"I am so impulsive to a fault, I want the opposite of what I got. The second I get bored, I switch it up. Makin' bad decisions based on temporary thoughts." —Bea Millier.

"Yaay, thank you! I definitely won't disappoint you."

Nikolai reclines in his leather seat, lifting his hand and staring at the palm that Kelly had impulsively held earlier. The incident had been long gone for over two hours now, yet strangely, he is still unable to forget about it. For whatever weird reason there is.

Her hand was so soft and small, fitting perfectly inside his like a custom-made glove. Somewhere inside the hidden parts of his mind, he probably liked it a bit more than he'd like to let on.

Coming to his senses, he shakes his head and sits upright in his chair, deciding to keep himself productive. After all, he is too much of a busy man to be sitting here thinking about something that minor.

As he grabs a file from his desk, there is a light knock on his office door. The sound was indistinct as if the individual was hesitant, but being a man of sharp earring, Mr. Todd never misses even the drop of a pin.

"Enter."

The door doesn't open after a few seconds, and in place of that, he hears two feminine voices bickering at the doorway. Adding to the fact that he's a good listener, the walls of the room are terribly thin which makes it easier for him to make out every syllable that rolls of their tongues.

"Go first!"

"No, I am scared...he's rough."

"You're the one who has a crush on him, just go ask him, Freya!"

"Please come with me."

He continues to organize a batch of files on his desk until the girls beyond the door solve their palaver. Finally, the door slowly cracks open—unassertively. He brings his eyes in the direction as the two female students enter the room quite timidly, one nudging the other ahead while she fiddles with her skirt.

It isn't foreign for the young instructor to experience something like this. He has been working at this institution for almost three years, and girls have openly attempted to throw themselves at him—half of the times he pretends not to notice, and the remnant moments when it has become too forward, he would politely inform them that their attitude is inappropriate. Having a father who is a military officer has made him an inevitable rule abider, hence, showcasing amatory feelings for his students and coworkers has never been his nature. Work should be work, and pleasure should be pleasure. He doesn't believe in mixing the two.

"Can I help you?" He speaks first when he notices that the two girls are just pinching each other in the sides concurrently.

"Um-yes...my name is F-Freya. You have me for history on Thursdays." The redhead girl with braces introduces herself, her words stumbling over each other as they leave her mouth.

Nikolai attempts to think back until the face finally rings a bell. He has her in room T91 on Thursdays, and she sits at the corner to the left. "Oh. Hi. What is it?"

Her friend pokes her again, and having had enough of the abuse, she gives her an annoyed glare before looking back at him. "I-I was wondering...if you could be my tutor for the Tutoring Program?"

Mr. Todd leans back in his chair with a sigh, tapping his slim fingers against his desk. "I am sorry, I am already booked for another student."

He watches as her face falls visibly. "Oh."

"I am sure Ms. Cater or Mr. Leon is available. Would you like me to ask them for you?" He offers, but she quickly shakes her head, obviously not wanting anyone else but him to teach her.

"I am fine. Thank you for your time," she mutters and with a face of disappointment, she turns away and leaves the room with her friend.

He watches as they close the door after them, then gets up from his desk to make himself some coffee from the machine in the room. He prepares a half cup of Espresso and walks over to the window, pulling back the blinds and peering down at the fields where students are currently having their Physical Education session. As he quietly sips the liquid, he makes out a familiar built from the group of students. Kelly.

The mug freezes at his mouth as he watches her. She's wearing the school's white jersey with the green pleated skirt, hers looking a tad shorter due to her thick thighs and generous rear. She's wiping her forehead with the back of her hand after throwing down a net of white balls, bracing her waists as she blows her cheeks out tiredly.

And then she shifts her head and looks up to where his office is. Nikolai doesn't move an inch, the cup still positioned to his lips as he stares at her confidently. When Kelly catches his gaze, her eyes grow wide as she swings her back to him. His lips tug in a faint smile at this as he shakes his head and sips his coffee.

The door to his office opens, and his brows knit in offense as he looks in the direction. But when he notices that it's Mr. Leon, the lines in his forehead smooths out.

"I was wondering who entered my territory without knocking." He says, and his colleague laughs, stuffing his glasses into the top pocket of his white dress shirt.

"Woah, you have a nice view up here. What are you looking at?" Leon comes to stand next to him, peering down at the field where the group is now being lectured by the school's coach.

"What's that, year 12?"

"Mm." Mr. Todd takes a drink from his cup, his eyes losing Kelly, but finding her back in a blink as she goes to stand next to Derrick.

"They are about 18, 19 right?"

Nikolai freezes, corner-eyeing his acquaintance.

"That means they aren't far from twenty-five. Mm. The girls look mature in those little mini skirts." And Leon laughs.

"Aren't you a soon-to-be-married man?" Mr. Todd closes the blinds, putting an end to his friend's lustful scrutiny as he crashes in his seat and rests his cup on his desk.

"Don't remind me. I don't know why my dad is forcing me to marry that stuck-up, girl." He leans on the ridge of the table. "I get that he wants to secure that stupid proposal with her father but come on, the girl spent the entire evening yesterday talking about her fashion collection. It was annoying as fuck."

