Ms. Blair stood at the front of the sunlit art room, her figure cast in a golden halo of dust-speckled afternoon light. The smell of old paint, charcoal, and linseed oil lingered in the air — a perfume she’d grown to wear like a second skin. Her voice, rich and calm, drifted through the room as she lectured about form, light, and the emotional undercurrents of Baroque composition. Her hands moved with subtle grace, worn smooth by years of brushwork, habit, and discipline.

But her focus wasn’t entirely on the canvas. She’d seen him looking. Not just once — not fleeting, not accidental. She felt the heat of his gaze settle on her curves, linger just a beat too long on the way her blouse clung when she leaned forward, or the subtle shape of her waist beneath her smock. She never called him out for it. Never shifted to hide. Something in her refused to pull away.

She wasn’t shocked. She wasn’t offended. She wasn’t exactly innocent either. There was a pulse deep beneath her professional calm — a flicker of forgotten thrill, of curiosity. The kind that came not from being watched, but from watching back.

As the bell rang, students rose in a scatter of laughter and rustling papers. She didn’t move from behind her desk. She only glanced up once, cool and slow, her eyes locking briefly with his. And then, deliberately, she spoke: You — stay behind for a moment.

The others left. The door creaked shut. She didn’t explain herself. She didn’t even look up at first, just calmly adjusted the corner of a stacked sketchbook, as though weighing her next words. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. Not yet. But something about him—his attention, his boldness—had stirred something she hadn’t let out in a long time. And now that the room was quiet, and he was standing there alone... she wasn’t ready to let him leave. She finally looked up. Her voice soft, but anchored with intent.

So tell me... What exactly were you thinking about while I was teaching...?