Ever fallen in love with a teacher, only to lose hope? Here’s a sweet story of a teacher and student romance that changed two lives for the better. By Dave Rowland
The year was 1999.
I was studying for my Masters degree, waiting to graduate, fling my
cloak and my hat as high as I could, and move on the greener pastures
that awaited everyone who dared to dream.
My dreams and my college
I definitely had my dreams. I wanted to make it big in the real world.
I wanted to be a business consultant or a VP or something along those lines.
Somehow, the thought of walking around in squeaky clean suits and
grasping firm handshakes felt like the perfect way to lead my life.
My friends just wanted to graduate, and quite frankly, so did I.
The professors weren’t too happy to let me reach out to my dreams the easy way.
My friends and I were all jocks, or at least we pretended to be, each
time a bunch of girls passed us by the basketball court. And if no one
was around, we hung out at the dorm or at a favorite corner in campus.
Every morning started the same way for me and my roomies.
We had to set alarms in our cell phones in snooze mode, set the alarm
in ten different clocks and hide them in places we just wouldn’t be
able to reach without opening our eyes wide. As annoying as it could
get, the effect was good.
Our mornings started with a stream of swear words, followed by the
sounds of crashing clocks, but we did alright to scrape through the
doors before the professor made it inside.
A late start and a great day
One Tuesday morning, I was late. I grappled within my lump of
clothes, and threw something over myself and ran out, contemplating over
the elusive perfect excuse to babble as I stepped through the doors of
class.
I half ran and half trundled to the right class, and stood near the
door. I held on to my stitches, and waited for the familiar annoying
voice that would kick me out of class while I was already outside. The
irony of education.
But it didn’t come. I looked up, and saw a lady near the wide
blackboard. Well, she wasn’t exactly a lady as such, because she looked
as young as any other student in class. It could have been a
presentation. But the students were taking notes, and that definitely
doesn’t happen in presentations.
I looked at her and waited, wondering how to address her. I didn’t
have to say anything, because she just smiled at me, and her eyes told
me to step inside. I just stood there for a few seconds.
Her eyes were so pretty. Pulling myself back together, I walked to my
seat somewhere towards the back of the class. I nudged my friends and
asked them who she was. They were too mesmerized by her to even realize
that I was there.
Eventually, after communicating in a manner that a four year old
would understand, I got to know that she was an assistant teacher or a
substitute who was supposed to take our first hour’s theory classes for
three weeks. She was apparently in a business development program where
she had to give presentations and seminars for a certain number of hours
to be eligible to complete her whatever-it-was. I couldn’t understand
what my friends were saying anyway.
I love my class!
I just stared at those pretty eyes, the same ones that were so
defined and doe like. Just about everything about her accentuated
everything else in her. She was gorgeous and it wasn’t just me, but
everyone in the room had a hard time taking their eyes off her.
Watching her was like watching a tennis match. All eyes moved from
left to right, and right to left, each time she took a walk across the
board. I found out that her name was Sophie.
Wow… that name melted in my mouth each time I repeated it, just like
cotton candy. Sophie… Sophie… Sophie… And yet, even the sweet sickness
of the overdose of cotton candy couldn’t stop me from repeating her name
again and again.
As the days passed, I really didn’t need the alarm to get up. And I
was in class, a good ten minutes before she even walked in. I tried
holding on to the front bench in her class, and I just stared at her.
There were too many of us, and she couldn’t really stare at anyone in
particular while explaining something I didn’t bother listening to.
All I wanted to see was the way her lips quivered when she said a few
words. Watching her was like watching a romantic French movie. I
couldn’t really get what she was saying, but I liked listening to the
way she sounded. I tried establishing eye-contact with her and on that
rare occurrence when it happened, it would linger for a few seconds and
then vanish.
The stare would almost always follow with a smile that showed her
beautiful teeth, so perfect and so well set. I used to catch up with her
after class and chat a while, on the pretext of understanding
something. We used to talk about just about anything. And as long as I
didn’t remind her that I had a crush on her all the time, it was all
just fine. Her usual smiling retort to just about any statement of mine
which had the words “…you look great today…” or “I wish you’d come out
to have lunch today…” was a “Don’t make me beat you with a stick now.
Remember, I’m still your professor, you!”
Losing her before dating her
If she was another student, I knew I would have dropped down on my
knee and proclaimed my undying love since forever to her. Even though
she was around my age, she still was my ‘teacher’.
It didn’t matter though, I knew that three weeks later, once she’s
done taking classes we’d be friends. But alas, just like everything
else, one early morning, she didn’t make it to class. Our regular slob
of a professor had resumed his duties, and we were told that Sophie had
to leave immediately due to some personal obligations. And that happened
one week before she was scheduled to leave. I couldn’t even get her
number!
Moving on with my depressing life
Life was depressing at first, but after a month or two, the high of
hoping to see her, and the low that followed each time she didn’t show
up overwhelmed me, and I hit back to my earlier routine of several alarm
clocks and the rivulet of morning curses.
The classes got even more annoying, because the thought of a fat ugly
slob of a professor who took those classes replacing the beautiful
Sophie was repulsive. She was still the topic of conversations over many
lunch hours. We asked around to see if we could get any inside stories
on her, or hopefully, her phone number. But we weren’t lucky. The next
few semesters passed by at a snail’s pace and finally, we graduated.
I forgot all about the hottest ‘professor’ I’ve ever seen in my life. Sophie became a thing of the past, and I moved on.
