On the first day of the trip, which consisted solely of the flight and checking in, Adrian felt a strange, almost euphoric sense of relief. Lucas had kept his word. He didn't approach him, didn't give him meaningful looks, and didn't try to catch his eye across the room. This made Adrian feel a little calmer.

But as soon as one problem disappeared, another, far more persistent and irritating one immediately took its place.

Eighteen-year-old Noah suddenly developed a genuine, almost obsessive interest in the professor. 
Adrian had begun to notice this even earlier: Noah would blush when Adrian corrected him, finding strange, contrived excuses to approach him and prolong the conversation for an extra five minutes.

At first, this even touched Adrian, because, as he thought, his boring subject, which sometimes weighed on him too, had piqued the young student's interest! But then, when Noah approached him yet again, he heard snickers and strange whispers from his classmates.

And during this trip, things only got worse. But there was nowhere to run. 
Noticing Adrian's bad mood, Mrs. Bailey interpreted it, for herself and for him, as meaning that the student really wanted to talk to someone smart.

No fucking way!

Adrian, determined to remain as detached and professional as possible during those four days, gave short, cold answers, but this only seemed to rile the young man up.

Under the accommodation arrangements, the teachers were housed on one floor and the students on another. Everyone stayed in double rooms. Noah and Lucas in one room, Kate and Mrs. Bailey in another, and Adrian with another teacher who had joined them once they arrived.

The Olympics were set to begin tomorrow, and tonight had been officially declared "team-building night." The teachers decided not to skimp and took the entire delegation to a nice restaurant not far from the hotel.

Inside, it was noisy, warm, and smelled of roasted meat and spices. They sat down at a long table with the teachers facing the students. Adrian sat between Mrs. Bailey and Professor Schneider. The students were officially allowed only a glass of light beer - tomorrow required a clear head.

Adrian glanced briefly at the opposite end of the table. Lucas was acting as usual: laughing loudly, cracking slightly vulgar but harmless jokes, gesturing wildly, drawing the attention of the entire restaurant. But he didn't look at Adrian even once. Everything was going according to plan.

Perfect.

The evening was monotonously but pleasantly drawing to a close. No one was bored; everyone was finishing their desserts while discussing tomorrow's assignments. Adrian was already mentally preparing to ask for the check when he suddenly felt a touch.

Someone's leg in jeans brushed against his ankle under the table and slowly, confidently slid upward along the inside of his thigh.

Adrian froze. Without a moment's hesitation, he shot an aggressive, icy glare across the table straight at Lucas.

Who else could it be but him?

But at that moment, Lucas was chatting enthusiastically and very politely with Professor Schneider about France, waving his fork energetically. It was hard to believe this man was capable of such masterful multitasking without changing his facial expression. A second later, the stranger's leg stopped moving. Adrian exhaled slowly, attributing it all to an accidental brush in the cramped space or someone's awkwardness.

The atmosphere suddenly became too stifling for him.

"Excuse me, I'll step away for a couple of minutes," he told his colleagues, stood up from the table, and headed for the exit.

The street greeted him with cool air and the smell of wet asphalt. Adrian turned into a dark, narrow alley behind the restaurant, took out a pack, and had just brought a cigarette to his lips when a figure emerged from the shadows.

"Can I have one?" a familiar voice asked.

Adrian turned around. Noah was standing in front of him.

Fuck.

The teacher silently handed him the pack and a lighter, expecting him to take a quick drag and leave. But Noah wasn't in a hurry. He took a deep drag, coughed, and, looking at Adrian with shining, overly bright eyes, said:

 "You know, this is my first cigarette. And I'm glad I'm sharing it with you."
Adrian frowned, feeling a chill run down his spine.

"Noah, you shouldn't be smoking. And we have nothing to talk about here. Go back to the group."
But the boy didn't budge. He took another step, closing the distance to an unacceptable level.
"I just wanted to say... I'd really like you to be not only my first cigarette

"Don't go on!"

"But also my fi..."

"Please!"

"My first love."

