"There are some people in the class who have more pressing issues to attend than their internal examinations, like Ms. Nisha right here" said Prof. Shailja smugly pointing at me sitting in the back corner of the lecture room, "So if you are one of them, submit me an application before the end of the day so I can reschedule an alternative exam for you special students".
I wanted to dissolve into my seat right there, I knew asking her to prepone an exam set for me will be a bad idea but I had no choice. Well, maybe a little embarrassment is well worth not losing the hefty weightage of these exams. Good thing was she had agreed. I wrote the application and got it printed right during a free slot in my schedule and rushed to submit the application to her office right after my last class.
I knocked on her cabin door and her TA, Sayani, answered it, only to tell me "Prof. Shailja has already left an hour ago". I requested her to take my application as it's already Saturday and I wanted the exam to be Monday. She made an apologetic face at me, even she didn't want to overstep Prof. Shailja's ever impending fiery wrath but made the call anyway.
"Professor has asked you to go to her home before 6pm and submit the application in person" the TA told me. I was taken aback a bit but I said thank you and made my way to her home which was a 15 minute walk away from the campus. Had it been a male professor, I probably would've mailed in the application and called it a day. But I knew I couldn't irk Prof. Shailja any further, she had agreed to supervise my thesis next semester and it took a lot of proving my worth as a student, I couldn't let it all go to shit because I was too lazy to submit a dumb application. It was already 5.30 pm, so I rushed to her off-campus house and reached at around 10 minutes to 6 pm.
Panting and thankful I made it in time, I rang the doorbell. After a couple of minutes, a male house help opened the door, inquired my name and then showed me the way to her study and told me the professor will be there shortly. As he closed the door on his way, the first thing I noticed was how the room smelled exactly like she smelled. A clean, freshly cut grass like smell mixed with sweetness and musk. The AC was on blast, and the sweat of my skin was making it a bit too chilly for me. I looked down and very well, I was already nip city. The room's interior was in stark contrast with the temperature for it was adorned with a lot of vintage, dark wooden furniture and panelling and had a cozy relaxed air with a large window overlooking the green backyard, bringing in the last few minutes of daylight.
I was standing by her bookshelf enviously eyeing the dense collection of classic literature and academic books that were too expensive for my broke ass student wallet to buy when I heard the door open and Prof. Shailja entered in a simple white, cotton salwar-kameez with an air of importance only she could muster. She sat herself on the chair behind her desk.
"You may sit too, Nisha, unless you have a flight to catch for your trip tonight itself" said Dr. Shailja said with a raised eyebrow. I made my way to the chair opposite to her and awkwardly sat down, god, could she be intimidating without even trying. I took out the application from my bag and handed it to her. She put on her reading glasses and read with a nonchalant but irritated expression and pointed out "Write the date below your signature, don't you think the administration should also know that you are leaving for a vacation 4 days before your internal exams?" she said rhetorically while handing me the application back.
I fetched for a pen and made the addition."I'm sorry ma'am, I genuinely didn't know that the department would schedule the exams so early".
"Of course, it is the department's fault that you've decided to go on a vacation in the middle of the semester. Where are you going anyway?"
"Goa, ma'am." I said hesitatingly knowing the disappointment it will elicit from her.
"Of course you are. You know, Nisha, I've always thought of you as a sincere student who is also pretty bright. Not a lot of people have the combination of both. But here you are wilding around on trips right before your internals like a 2nd year Bachelor's student. And I have been ignoring all these complaints about you but I think now I need to pay a closer look."
I was taken aback, "Ma'am, I really mean it wasn't in my hands regarding the date and I'm sorry to have caused you inconvenience. I'm not sure what complaints you're referring to, my grades have been okay and my equation with all the professors has been respectful. Still if there's any improvement needed, please do let me know."
Her phone rang as I was finishing, and she gave me a look that said wait and then proceeded to pick up the call. "Yeah I'm in the study, I'll be done in a while..... That student is here, the one whose application I had to go over.... Don't I know it, now let me get done and I'll let you know." She put the phone down and continued, "Your grades could be better, and that's not my main concern. The complaints I've been hearing about you and the things you've been upto is truly disappointing. It would be a shame if you let it all go to waste." said the professor with a straight face.
As I was still dumbfounded over what she was referring to and processing what to say, she continued "Do you go to the library often, Nisha?"
"Yes I do, ma'am. I often fail to get a lot of study time back at my dorm with my roommates as our schedules are a bit different so I do tend to go at leat 3-4 times a week. I'm sorry but I am still lost about what you said earlie-"
She cut me off and said "What do you do in the library then?" while opening one of the drawers on her side of the desk.
"Umm study of course ma'am, sometimes I do my own personal reading since it's more peaceful out there." I said hesitatingly.
She took out a laptop form the drawer, the same one she carries to class, and put it on the desk and booted it. I was having a hard time guessing what was happening, she had a weird poker face on than her normal smugness and it was throwing me off. Then she turned the laptop towards me.
It was a video of the library, I could tell. She then continues to zoom in. As I saw two students sitting towards the far back of an empty aisle, and it was then I knew right what she was referring to.
"Well, don't you think that's unbecoming of smart students like you to be in such indecent situations in the library?", she paused the video. It wasn't a cctv footage, it was definitely taken on a phone and thus, to my horror the resolution was better. I could clearly see myself, at least clear enough to identify my face scrunched up as my boyfriend was kissing my neck and had one his hands inside my halfway undone button down shirt.
"Ma'am, I-I think there's been a mistake, I would never do such things in the library or in public, it's, it's probably-", I tried to hastily deny as she pressed play on the zoomed in video and I could see my boyfriend and I going at it, after a few seconds his hand dropping below my waist and disappearing under the table as I kissed him hungrily.
"Oh it's definitely you, Nisha. You should know acting coy isn't in your benefit. I've seen you with Karim, that's his name isn't it, from the CS department, out and about in the campus and I can clearly see it's him in the video. And that's you of course, who couldn't recognise those D cup tits falling out of your unbuttoned shirt".
Her crass words made my spine go rigid, I decided on a different line of defence, "But that's not a cctv footage, it's made by someone, that's violation of privacy." I countered.
She made a smirk and said, "Oh is it? I'm sure your parents and the administration wouldn't have such ethical concerns."
