During break, I SnapChatted my online GF: Missing you, babe
The whole class screamed. I looked up to see a message pop up on the professor’s screen, right where his contact info was.
Holy crap, it was the exact same message I’d sent! And the sender’s name was ‘Babe’?
The professor gave a doting smile. “Oops, you saw that. Keep it a secret for your professor, alright?”
I stared at Professor Liam Reynolds, who was still on the podium, engrossed in his phone, completely stunned.
Just as I was reeling, my phone buzzed with a new message: “Missing you too.”
No way! I just started an online fling with a gaming buddy because I was lonely and single. How did it turn out to be the new professor?
I steadied my breath and sent another message: “What are you up to?”
Professor Reynolds closed his laptop, then picked up his phone again.
A moment later, my phone buzzed: “Working, of course.”
It really was him! I nervously glanced at the new professor on the podium.
I heard he’d just returned from studying abroad, having earned his Ph.D. from a top university overseas. He was already an assistant professor at such a young age.
His academic credentials were impressive enough, but he was also tall, handsome, and looked like he’d stepped right out of a movie.
The moment he started teaching here, he created a buzz across campus.
If my roommate, Sarah, hadn’t dragged me into pulling an all-nighter to snag his class, I probably wouldn’t have even gotten to see him.
But this amazing person was my online GF? My head was buzzing.
Remembering all the cringey things I’d said to him every night, I was mortified. I couldn’t even sit still.
“Buzz, buzz,” my phone rang again. I opened it to read: “Babe, I’m busy now. Tonight, I’ll show you the abs I’ve been working on.”
“Maya, why is your face so red? Are you coming down with something?”
I quickly turned off my phone screen. “I’m fine, just a little warm.”
Jessica, my friend, fanned herself with a book. “Hmm, it is a bit warm.”
“Such a handsome professor actually has a girlfriend? Ugh, what a shame.”
“Well, there’s no harm in looking at handsome guys. Having a girlfriend doesn’t stop us from appreciating him.”
The whispers continued around me, little did they know, the mysterious girlfriend they were talking about was me, Maya Brooks, sitting right there among them.
The bell rang again, and the professor on stage switched to his slides, looking seriously at the students below.
“Before we start the next topic, I have a question for all of you.”
“Why do we dream?”
Students below began discussing, while I, clutching my phone, was still staring at our chat.
The sheer contrast made my heart pound even harder. How could I, who’d never even had a boyfriend, possibly handle this?
Thinking about the photos he’d send me tonight, my throat suddenly felt dry.
Just as I was lost in my own world, the professor’s face became clearer and clearer right in front of me.
Unconsciously, I reached out and pinched it. So soft, LOL.
“Excuse me, student, I asked you to share a dream, not to pinch my face.”
Laughter erupted from the class. I suddenly realized this was real, and my face turned beet red with embarrassment.
“I’m so sorry, Professor.”
Liam smiled gently. “Had any interesting dreams lately?”
I couldn’t even meet his eyes. “I dreamed about…”
For a moment, I couldn’t remember any dreams. A guy nearby, Jake, piped up, “Did you dream about a man and now you’re too shy to say?”
“Hahahahaha…” Everyone around us laughed at that. I answered boldly, “Yes, I did dream about a man!”
Professor Liam raised an eyebrow, about to say something, but I cut him off. “I dreamed my deceased grandpa missed me. Is that funny?”
Instant silence fell over the room. I pointed at Jake. “I wouldn’t mind taking you to meet my grandpa.”
Professor Liam gave me a deep look, clearly surprised. He probably didn’t expect such a delicate-looking girl to be someone who wouldn’t take any crap.
After class, I bolted out of the classroom. “Can I drop this class if I already signed up?”
Sarah looked at me, bewildered.
“Maya, are you crazy? We pulled an all-nighter to get into this class! Now you want to drop it?”
Yeah, I was too busy staring at the hot professor to think about anything else.
I never imagined it would turn out to be about *me*.
If I had to face Liam every week, I’d go crazy.
