The end of the semester descended upon the university like a heavy curtain. The air in the city had turned brittle and cold, the rain replaced by a biting wind that whipped through the concrete canyons. In the humanities wing, the atmosphere was frantic; students were caffeine-fueled ghosts, haunting the library and the halls, their eyes wide with the panic of final deadlines.
For Alistair, the tension was different. It wasn't the stress of grading or the pressure of departmental reviews. It was the countdown. The final tutoring session was scheduled for today. Once the grades were submitted and the term ended, the thin veil of "academic assistance" that protected their liaison would vanish. They would no longer be a professor and a struggling student; they would simply be two people who
