covered in flyers and a couple of students lingering outside another lecture room.

At the end of the hall, I spot a plain door marked STAFF ONLY.

I push it open and walk in.

The room is quiet except for the sound of the running water.

Then I see him.

Standing at the sink with his jacket folded over one arm and glasses slightly pushed up as he splashes water on his face.

His eyes move toward me.

I let out a slow breath.

“Hi. Professor…”

I can swear I heard his name earlier. What was it?

Min? Lu? Kim?

I say the next thing that comes to mind without even thinking.

“Professor Moo.”

He straightens slowly, reaches for the paper towel and dries his hands. Slowly.

Then he turns around and looks at me.

“My name,” he says quietly, “is Professor Lee.”

I smile.

“Yeah.” I let the door close behind me. “I know.”

For the first time since we met, something that looks close to annoyance flashes across his face.

Somehow that makes me smile even wider.