Life gave me its share of ups and downs. I fell in love, and barely
lasted there. Somehow, most women that I dated could never understand my
passion to make a mark in life. They just thought I didn’t want to be
with them because I wasn’t spending every waking hour with them. I
couldn’t help it really, because I’ve dreamt of making it big all my
life and I just couldn’t see a reason to change my life because a woman
wanted me to work nine to five and watch movies with her every single
day!
I achieved my dream
I joined a business firm as an apprentice. The odds were all falling
into place. I was in an organization I had always wanted to be in.
Slowly, I started climbing the ladder, with different presentations
and winning pitches. The years flew by, and I stuck with who I wanted to
be. In the year 2008, I was asked to be the Senior VP of Operations. I
was pretty young for my credentials and was getting to places faster
than most others. I was called to make big pitches and I was known for
pulling them my way.
In the same year as my promotion, I was asked to make a business proposition to another rival organization.
The details don’t really matter anyways. On the morning of the
meeting, I ran through everything I needed to do in my mind. I was ready
to blow their marketing head away, and get my point across.
I reached the lobby of the office. I walked up to the receptionist
and asked to meet Mrs. Myers. “Miss Myers…” the receptionist corrected
me with a smile. I smiled back and wondered why their VP wasn’t married.
Too busy for a love life, or maybe she’s too ugly.
I sat down on the couch and waited as I sunk deeper by a few inches.
And then I got my tablet out and started looking through my proposal. It
was a few minutes before I heard her.
Meeting Ms. Myers
“Mr. Rowland… Hello!” I saw a hand stretch out, and I immediately
grasped it even before I saw her face. Business ethics had taught me
enough to know that a handshake should never be delayed.
I looked up, and barely had I said the words “Hello Ms. Mye…rs…”
when I saw the most beautiful smile and a pair of eyes that pulled me
back into another life. A life I had last experienced almost a decade
ago. The intense rush of emotions struck me and I was numb. She looked
at me mildly surprised.
“Is anything wrong, Mr. Rowland?” she asked.
“No, no really… I’m sorry about that Soph… I mean, Ms. Myers. My mind was just in the middle of something!” I jabbered.
She asked me to follow her into her cabin. I followed her dreamily,
my mind rushing and swirling with different conversations and thoughts. I
couldn’t believe it, the same ‘professor’ who taught me was right here,
in front of my own eyes. I had hoped this day would come, but I never
actually realized that it could ever come true.
I started smiling as another thought struck me. She really didn’t
know who I was, the same guy who sat drooling while watching her each
morning for two weeks, before she vanished out of my life.
Making the happy introductions
We sat down, and I just looked at her. I had waited for almost a
decade to see her again. I didn’t want to talk about the proposal. It
wouldn’t have made a difference anyways. I didn’t think I could do
anything but grunt or mumble right now. I was utterly speechless! She
looked at me too.
“Have me met before, Mr. Rowland, it feels like I’ve seen you somewhere.”
I spilt a bit of coffee over myself, and spluttered, “I’m sorry, you think so…?”
“I’m not quite sure, but you seem familiar,” she said, though it was
almost like she was talking to herself. I grinned at her. I was quite
overwhelmed by the fact that she could recollect my face after such a
long time. It was, well, flattering!
I looked straight into her eyes and asked her, “Would you be surprised if I told you that we’ve known each other, Sophie?”
She was surprised to hear me call her by her first name, “How do
you…” she started. “Well, let’s just say we knew each other from an
educational world. But you were in my existence for an hour a day, for
two weeks, and then you vanished!”
“Dave…” she gasped. I just grinned and said, “You don’t know how
happy I am to see you, Sophie.” She just started laughing in hysterical
giggles. “Dave, look at you! All dressed up. And you were such an
idiot. Oh my gosh…”
Both of us just started laughing, and she walked across the table and
hugged me. And I hugged her back. “It’s good to see you too”, Sophie
added after a few seconds of silence.
“Wow, I don’t believe my college crush just hugged me!” I said to her with a mischievous smile.
She socked my ribs as she said, “That was supposed to mean ‘I’m happy to see you’, you pervert!”
“It’s all about how I take it, isn’t it? Anyways, it’s a lot better than being threatened with a stick!” I shot back in jest.
We just sat there talking and laughing for a while. I told her how I
became who I was, and she explained why she had to leave teaching in a
hurry. We caught up with everything we wanted to know about each other.
The only problem was that we still hadn’t spoken one bit about our
organizations working together. I told her that we could meet up over
dinner and talk about the proposal.
“Are you hitting on me, Mr. Rowland?” she asked me tauntingly.
I laughed and held her hands, “Of course, Ms. Myers, but you know, you could always call me Dave.”
Taking a teacher and student romance further
We met up over dinner that night, but we didn’t speak about work. We
met the next morning, and spent the lunch hour together, and eventually
by the third day, we managed to work something out that would keep both
our companies happy.
Our bosses were happy with the outcome of our meeting, but Sophie and I were the most happiest.
A month later, we started dating and we were so in love. I felt
happiest when I was around her, and she said the same when I asked her
about it.
It’s been four years since we met each other in her office. And just
three months ago, I did what I’ve always dreamt of doing. I went down on
one knee and proposed to Sophie.
It was all so perfect. And we still share a perfect relationship.
There are still the odd instances when she bosses around me, but I’m
fine with that. I mean, really, isn’t it a much better option to have my
fiancé bossing around me rather than having a crush on a college
teacher who’d threaten to beat me around with a stick?!
Dave and Sophie are truly in love and happy in each other’s
arms. But they still can’t help but wonder what the odds were to meet
each other a decade later! Call it coincidence, or should we call it
fate?!
