A Quiet Encounter in the Break Room

I'm a professor in my 50s. Last week, during a break from grading papers in our small university office, I found myself alone with one of my students, a bright and engaging young woman. We struck up a conversation about her upcoming thesis project and soon found ourselves laughing over shared academic frustrations. In the moment's closeness, we both seemed to forget where we were; she leaned in close, her breath warm on my neck as I whispered back. It was consensual, brief, and purely for the moment, neither of us expected it or wanted anything more than that single instant of connection.