IRynSky
She didn't know when it started. One day he was just Sir - the new literature teacher she stayed back after class to discuss books with, the one she walked home with after school because they lived the same way. And then suddenly, every time he looked at her, her heart was too loud.
So she started hiding. Ignoring his questions in class, running out during break, taking the long way home. She thought if she kept her distance, the feeling would fade.
He noticed instantly. The quiet girl from the corner who used to look at him with those same gentle, innocent, pure eyes was now avoiding him at all costs.
What she didn't know was - he had seen those eyes long before he ever became her teacher.
One late evening, months ago, before he joined the school, he had met a girl at the bus stop, helping an old vendor in the rain. He didn't get her name, but he never forgot her expression. He wished to see her again. Until his first day as a teacher, when he walked into the classroom and saw her - sitting in the corner, staring at him with that exact same look.
He had been carrying a quiet feeling for her since that evening, before she even knew what she felt.
Now that she was pulling away, he couldn't hold it back anymore. After school, he stops her in the empty hallway.
"You're avoiding me," he says, not as a teacher, but as someone worried. "Please don't. If I did something wrong, tell me. Just don't ignore me."
And she stands there, heart pounding, saying "It's nothing," still hiding everything - not knowing he was already falling for her long before she fell for him.