Chapter 3

Someone snapped a picture of Maynard smiling at his phone during class and posted it on the school website.

Now the comment section was blowing up.

[Who made the cold, serious professor smile like that?]

[I didn't know he was so whipped!]

[He looks nothing like his usual self!]

[I need to know what kind of girl could make him act like that.]

I logged in secretly just to read the comments—and honestly, they made me want to cry.

Even though I felt awful, I still had to go to class.

Thanks to all this drama, I barely slept the night before. I showed up with dark circles under my eyes.

And of course, it had to be math class, my least favorite subject. I was planning to just zone out and get through it, but then I saw who the teacher was. I almost passed out.

It was Maynard.

For a second, I actually missed our old bald math teacher.

Then Maynard said in that deep, calm voice, "Your math teacher's out sick, so I'll be filling in for now."

The room fell silent for a moment, followed by a soft wave of gasps.

Everyone knew Maynard was super smart, and now he was going to teach us? They were thrilled. And let's be real—he was easy on the eyes. Even if the lessons didn't make sense, at least the view was nice.

While the rest of the class was buzzing with excitement, I wanted to curl up and cry.

If Maynard was taking over our class, it meant I'd be seeing him all the time.

I couldn't help it—I peeked at our chat on my phone. Right before class, he'd sent me a cute emoji.

It was such a weird contrast to how cool and distant he looked standing up there in front of everyone.

At that point, my only plan was to stay out of his way for as long as possible.

I thought maybe we could just keep going like that—quietly ignoring each other in public and texting in private.

But then, out of nowhere, Maynard asked me to go to his office.

When the class rep told me, I thought I misheard. "He wants me to go to his office, huh? Why?"

Panic hit me instantly.

The class rep didn't pick up on how freaked out I was. "Maybe it's about your last paper or something. Probably just a small correction. Go check it out."

I looked at the class rep with one last bit of hope. "Can you go for me? Just tell him I'm not feeling well."

The class rep let out a sigh. "He literally just left our classroom. You think he's gonna buy that now, huh?"

So I had no choice—I had to go to Maynard's office.

When I walked in, he was standing at his desk, flipping through some papers. His sleeves were rolled up, showing off those strong arms of his.

Even something that simple somehow looked cool when he did it.

As soon as he noticed me, he stopped and looked up. "You're the only one who hasn't turned in the homework."

I stared down at the floor, feeling guilty. "Yeah..."

"Finish it soon," he said. "Also, give me your phone. I'll send you some stuff that'll help with the paper."

Without thinking, I handed it over.

The screen lit up—and I froze. I'd totally forgotten that my wallpaper was a picture of my dog.

I'd sent Maynard photos of that same dog before during our chats.

I panicked and quickly tapped on a random folder, hoping he hadn't noticed.

But luck was never on my side—he had noticed it. He paused, sounding a little unsure. "Your wallpaper..."

I let out an awkward laugh. "Cute, right? I found it online. It looked nice, so I set it as my wallpaper."

He stared at me for a second, then said in a tone I couldn't quite read, "That so?"

I nodded quickly, hoping that'd be the end of it.

Thankfully, he didn't push it. He looked away and pulled up something on his computer. Then he said, "Let's add each other on WhatsApp. I'll send you the files."

His voice was still calm, but softer than before. Or maybe I was just imagining that.

I looked up stiffly and forced a weak smile. "It's okay. No need to add me. You can just tell me which files I need."

My heart was racing. I was terrified he'd push it. If he did, he'd figure everything out.

Maynard stared at me for a while. Then he suddenly stood up and let out a quiet sigh. "As your teacher, is it really that weird for me to have your contact?"

"It's not that," I blurted out, my voice shaky.

I was already taking a step back without even meaning to. "I'm just not used to stuff like that. It's easier if you just tell me."