Catch 22 - JJK (21+)

Chapter 32 - Surreptitious

ARIA

After spending every day of my winter break with Jungkook, I'd finally come to grips with the fact that I was not only in a full blown, surreptitious affair with one of my students, but I'd fallen madly, deeply and soulfully in love with him.

Maybe I was being reckless and stupid, but I no longer cared that there were people who would judge the purest, most heartfelt connection I'd ever shared with another human being as wrong, unethical or illicit. In only a few short weeks, that student had become the center of my universe, and nothing outside of him, outside of us, mattered anymore.

All that extended time I'd had alone with Jungkook allowed me to see our relationship for what it truly was, rather than how society would label it. Also, our romantic getaway in Busan had given me an unforgettable glimpse of what our life could actually look like together if we were able to live our lives openly without fear of being caught like we were doing something illegal.

Being thirty-two stories high above the world with the man I loved by my side, temporarily free from the confines of our complex reality, felt utterly transcendent. A part of me wished we could stay in Busan and live happily ever after in that magical fairytale land beyond the clouds. But unfortunately, leaving the lives we once knew behind forever wasn't an option. It was only a matter of time before we were back in Seoul, back in class, and back to real life with that goddamned line of propriety drawn between us once again.

"Okay, class, as you continue to prepare for your finals, please keep in mind that trying to cram months of information into your brain hoping to remember it all during your exam will not serve you. You will need to find more effective ways to retain all the information you've learned over the past few months."

I paced the floor as I spoke, pausing in front of a student with her hand in the air. "Yes, Ms. Park?"

"Will you be giving us a study guide for the exam, Dr. Taylor?"

"No ma'am, I will not. Constructing a study guide for yourself will benefit you more than me providing one for you. I've given each of you an outline of what you can expect on the exam, and we will spend today and Thursday reviewing and discussing all you will need to know, so you'll be equipped to create your own study guides, concept maps, and practice tests. Afterwards, should you have any further questions about what we've covered, I'll be happy to answer them for you."

"Thank you, Dr. Taylor."

"Of course," I nodded with a smile.

Before I began pacing again, my eyes landed on my boyfriend with his long legs stretched out in front of him. He was wearing his glasses today, which always made him look adorably studious and dangerously hot all at the same damn time. His tongue glided ever so smoothly over his lips as he appraised every inch of my body before slowly tilting his head to one side and eye-fucking me into oblivion from across the room.

It didn't matter how hard I tried to purposely avoid Jungkook's penetrating stares in class, I'd always fail. My eyes, as well as every other part of my anatomy, were instinctively drawn to him.  Whenever we'd lock gazes, it felt as if my entire world would stop turning for those few seconds, and I'd be whisked away to some sort of alternate universe where only he and I existed.

"Uhh... Dr. T? What about sites like Cliffs Notes and Sparknotes? Can we use those to help us study, too?" Another student blurted out, probably because I was too preoccupied with my own thoughts to acknowledge his raised hand. Snapping out of my trance, I made my way back across the front of the room and perched on the edge of my desk feeling feverish and too weak-kneed to stand. I searched for a folder or book or anything I could use to fan my flushed, heated skin.