The lecture hall was now quiet.

It was only a few minutes ago that the hall was filled with students, all intrigued not with what the rest of the year in chemistry has to offer but rather, the situation that these students were graced with the presence of their new professor, Irene.

Irene sighs as she recalls her students, mainly the male students as they seem to be distracted by her beauty and were not focused on her teachings. It made her feel somewhat overwhelmed that she even doubted her ability to teach, but with a slight glimpse of positivity in her mind, she was hoping as the year progresses that the very first batch of students she is teaching are all going to graduate with flying colours, which is reflective of her skill and knowledge.

“Don’t worry Irene…its just first day jitters. You’re over thinking…” Irene whispers to herself.

She eventually sets out of the lecture with her books, laptop and some paperwork in tow towards her new office where she will be residing. She comes face-to-face with a building which has the large inscription of ‘Department of Biological and Physical Sciences' above the oak doors, causing her to feel a sense of gratitude and excitement. It was all she had wished for. Ever since she was a child, Irene always wanted to teach and help others, then she developed her love for chemistry. She was fascinated by how molecules worked and reacted with each other, especially how relevant it was in nature. She loves nature. Being out in the wilderness and appreciating it’s beauty was a great past time of hers.

She proceeds through the oak doors, walking through its corridor then eventually settling inside an office which had her name out in the front. She starts unpacking the boxes she took from her car earlier, taking out a picture frame of her family, some postcards she had collected during her travels around Europe and a bonsai tree for a sign of good luck. She plops down on her seat and pulls out her phone to call Wendy.

“Yooo Joohyun!...I mean its Professor Irene now hahaha! What’s up?” Wendy asks as soon as she picks up.

“Hahaha Seungwan-ah! Nothing, just wanted to talk.”

“How was your first lecture class? Bad? Good?”

“It was good but I felt nervous though and I feel like my class is distracted…”

“If it’s by your beauty, don’t be. They should be lucky they have been graced by a goddess!”

“Stop that I’m not a goddess…”

“Its true though, when are you going to accept the fact and I mean…the FACT that is the case? Even more so when your students find out that you’re a model as well…”

“Oh crap I forgot about that! Is there a way they cannot know? I mean, it would be awkward if I see some of my students ogling at my modelling photos.”

“Girl its inevitable! They’re going to find out one way or another anyway so just embrace it! If I had a face like yours, I’d flaunt it everywhere I go!”

“Well thank god you don’t have my face then.”

“You savage…”

“Hahaha jokes! But I’m hoping my students take more care in their studies rather than how I look…”

“Well who said you can only be pretty without a brain? No one. Just be confident and trust yourself okay? You’ve worked hard for this remember? We need to celebrate this milestone of yours I’ll shout you dinner tonight! But also, we need to discuss matters about your modelling schedule for the month ahead.”

“Sounds good I’ll see you tonight then!”

Irene leans back into her seat and sighs, feeling glad that her first day was a success and she could now focus on preparing for the lab lesson on Wednesday. A sudden knock on her door snaps her back to the present.

“Yes…Please come in.”

“Hi Professor Irene, I’m Suho. A professor from another department just wanted to say hi and ask how was your first day.” Suho asks while flashing a friendly smile.

“Oh hi Suho nice to meet you. It was good, was nervous but glad its over now and I’m just preparing for my next class.”

“Great! Seems like you’re pretty well settled then. Uhhh….Also just wanted to offer if you’d like to have lunch sometime soon? It would be great to get to know you more?”

Irene was somewhat shocked at how forward Suho was, already asking her to have lunch with him within the first 5 minutes of meeting each other. But, she also thought maybe he was just being a nice colleague and maybe becoming friends with him would ease her into the life of being a professor. Or even perhaps, he was just interested in her beauty. She had developed somewhat an “allergy” to men. Her first and last boyfriend dumped her simply because he couldn’t understand why she was so focused on becoming a professor, rather than focusing on him. She thought he would support her dreams, but it was all a façade as his ego got the best of him and wanted Irene to be his future stay-at-home wife, but that didn’t sit well with her. She had always been an ambitious person, but it hurt her when he left her regardless.

“Ahhh…sure I’ll let you know when I’m free then.”

“Great I’ll see you around Irene.”

As Suho left, she proceeded to organise her office. Lining up her encyclopaedias on natural sciences and textbooks on chemistry on the bookshelf, then organising her laptop, stationary and other office supplies on her desk. She sets her handbag on her desk looking for her phone charger when her handkerchief falls out, she proceeds to pick it up and looks at it for a while. Her thoughts immediately go to Seulgi, where she first met her at the café. She remembers how cute Seulgi looked in her thin-framed glasses while her hair was in bun, as well as noticing the eye-smile she had given her when she gave back the current handkerchief in her hands. As well as the incident this morning when Seulgi was late to class, panting from exhaustion. She smiles at the thoughts, but immediately snaps back to reality when she realises she’s fantasizing about one of her students.

What the heck Joohyun? You just didn’t daydream about one of your student’s did you?!

The thought scared Irene that she immediately put the handkerchief back in her bag and proceeded to charge her phone.

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On Wednesday…

It’s the day of the lab class and everyone is pouring into the laboratory. Irene does a headcount and checks if everyone has brought their lab equipment with them such as their lab coats and lab glasses. She conducts an introduction for the lesson, explaining that this experiment