“Why are you covering your eyes, Tae?”

“It would be impolite of me to stare while you let the music wash over your skin.”

“Oh, don’t be silly.” Professor T slid off the desk and marched to Professor Tae. “It’s alright for you to watch. In fact, I would be thrilled if you watch.” Pulling Professor Tae’s hands down, Professor T bent low and smiled into the woman’s soft, brown eyes. “Make sure you’re watching . . .”

Professor Tae nodded, still mute, and Professor T strutted back to the desk and hoisted her bum back up on it. “Now, watch me. Blink and you’ll miss it.”

“I-I won’t.”

Professor T purred and closed her eyes. “Oh, the piano keys are decadent to my ears. Oh . . .” 

“The simplicity is what makes it even richer, isn’t it? Bare and simple. It plays on your ears like—oh my goodness, Professor T, what—”

Without opening her eyes, Professor T rolled onto her tummy and propped her head up on her hands. The movement pushed some books and stationery off the table, causing a slight ruckus, and she opened her eyes but remained unperturbed.

“Don’t,” she said to Professor Tae when the woman rushed forward to pick the fallen objects. “Let them be. It is a natural state. It is the splash of desire, the explosion of passion.”

“But—”

“Feel this. Oh,” she rolled over and purred again. “so, so good. The notes are running all over my skin.” Two buttons barely held her shirt together and she was rubbing her palms all over her body, pushing her camisole up to feel real skin. “Oh, oh, oh. This is almost too much. Too much . . . opus . . .”

“Too much opus?” asked Professor Tae. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. I’m not the music professor here. I just feel things. This music is .”

“I’m not sure if this is the desired effect. The romance in this piece is supposed to be—”

“Shh,” Professor T put her finger on her lips, “you’re talking too much. You’re thinking too much. What is music without interpretation? I am interpreting it now. It is running over my skin and I am feeling—oh, my . . . oh my g—”

“Professor T! Are you alright?” Professor Tae rushed forward, a look of concern etched on her face.

“Oh . . . mmm . . . that was so . . . good . . .”

“What just happened?”

Professor T smiled as she rolled onto her side and posed like a mermaid princess. “That, dear Professor Tae, is what I call an implosion of passion.”

“An implosion of passion?”

“Mhm,” Professor T nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face. “In a nutshell, an .”

“An ?” Professor Tae’s eyes looked like they were ready to pop out onto the floor.

“I hope you’ve experienced one before. It is one of life’s greatest experiences.”

“I . . .”

Professor T gasped and got off the table at once. “Have you never had one?”

Professor Tae blinked furiously like emergency lights in an emergency. “I . . . er . . .”

“This absolutely will not do.” Professor T straightened her shirt out and turned to the door. “I must help you. Wait here.” She strode the three steps it took to reach her office and retrieved her copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover from her desk. Then she headed straight back to Professor Tae’s office and put the book in her hands. “Read this.”

“Read this?” Professor Tae stared at the book for a moment before meeting Professor T’s eyes again. “But why?”

“This is one of the greatest books ever written.” Turning the book to a page she was most familiar with, Professor T said, “For the best experience, read the book from start to end. But if you want a bite-sized piece of the experience D.H. Lawrence is offering you, read this chapter. You’ll thank me for it, just as I am thanking you for introducing me to Romance Opus 28 No. 2.”

~z

A few days later, Professor T was on her way back from yet another passionate lecture when she ran into Professor Tae along the corridor again.

“Hi, Tae,” she greeted, wearing a big warm smile. But her smile faded when Professor Tae turned around and walked away instead. “Professor Tae, where are you going?”

Professor Tae continued walking away without a reply. Professor T was puzzled but shrugged it off and went about her business for the day. However, after a few more times of this strange behaviour, Professor T was unable to shrug it off anymore. So the next time it happened, she turned and gave chase. 

Upon realizing that Professor T was coming for her, Professor Tae started to run. Refusing to give up, Professor T ran too. Round the corner, down the corridor, up the stairs, round and round, until Professor Tae came to a dead end. Or rather, a wide open space with nowhere else to run—the rooftop.

“You can’t run away from me now, Professor Tae. No more escape for you.” Professor T advanced on the woman, taking wide strides to close the distance between them. “You’ll have to explain why you’ve been avoiding me like the plague.”

Professor Tae shook her head with vigour. “No.”

“No, you’re not explaining?”

“No, I’m not avoiding you.”

“That’s ridiculous. You’re obviously avoiding me.”

“I’m not avoiding you. I’m distancing myself from you.”

Professor T flung her arms in the air. “How is that any different?”

“The reasons are different. Avoiding you suggests I am doing something wrong and afraid to face you. I have not done anything wrong and I’m not afraid to face you. I am distancing myself from you because you are a bad influence on me.”

“What did you just say?”

“You are a bad influence on me.”

“What—” Professor T’s eyes narrowed as her mind worked fast. “Who did you have a talk with? Was it Dean Kwon?” Flames of anger rose within when Professor Tae nodded and she clenched her fists. “Let me tell you what an old stick-in-the-mud Dean Kwon is.”

“I didn’t talk to anyone.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. But I read the book you recommended.”

“And?”

“I came to the conclusion that you are a bad influence.”

“Because of the book?”

Professor Tae nodded, her gaze serious and solemn.

“What’s wrong with the book? It’s a masterpiece.”

“It was all about Lady Chatterley’s ual acts and s.”

“Well, yes. She did have many s. But that’s not the point. Didn’t you read about her passion? Her pleasures were abounding, overflowing. She was attuned to her needs, her desires.” Professor T paused as she shivered with delight. “Absolutely fabulous.”

“But now I can’t stop thinking about those scenes and—”

“That’s wonderful!” Professor T exclaimed, beaming from ear to ear.

“No, it isn’t. My conscience is troubled.”

“Your conscience?” Professor T rolled her eyes so far back they almost turned completely white. “Life’s too short to be stuffy. Free your senses. Live in the moment. Feel the life flowing through you.” Flinging her arms out, Professor T flashed her widest grin at Professor Tae. “Feel it. It’s in your blood.”

“No, no, no. It’s all going wrong—”

Professor T pressed a finger on Professor Tae’s lips. “Shh. Let me show you what’s right.”

“W-Where are you bringing me to?”

With an arm around Professor Tae’s waist, Professor T held her close and smiled. “My office.”

“Er . . . I should go back to my office and prepare for next week’s lecture.”

Professor Tae tried to turn away but Professor T held on to her waist and tugged her even closer. “Not so fast. Come with me.”

“B-But I’m busy.”

“You have something more important to do and  experience.”

“What is it?”

“Make a guess.”

“H-Happiness?”

“Uh uh,” Professor T said with a slow grin. “Guess again.”

“Contentment?”

“I’m bad at guessing. Please tell me what it is.”

The slow grin realized its full potential as Professor T brought her lips to Professor Tae’s ear and whispered, “An .”

~z