“I asked around for you. If you want to switch classes, you need a signed permission form from the professor himself.”
Thinking it over, it was probably better to just remain a regular student in his class than to confront him directly.
That night, after showering and getting into bed, my phone buzzed with a flurry of messages.
I opened it and almost screamed. He’d sent several abs pics.
I couldn’t see his face, but the outline was definitely Professor Liam.
“Babe, what do you think?” If I hadn’t known who he was, it would’ve been fine, but knowing made everything I wanted to say feel stiff and awkward.
“They’re nice.”
“You’re so cold, babe. Weren’t you begging to see them before?”
Yeah, if I didn’t know you were my elective professor, I’d be screaming and fangirling right now.
I sighed helplessly. “Wow, you’re really hot.”
“Babe, you’re so half-hearted today.”
Who would’ve thought? The professor who was so serious teaching us this morning was sending messages like this in private.
“I’m a bit tired today. I want to go to sleep.”
Silence. After a long moment, a message came through: “Good night, babe.”
For the next few days, I tried my best to keep chatting with him like nothing had changed, but pretending I didn’t know anything was impossible.
During his class, whether it was my imagination or not, he seemed a bit off, like he was holding back some anger.
Some girls in class would rush up to him right after class, offering him coffee and pastries, asking him about his day.
Watching him surrounded, I felt a pang of sadness. But what was I to him? I wasn’t even his friend, just an online confidante.
I sent him a message: “Do you have a lot of girls hitting on you?”
He looked down at his phone, a handsome smirk curving his lips. “Missing me, babe?”
The girls around him started asking, “Professor, do you really have a girlfriend?”
He nodded, still messing with his phone. “Is your girlfriend pretty, Professor?”
“Duh, with a professor this handsome, his girlfriend definitely wouldn’t be anything less.”
I snorted. *Your professor doesn’t even know what his online girlfriend looks like*.
“I’d love her no matter what she looked like.”
“Wow, that’s so sweet!”
I randomly sent a message: “Aren’t you worried I’m ugly?”
I looked up to see Liam still smiling at his phone. A message came through: “Aren’t *you* worried I’m ugly?”
In the six months we’d been chatting, he’d never asked for a photo of me, and naturally, I hadn’t asked for one of him either.
But I wasn’t a kid anymore. This was just harmless fun for adults. Who really took it seriously?
It was better not to know each other’s true identities.
Whether it was chatting or gaming, Liam and I always clicked.
I’d even imagined what it would be like to sit across from him and chat face-to-face.
I just never expected our “meeting” to happen this way.
I replied, “Not at all.” He replied, “Me neither.”
“Maya, hurry up and check the student portal! The list of thesis advisors is out!”
I double-checked several times, and after confirming that my thesis advisor was Liam Reynolds, I completely freaked out.
Sarah was practically green with envy, but all I wanted was to switch with them.
The advisor created a WhatsApp group and added a few of us students. “Bring your outlines to my office by next Monday.”
Oh god, pretending nothing happened was going to be so hard.
After all, we’d both seen just how explicit we could be in private.
And now we had to meet in such a “pure” teacher-student relationship? The thought of it terrified me.
Even though we’d barely FaceTimed in the last six months, I couldn’t be 100% sure he wouldn’t recognize my voice.
When I knocked on his office door, I deliberately spoke in a high-pitched voice. “Professor, this is my thesis outline.”
He looked up at me. “Haven’t you answered questions in class before?”
“Yes, Professor.”
“Then just speak normally.”
Being called out instantly made me even more embarrassed. “Okay, Professor.”
His hands were sculpted, long and really attractive. And his face? Flawless. His eyes gave him a sharp gaze.
A high nose bridge, and when he wore a coat, he just exuded this incredible vibe.
As for his body… thinking about those pictures he sent me, my face flushed involuntarily. His physique was truly incredible.
“Maya Brooks, what are you thinking about?”
How could I be thinking about *that* right in front of him? “I’m sorry, Professor, what were you just saying?”
“The overall framework of your thesis is fine, but the originality isn’t very clear yet. Go back and refine it.”