Nikolai's cellphone buzzes from his pocket and he eases up to redeem it as he smiles at his co-worker's complaint. "Imagine your father forcing you to pursue an occupation that you hate."

"Still better than hearing about heels and handbags."

"Your dad?" Leon asks him, and he shakes his head.

"Ikaya."

The chemistry teacher's face pipes up, and Nikolai shakes his head again, stopping his thoughts in their tracks.

"We are still friends, so take that out of your head." He fans him off.

Leon laughs. "What was I thinking?"

"I know you by now."

"Alright be honest with me, Nik. Are you sure you both aren't dating? I mean, you're her first love, and she's a pretty woman. You guys can't be just friends."

"She's my childhood friend. We are just friends."

"With benefits." Leon chuckles.

"Not everyone thinks with their penis like you, Leon." He holds back a smirk as he exits Ikaya's chat, and his friend laughs.

"Ain't no danger in that. Sex is life."

"Don't you have a class to teach?" Nikolai glances at his watch. "I am sure you have 9th-grade chemistry at this time."

"I gave them some questions to do from the textbook; I'm going to go check on them." He eases off the table and advances toward the door. "I wish I could spy on cute adolescents from my window as you can!"

"Starting to think you have the potential to become a pedophile." Nikolai retorts, and Leon chuckles toothily as he shuts the door after him.

••

Kelly spent the remainder of the day ruminating on the fact that Mr. Todd had seen her in the hideous skirt at Physical Education class. How long had he been standing at his window? And did she do anything that could be deemed as embarrassing during the time he had been looking? She strains her brain cells to think back.

When she is unable to fetch the memories, she groans and presses her head against her arms in defeat. She knew that with his office being in a bird's view of the field, she was bound to experience something like this.

"You alright?" Derrick spares her a glance from the FIFA game he's absorbingly playing on his cellphone.

"No..." She moans, pressing her cheek against the desk and staring over at him. "Derrick. How did I look in P.E class today?"

"What do you mean?" His vision is affixed on the device, and Kelly doubts he's hearing a word she's saying.

"I mean...did I look hideous in my sportswear? Or at any time at all?"

"Mm. Nope. You seemed fine—fuck, I almost shot a goal."

"Are you sure? D-did my legs look fine too?"

Derrick swiftly glances at her thighs before looking back at the screen. "Yeah, there is nothing wrong with your legs—eat that, asshole."

She smiles in relief. Thank God!

"Except you did look a bit weird when you were doing the laps around the field." He lets out a faint laugh, and Kelly feels her heart crashing to the floor.

"W-what?!" She yells.

Ms. Roster—their Information Technology teacher—narrows her eyes at the outburst as she glares at her chidingly from behind her desk. "Young, you should be reading the notes on the history of social media from the webpage I gave you."

"Y-yes, I am." Kelly sits up and scrambles for her cellphone from the table. "I was actually saying 'what' because I had no idea this was the man who created Facebook, I thought it was someone else. Quite shocking, you know."

The middle-aged instructor shakes her head at the falsity as she drifts her orbs to Derrick.

"I hope you are reading the notes as well, Mr. Winter."

"Yes, yes I am." He lies, and the teacher sighs in distress before returning her gaze to the book she's looking into.

Kelly looks over at Derrick as he continues to play his game. Her bitterness propels her to reach over and rub her palm all over his screen, causing the tab to close and ruining his entire game. He curses under his breath as she laughs hard, covering her face with a hand to stifle the sound.

"You're dead meat." He whispers, and she bites her lip to suppress her snickering.

"I won't be the only one suffering." She beams at him sweetly.

The bell goes off instantly, and her smile slips as her heart lurches in her chest. She has tutoring right now with Mr. Todd.

Her mother had responded faster than an ambulance when she had told her about the tutoring program. She sent the money to the school without complaint, and this is due mainly to the fact that she wants her to do better this year. She would do anything to ensure that Kelly wears that graduating gown this time around.

"See you guys next week." Ms. Roster leaves the class in a flash as if the room has just been infested by plagues.

"I have my tutoring this evening, text me later, alright?" Kelly tells Derrick, and he blindly nods his head, too absorbed in his cellphone to offer her a proper goodbye.

He reminds her so much of Kevin.

Crinkling her button nose, she shoots him two playful stink eyes before making her way out of the classroom.

••

A flood of apprehension surges through her veins as she traverses down the narrow hallway to get to Mr. Todd's office.

She can't understand why she's so scared of the man. But maybe it's the spine-chilling way he tends to look at people. Her especially. He claimed he doesn't hate her; he just hates her attitude toward her academics, but since the moment she met him he has done nothing much to prove that theory correct. Her mere presence seems to annoy him, reference being how often he'd pinpoint her in class for speaking even when everyone else is talking above her.

Standing at his door, she shuffles on her feet and blows her cheeks out before finally raising her fist and gently knocking.

"Enter." The cold response of her tutor comes from the inside, and her body becomes just as frigid as his tone.

