Final exam weeks were creeping up fast—the campus buzzing with stressed students cramming in libraries, begging for extensions, the air thick with that end-of-semester desperation. Tae felt it too, but for her, it was mixed with a weird dread. Kook’s graduation loomed—he’d be gone soon, off to whatever life his family had lined up. Part of her thrilled at the thought of freedom, of going back to just being Dohyun’s wife and the strict English prof. But another part—the filthy, addicted part—ached at the idea of no more blackmail, no more rough fucks that left her leaking and trembling. She hated how much she’d come to crave it.

One afternoon, after her senior seminar wrapped, students shuffling out with notes and worried glances, Kook lingered at his desk. “Professor Tae? I need some extra tutoring. Finals are killing me—can we go over the material?”