“Thank you, Professor.”
Just as I was about to leave, he suddenly asked, “Is there a student named Chloe at this university?”
Oh crap. I’d thought since it was just an online GF, there was no need to use my real name, so I’d made up the fake name Chloe.
When we chatted before, I’d mentioned I was in my senior year of college, but I never said which school.
Since the game matched players randomly based on proximity, there were only a few universities nearby.
Did he recognize me and ask on purpose? No, he couldn’t have been looking for me this whole time, could he?
“No, I don’t.” I said, feigning calmness. “Professor, would you like me to ask around for you?”
“No need. Just revise your outline well and go back for now.”
The moment I stepped out of his office, I bolted back to my dorm. No, this couldn’t go on. I’d be found out sooner or later.
Maybe it was time to end things for real! That night, I sent him a message: “Let’s break up.”
My phone rang almost immediately. He actually called.
I jumped, then quickly hung up. If Sarah heard my voice, or if he recognized my voice, I’d be completely doomed!
“What’s wrong, babe? Why the sudden breakup?”
“Have you been so cold to me lately because you’ve fallen for someone else?”
“Why aren’t you answering my calls? I don’t agree to break up!”
His tone shifted from firm to a little desperate. “Answer the phone, babe!”
“Or maybe we could meet up?”
Staring at the flood of messages he sent, I felt my resolve crumble. I had no idea how to explain any of this to him.
But there were plenty of other fish in the sea. If this one didn’t work, I’d find another! Thinking that, I casually tapped his profile picture and blocked him.
It was better for both of us this way!
As the holidays approached, our advisor called a meeting with a few of us. “Don’t wait until the break is over to start writing. By then, it’ll be too late to beg for mercy.”
“Okay, Professor.”
Liam’s eyes showed deep fatigue; he looked incredibly tired lately.
But it definitely wasn’t because of me. I was just an online GF. If I was gone, he’d just find another.
During the winter break of my senior year, my mom, Brenda, woke me up bright and early.
I picked out an appropriate outfit to go with my parents, Brenda and Robert Brooks, to see some old family friends we hadn’t seen in years.
I politely greeted Mr. Arthur and Mrs. Eleanor Reynolds.
“Maya, you’ve grown so beautiful! Your parents were too protective, if you ask me. If I had a daughter this pretty, I’d want everyone to know, hahahaha…”
“Maya, do you have a boyfriend?”
I awkwardly shook my head.
“Well then, let my son add you on SnapChat. You young people can chat easily. He hasn’t found a girlfriend either, maybe you two will hit it off.”
I looked at my parents for help, but they were busy chatting with others and didn’t even glance my way.
I didn’t want to embarrass our guests, so I reluctantly nodded.
Whatever, I’d just let him add my second SnapChat account. I barely used it anyway, except for that online fling.
Before I even clearly saw his profile pic, I just tapped “accept.”
That night, I switched back to my second account.
Holy crap! Hadn’t I blocked Liam? Why was he still sending me messages?
A ‘?’ popped up from the other side. That aunt’s son… it couldn’t be…
“So, can you explain to me who Maya is?”
“You dumped me, then added a new guy’s contact info, and it turns out it was me all along, right, babe?”
His words left me speechless. Should I just block him again?
“Try blocking me again, I dare you?”
How could he guess everything I was thinking? I replied in a fluster, “I’m sorry, Professor Liam. I didn’t mean to deceive you intentionally; I just never expected you to come teach at our university. I’ve caused you a lot of trouble.”
There was no reply for a long time. Great, now would he hold a grudge and fail me in my elective?
Actually, these past six months of online dating had been the happiest six months of my life. My parents had always been very protective of me.
I barely had any friends of my own, because who wants to hang out with someone who gets called back home by her parents an hour into going out?
This was the most rebellious thing I’d ever done. A stranger, yet he was the only person I’d ever truly confided in. Only with him could I show my true self.
I admit I was selfish; I didn’t want anyone around me to know this side of me.
A message came through: “Come downstairs.”
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