She encloses her fingers around the knob and pushes the door open, stepping inside the clean office as he looks up from his desk.

Gripping the straps of her bag, she awkwardly swings in her stance as he breaks eye-contact to glance down at the time on his computer.

"You're here early, Ms. Young."

"Am I?" She looks down at her wristwatch to confirm his statement, realizing that he had said four, but it's only two-thirty. Embarrassment pitches its tent in her stomach as she takes an awkward step back.

"Oh-ah totally forgot." She bites her lip hard and turns away to leave when the sound of screeching metal resonates in the room. She hears footsteps behind her and turns around to see Mr. Todd approaching her.

For some strange reason, she remembers the erotic dream and takes a quick step backward.

"It's alright. We can begin." He says, reaching a hand around her to close the door. She looks up into his face that is just inches above hers, feeling like nothing but an ant below him. Today the faint stubble below his nose is a little brighter, and she identifies a different scent on him as if he switched his perfume choice. She liked the first fragrance, but this one is glorious.

When he drops his eyes to hers, it happened so suddenly that she couldn't look away in time, resorting to blinking her eyes awkwardly.

This feels a lot like the dream. That's what she thinks. They were the only ones in that classroom at the time, and he had been standing this close to her; barely any distance separating their bodies. The closeness gave her flutters in her stomach which is exactly what's happening to her right now. She feels flustered and nervous—around the man whom she is supposed to hate.

Bend over the desk and let me spank you.

Nikolai suddenly raises his hand toward her and she presses her back against the door. "M-mr. Todd—"

"There is a piece of lint in your hair." He says, lifting the small cotton boll he took from the red scrunchies securing her strands.

"Oh..." She drops her gaze to his shoes.

"How will we work together if you're this scared of me?" She hears him ask, and looks up to meet his gaze. It is piercing and intense, a tad intimidating but she has gotten more fearful gazes from him before.

"I am not scared of you."

"Really?"

"Yes..."

He steps a bit closer to her, perhaps to test her theory, and she fights the impulse to move away.

"Don't move away then. Whenever we talk, don't run away." He says simply, vaguely inching his head to the side. "I'll try not to be rough..." He slips one hand into his pocket. "If you try to pay attention and not space out."

"Okay, sir..." She looks down at the floor, missing a faint pull of his lips as he turns away. "Come have a seat at my desk."

Gathering herself, she eases up from the door and makes her way over to a plastic chair sitting at the side of his table. She swings her bag into her lap and occupies the seat provided while he crashes in his with a sigh.

"How are your knees?" He checks.

She glances down at the brown band-aids covering the scrapes. "It doesn't hurt much."

He puts a hand inside his vest, reaching for something from the top pocket of his dress shirt, then he slides a pad of six band-aids across to her. "Dress it and use those when you get home."

She stares at it for a while, her face getting red at the small gesture of care. She grabs it from the desk and slips it into the pocket of her school blouse. "Thank you."

"We are starting with history." He slides a stack of books to the side of his table, looking over at her as he tugs out his desk drawer. "Take out your exercise book and the textbook for the term."

She unzips her bag, then slumps her shoulders timidly. "I don't have my history book with me today."

Mr. Todd is already annoyed as he presses his lips together. "Okay. Well, which books do you have with you today?"

"Mm...English, Information Technology—"

"I.T then." He says, and she quickly takes her notebook from her bag and places it on the desk.

"Can I see a copy of your I.T syllabus?" He begins to type on his keyboard, and Kelly sighs when she realizes that she doesn't have that with her either. Fearing that it may trigger a rough reaction, she leans forward slightly.

"Um, I don't have that with me either."

He swings his head toward her, and she sinks in her seat. "Didn't your teacher tell you to take that with you every day?"

"Y-yeah, but—"

"But what?" He rotates his chair to face her, coiling a leg over the other and revealing his dark grey sock. "Mm?"

"I sometimes forget to pack everything in the mornings." She confesses. "I wake up a little late."

"And what causes you to wake up late in the mornings?" He questions promptly. "Getting lost in your dreams about being spanked?"

Her heart almost flies through her mouth as her eyes grow wide. Mr. Todd fights off a simper as he grabs a book from his desk. "Yes, Ms. Young, I heard what you said this morning."

She swallows hard. "It-it's really not like that."

"Like what?" He tilts his head.

"I-I didn't..." She has no idea of what to say, so she presses her lips together as he opens the book he's holding and rests it on the desk.

"Forget about that for now. Let's start with our session."

For now? She hopes he never brings that up ever again. It is freaking embarrassing.

Instantly, his cell begins to ring from his desk, and he takes it up and swipes the answer icon, pressing it to his ear. "Nikolai Todd."

Kelly watches as his expression shifts from attentiveness to annoyance. After a while, he blows out a sigh and hangs up before looking back at her.

"I have to pick my niece up from school. So we have to do the study session at my house instead."

"Your house...?" Kelly looks up at him as he stands from his chair.

He looks down at her as he unfolds his sleeves, fixing them down to his wrists. "Something wrong?"

"Um...No-not at all—"

"I don't normally let people at my home, but I have no choice. Call your mom and let her know."