Can't Help Falling For Him

Chapter ~1 The Spanish Teacher

Ava stared at the timetable on her phone for the fifth time, as if the words would magically rearrange themselves.

Spanish 101 - Room 304 - Prof. Mateo Herrera

She groaned, letting her head fall back against the library chair. Spanish. Of all the electives she could've picked, she'd chosen the one language she had zero talent for. And to make it worse, the entire university had been buzzing about the new Spanish teacher for weeks.

"He's so handsome."
"Like, actually model material."
"I heard he's only twenty-six."
"Why didn't I take Spanish this semester?"

Ava had rolled her eyes every single time. She didn't have the energy to crush on a teacher. She barely had the energy to pass her core subjects.

Her grades last semester had been... let's call it generously average. A 2.1 GPA. Her mother's voice echoed in her head: "Ava, you need to focus. Your cousin just got into med school."

Yeah. Thanks, Mom.

---

The classroom was packed when she walked in. And not just full - Stuffed. Girls occupied every front-row seat, whispering and giggling like it was a concert. Ava squeezed into a seat at the very back, next to a window that overlooked the campus courtyard.

Then he walked in.

Mateo Herrera was not what she expected. He was tall, sharp jawline, dark hair swept back, and eyes that looked like they'd seen a thousand things. He wore a simple white button-up with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and he carried a leather messenger bag like he'd stepped out of a European film.

The room went silent.

"Good morning," he said, his voice calm and low, with a slight Spanish accent. "I'm Professor Herrera. Welcome to Spanish 101."

He scanned the room and his gaze landed on the back row for exactly half a second. On Ava. No reaction. Just moved on.

Good, she thought. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him. Perfect.

---

"Alright, let's start with introductions. Name, major, and why you're taking this class."

One by one, students went. Most of them gave flustered, giggly answers. "I've always loved Spanish culture." "I want to travel to Spain someday." "My grandmother was from Barcelona."

When it was Ava's turn, she kept it short.

"Ava Charles. Business major. I needed an elective and this fit my schedule."

Mateo looked at her, pen paused over his clipboard. "That's it?"

"That's it."

A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Honest. I appreciate that."

She didn't smile back.

---

Weeks passed. Ava kept her head down, scraped by with C-minuses on quizzes, and watched from the back row as the other girls found increasingly creative ways to talk to Professor Herrera after class. One girl brought him homemade tteokbokki. Another asked for "extra help" she clearly didn't need. A third actually pretended to faint outside his classroom.

Mateo handled it all with a polite but distant professionalism. He never encouraged it. If anything, he looked tired of it.

Ava noticed that. She noticed a lot of things about him without meaning to.

The way he tapped his fingers on the desk when he was thinking. The way he said vale under his breath when he was correcting a paper. The way his eyes softened, just slightly, when someone actually tried hard in his class.

Not that she cared.

---

Then came the announcement.

"University-wide educational tour," the notice board read. "Jeju Island. Five days. Students will be paired with a faculty chaperone."

Ava had almost skipped it - she didn't have the money or the time - but her best friend, Haejin, had begged her.

"Come on! It's Jeju! The cherry blossoms, the beaches, the tangerines! We'll take a thousand photos!"

So Ava signed up. Last minute. The only slot left.

She checked her pairing.

Student- Ava Charles Charpone-Prof.Mateo Herrera

She stared at the screen.

"You've got to be kidding me."