I never planned to fall for him.Professor Hale was the type of man who could make a room go silent without even trying—calm, sharp-eyed, and always dressed like he’d stepped out of a classic novel. He taught Literature with a voice that felt like warm tea on a cold morning. Everyone admired him, but he was still… distant. Professional. Untouchably composed.That should’ve made things easy for me.But it didn’t.I noticed the crush when I realized I was always ten minutes early to his class—even on days when I barely rolled out of bed in