Blocked the Wrong Professor
At one in the morning, I was alone in the research building, fighting for my life against my thesis.
That was when I opened NearU and saw a viral anonymous post.
My girlfriend loved the hair clip I bought her.
The attached screenshot showed a girl’s side profile.
It was blurred almost beyond recognition.
But the blue enamel hair clip was clear.
My hand went straight to my hair.
Because that exact clip was holding my hair back.
Two weeks ago, my anonymous boyfriend had helped me choose it.
I had sent him that photo.
And now his post showed he was only 300 feet away.
I looked down the empty hallway.
At this hour, only three places nearby still had lights on.
My thesis adviser’s office.
The graduate lounge.
And the joint lab next door.
Then my phone buzzed.
Baby? Why did you go quiet?
I stared at the message.
For three months, I had been flirting with a man whose name I didn’t know and whose face I had never seen.
Now he was somewhere in this building.
Maybe behind one of those doors.
Maybe watching the same hallway.
Maybe close enough to hear me breathe.
Then I saw the light under Dr. Ford’s office door.
My stomach dropped.
Because there was one thing worse than falling for a stranger online.
Finding out he might be the professor who had just covered my thesis in red ink.