Christmas with my Professor

This story is based on true events, names have been changed to protect all mentioned in the story. I will be using quotes of speech in this story whist talking in both past and present tense depending on the section being spoken about, this may seem strange but this is solely for the enjoyment of the reader rather than speaking entirely in past tense. The events become juicy in chapter 3, chapter 1 and 2 is based on all that had happened prior to the lead up, so please be patient and fully absorb the reality of events to understand the lead up of events.

My name is Jay, I am 24, South Asian and a mature student starting my first-year undergraduate degree at UCL London. I have worked for the past 5-6 years and feel that in order to progress professionally up the ladder I need to get this degree in the area of my interest. It is 2021 and lectures are online, seminars are in person due to ongoing covid restrictions. As I walk through Bloomsbury in early October, the cold London air hits my face along with the smells of autumn, the leaves are falling from the trees and the streets are covered in gold, red and orange foliage. Autumn is my favourite season. Starting university, starting this new chapter in my life gives me a brand-new perspective. I am reminded of the movie ‘You’ve got Mail’ when Tom Hank’s character quotes “Don’t you love New York in the Fall, it makes you want to buy school supplies…” which I already have!

Campus is 30-40mins away from home depending on traffic, but today I took the train and underground so I am not late for class. In class I notice I am the only guy in my seminar group of 18 and the only mature student, everyone else seem to be straight out of college aged 18 going on 19 with the exception of one girl who was 21, she was nice and we hit it off well due to our age difference from the rest of the group. This class module was on Cultural Society and Identity and we were still waiting for our lecturer who was running a little late, the time was 2:04pm. Our lecturer finally arrived, I’ve been interested to see who this man was because in our first pre-recorded (voice) lecture he had a smooth, deep and calming voice, he didn’t sound English and had a slight accent but he pronounced all his words precisely, you can hear all the T’s S and R’s from every word he said. I remember him saying “sorry I’m late everyone, this building is like a ship and I get really confused in finding the rooms when they change my room location every year!”

Thomas (Tom) was our lecturer, he was one inch taller than me at 5ft 11, had dark grey hair which was turning slightly silver, he styled it with each side pointing up towards the middle with some styling gel, probably matt paste. He had a young face, he was probably in his mid 40s but looked good for his age, he looked 34/35. He had a hot dad bod with an average build but had slightly defined arms and a hot pair of thighs which I noticed through his denim jeans as he sat at the front casually spreading his legs, I also noticed he had a silver wedding band on his ring finger. He spent the hour introducing himself, the class and what we are to expect from the semester, we went around the class introducing ourselves and when it came to me he said “your turn” with a slight smile, I was nervous and as I began talking I could see him shuffling through some papers and then he looked up and paused me and said “hang on, you are the only guy on the course this year...” (made up of roughly 80 students altogether) all the girls just stared at me and this not only made me feel more alienated but I can now feel my face going slightly red. “That’s no problem, Jay! I’m sure you and I will be great friends this year.” He said in a slightly cheeky tone followed by a wink. I sensed some of the girl’s reaction from this, some seemed annoyed - possibly at the fact that they felt it was a sexist comment against them via male favouritism, some laughed finding that strange and others were neutral but just stared at me. I was slightly embarrassed and could only respond with an awkward laugh and nod, I thought to myself “great this is the last thing I need, to be known as some sort of teachers pet.”

At the end of the session Tom reminded us that we must get in touch with our personal tutors and book our first meeting with them, he stressed how important it is to do this now in case we forget so once I got home, I looked up my name on the list and you guessed it - Tom was my personal tutor. I didn’t think nothing of it and emailed him: ‘Hey Tom, thanks for today’s Seminar, it was great! I see from the list you are my personal tutor so would like to book a meeting with you when you are available soon! Kind regards, Jay.’

Over the weeks I began to show more and more interest in this particular module, not just because it was being delivered by a hot lecturer but because the topics were very interesting and debatable. We learned that Tom is head of the programme within our degree, he is married with no children, he plays the Guitar and he was originally from Germany but lived in the UK since his 20s, this explained his accent. Once he asked us all if everything was going ok online and if we had any technical issues with the lectures and then one girl pointed out she enjoyed listening to them as his voice would draw you in, he turned to me and said “is this true?” With a huge smile and I responded truthfully with a yes, I told him it’s calming and draws me into the videos, and jokingly said he should consider making ASMR videos on YouTube. After class that day Tom walked beside me down the corridor.

“Jay wait-up, I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you about our tutorial meeting, the post-Graduate department are going through an inspection which has taken up a lot of my time and I just managed to go through all my emails, if you are free now would you like to come to my office and we can talk through our tutorial?”

I reluctantly agreed and we made our way to his office.

“Please take a seat.” He said as he shut the door behind him. His office was rectangular with a desk against a wall on the left side, at the end were large windows facing the Campus Green and a chair in between his desk and Window which was against the wall. He has a large bookshelf opposite his desk against the other wall which were filled with academic journals and books. I took a seat and was sat directly opposite the wall, but my body was at an angle facing Tom on my right, almost like a doctor’s visit at the GP. The room smelled of books and perfume, I think it was Hugo Boss Bottled. He opened his desk drawer and took out a box of Lindt Chocolate (Lindor) and offered me one, I politely refused but he kept insisting so I took a gold one and fidgeted with the ends of the chocolate wrapper whilst rolling it around in my hands. If I be honest, I was slightly nervous to be in his presence so closely in his personal space, I watched as he logged into his computer and he typed, I can hear the clicking of the keyboard which filled the room and hear him catching his breath from the walk from the seminar room. I was slightly turned on which - now looking back - is weird, but as I said this intimate space, the smell of his perfume and his breathing was a lot to take in at that moment.

“So, tell me... how are you finding your year so far, any you facing any problems?”

I didn’t have too many problems with the semester so far but spoke about essay writing and wanted his tips on my readings and referencing for upcoming essays, we spoke about his module and went into a deep conversation about socialism within particular groups across the globe. His eyes lit up as he shared his thoughts and went in upon the subject. I just remember trancing and gazing into his eyes when he was speaking and absorbing everything that he was telling me.

“So, tell me, what is it you want to do in the future, what are your ideas for after university?”

“If I be honest, I have always wanted to go into teaching or academia, but I don’t want to be a school teacher anymore. I’m certain that I want to do my masters and then possibly a PhD and if I’m still thinking about this direction then I would love to do what you do, be a lecturer.”

“Really? Wow, I think you are the first ever undergraduate to say that, no one really thinks about this as a career choice but I admire your honesty. If this is what you want to do then of course you would need to work hard and I’m here to help and advise you so don’t be shy, but there is something I think you should do to help build up your portfolio and confidence.”

“What’s that?”

He continued “I think that you would be a great student representative for your group. You are very bright, a mature student, eager to learn, your peers look up to you and I’ve noticed you advise them where you can and in particular, I noticed how engaged you are in my sessions so for these reasons I believe you would be a suitable candidate, what do you think?”

Throughout his little speech I just remember getting quite shy, I am not great at receiving compliments, but hearing all that from Tom made my day.

“Ok, I will do it.”

“GREAT!” He said ecstatically

He continued to give me a run-down of the duties and times I may have to meet with him, the group and other heads of departments once every semester. On my way out he turned and said “oh and Jay, remember don’t be a stranger, if I don’t respond to your email straight away just come and find me in my office and we can talk.”

I smiled and replied ok.

To be continued..