That’s How We Kept Our Relationship A Secret

If I had a yen for every time I encountered Sensei unexpectedly, I would be a rich man by now.

I was surprised to find Sensei standing in front of me. Flashbacks of when we first met in high school appeared in my mind. 

“What are you doing here, Sensei?”

“She’s my teacher. Isn’t this great?”

“Yeah. It’s great.”

After school, I went over to Sensei’s apartment to talk to her about our current situation.

“Why didn’t you tell me you got a job at my university?”

“I didn’t know it was your university.”

“How did you not know?”

“Because you never told me the name!”

She was right. I had never mentioned the name of the university to her.

“What do we do?”

“What do you mean?”

“About our relationship. Universities often have strict codes of conduct and policies in place regarding a teacher and a student being in a relationship. I’m sure this one is no exception.”

She was right again. The main reason I asked Sensei to wait for me to graduate high school before we started dating was because I wanted to avoid a scenario like this. In order to prevent conflicts of interest, power imbalances, or potential negative impacts on the learning environment, many educational institutions have policies that discourage or even prohibit romantic relationships between students and teachers, particularly if the teacher has direct authority over the student’s academic progress.

If we were going to continue dating while also being a teacher and a student, we would need to be very careful not to get caught by the school or its students.

“Sozen, I’m going to ask you a serious question. Do you still want to date me?”

“How could you ask that sort of question?”

“It’s going to be tricky having a relationship that must be kept hidden from the public. Are you sure you want to deal with that?”

Essentially, what she was saying was, am I okay dating a teacher? I could tell she was worried she might harm my position in the university. If I were to get into a scandal, I would lose my place at the university immediately. She wasn’t asking this question out of professionalism; she was asking it because she was worried for me.

I took Sensei by the hands and looked at her. “I don’t want to just be your student.”

Sensei’s eyes widened, almost touched by my sincerity. “So you’re okay with continuing to be my boyfriend?”

“Of course. Are you okay with still being my girlfriend?”

She passionately hugged me. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. You’re mine. Wait, that sounds too possessive.”

“No.” I pulled her away and gazed into her eyes. “I am yours.”

She smiled at me. “And I am yours.”

Since it is weird for a student and a teacher to be seen hanging out outside of school, Sensei and I decided to limit our dates to two per month. Whenever we went on our dates or when I had to go to her apartment, we would need to disguise ourselves and make sure no one could recognise us.

For example, last weekend, Sensei and I went to the cinema to watch a movie together, so we hid ourselves by wearing casual clothing like a hoodie and a cap. We even wore face masks to hide our identities. Our rendezvous points were carefully picked—a hidden cafe, a parking lot, and even Nobusuke’s Noodles. After a week of doing this, we were already tired of it. It was tough maintaining a secret relationship.

After our second date of the month, Sensei and I didn’t see each other besides in school. We would text and FaceTime whenever we were at home, but I still felt lonely.

“I wonder how long we’ll have to keep this a secret.”

“I think if we can keep it hidden till you graduate university, then that should be fine.” Sensei said.

“So another three years… Great.”

“It’ll be hard, but we’ll make it work.”

Whenever I felt exhausted from all the secrecy, I would remind myself that Sensei was by my side, and with her I could accomplish anything.

I could hear a hissing sound in the background of the call. “What’s that sound?”

I watched Sensei look behind her and see smoke coming from the kitchen. “Oh, shoot! My cooking!”

She rushed away from the phone to tend to the food.

“Riho, are you okay?”

The fire alarm went off.

“Riho? Sensei!?”

There was no reply. I had the urge to get up and run to her apartment at full speed, but then the loud screeching sound stopped. Sensei appeared in front of the camera again.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. The food I was cooking got burned, though. I think I’m going to order something today. Do you want to come by and have dinner with me?”

“Sorry, but I have to wake up early tomorrow for class. Maybe next time.”

“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

The next day started horribly. Despite setting two alarms on my phone, I still woke up late, which meant I had to skip breakfast and rush to my classroom. On my way to class, I was so focused on making it on time that I accidentally ran into a girl.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” The pink-haired woman replied.

“I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine. I also wasn’t looking where I was going.

I noticed her books were scattered on the floor, so I helped her pick them up.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Are you heading to Econ?”

“Yes.” I noticed her books were for economics as well. “Are you also an economics student?”

“Yes. I woke up late, so I was rushing to class.”

“So did I.”

“I see.” She chuckled.

“Shall we go together then?”

“Sure.”

Together, we ran to class and barely made it on time. After class, the girl approached me.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Do you want to get some lunch?”

“Oh, sure.”

After buying lunch, we sat down at a table together. Upon further inspection, I realised she was rather cute. Her most distinctive feature was her pink hair, which was tied up in a ponytail. It matched well with her white blouse.

“I never introduced myself,” the girl said. “My name is Kondo Momo.”

“I’m Kurosawa Sozen. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You too.”

We began talking about different topics, such as our hobbies and economics. She explained how her girlfriend was studying abroad, so they had to be in a long-distance relationship. I mentioned how I could somewhat relate since my best friend, Yoshi, was studying abroad. I also thought about how my relationship with Sensei was also similar since we barely saw each other outside of school except for the two times we went on dates.

Days passed by, and I became more accustomed to the university. With Kondo-san’s help, I made some more friends. Furthermore, my relationship with Sensei was still going strong. Despite the lack of time we got to spend with one another, we still talked to each other every day, whether it was when I met up with Karou after class or on call.

But things were soon about to change.