Adrian froze. Shock and irritation paralyzed him for a split second, but years of professional training took over. He straightened up, his face becoming an impenetrable mask. 
But the guy didn't budge. He took another step, closing the space between them to an unacceptable minimum. His gaze slid over Adrian's face with a frightening, almost possessive tenderness.

"You've always been so strict with me, Adrian Wayne. I tried to be the perfect student. I volunteered to go to this pointless competition just to be near you. I'm willing to do anything to get your attention."

"I'm your teacher," Adrian snapped, his voice hardening. "Your efforts should be limited to your studies."

"My studies?" Noah gave a quiet, bitter smile. "Then why can you afford to… relax with another student? Take off that icy mask? It's so unfair. After all, I try much harder for you than he does."

A shiver ran down Adrian's spine. His stomach clenched uncomfortably.

What is he trying to say?

Panic flashed through his mind. He forced himself not to look away, even though his heart was beating treacherously in his throat.

"I don't understand what you're talking about. And I have no intention of discussing it."

"You don't understand?" Noah's voice wavered, but steel-hard, threatening notes cut through it. His face twisted into a grimace that revealed something unhealthy, something possessed. "I saw you coming out of his dorm room at the beginning of the semester. Disheveled, with red marks on your neck. I know about the two of you. Of course, I'm shocked that the whole dorm hasn't been talking about you yet, Professor. You were moaning too loudly under that bastard before you came out of there."

Adrian froze. For a second, the world narrowed to a throbbing noise in his temples.

"And I have no intention of keeping quiet if you're going to discriminate against me in his favor like this," Noah continued, pressing his advantage. "After all, I, Professor, am far better than Lucas. In every way. I have relationships, I have a future, and he's just a vulgar womanizer who uses you for his own amusement.

A cynical, bitter thought flashed through Adrian's mind: Yes, probably everything in this world is much better than Lucas. But it didn't matter.

"That's inappropriate," Adrian said. His voice sounded alarmingly steady, even to him. "And completely unacceptable. If you think you can blackmail me with your fantasies, you're sorely mistaken."

Noah froze. For a moment, confusion flashed in his eyes, but it was immediately replaced by cold fury. He wasn't used to hearing the word "no."

"You just don't understand that we're meant for each other," he whispered, and suddenly, without warning, leaned forward sharply.

Adrian didn't have time to dodge or raise his hands. The boy's lips touched the corner of his mouth, hard and wet, for a moment, no longer than three seconds. It was a brazen, boundary-breaking kiss that left behind a sticky, nauseating sensation.

Adrian recoiled and, with far more force than he expected of himself, shoved Noah in the chest. The guy staggered.

"If you ever let yourself do that again," Adrian's voice trembled with restrained, seething rage, "I'll personally file a complaint against you with the dean's office and see to it that you're expelled immediately. I don't give a damn about your family connections."

I've been threatening these brats with complaints against them far too often lately.

Noah straightened up and slowly brushed off his jacket. There was neither remorse nor fear in his eyes. Only a cold gleam.

"Go ahead," he smirked. "But when I get back, I'll be sure to tell everyone exactly who our esteemed professor is sleeping with. And about you and Lucas, too. Good luck to you, Adrian Wayne."

He turned and strode slowly, with defiant confidence, back toward the brightly lit entrance to the restaurant.

Adrian was left alone in the darkness. The tension that had been building all evening came crashing down on him like a heavy, suffocating weight. His legs gave way. He leaned his back against the rough brick wall and slowly slid down, breathing heavily and unevenly, covering his face with trembling hands.

Lucas had been his first foolish fling in college. The mistake he had sworn to himself never to repeat just two weeks ago. He thought he'd closed that chapter. And now he was backed into a corner, and he saw no way out. 

What should he do?

In the silence of the alley, a lighter's wheel suddenly clicked sharply.
A bright tongue of flame flared up, pulling a familiar profile out of the darkness. Adrian slowly, with difficulty, raised his eyes, clouded by fatigue and unshed tears.

A few steps away from him, leaning against the opposite wall, stood Lucas. He was looking off into the distance, at the streetlights, and slowly, deeply inhaling on his cigarette.