Chapter 11: The Professor's Dirty Little Secret

Thursday | October 19th, 2023 | 7:21 AM

From the driver's seat, I stared at Taeyeon's house through the rearview mirror. Her car was still parked in the driveway, so we knew she was still inside. We had to bide our time and wait. Sitting in my passenger's seat was Nakyung, who was on her phone and waiting just like me.

"She's probably getting ready," Nakyung muttered, glancing up at the house. I yawned, obviously still sleepy. It wasn't exactly easy to get up at the crack of dawn, but we managed. The thought of what we were about to do was exciting enough to keep me going.

"Yeah," I murmured, stretching my arms. "I'll let you know when her car starts. Hopefully, she leaves in a few."

"Yeah, hope so," Nakyung said, sighing and resting her head back. It was quiet between us, and the only thing audible was the soft music playing on the radio. The sky was a nice bright blue, the sun was out, and there wasn't a single cloud. It was a perfect day.

I couldn't wait. My heart was beating a little faster, a little more excited and eager for the plan to start. The anxiety and excitement were beginning to mix, and it was driving me crazy. The longer we waited, the more restless I became. But then, as if right on cue, a figure appeared from the house, exiting out the front door.

Taeyeon had her purse hanging from her shoulder, her phone and keys in her hand. She was dressed more casually today, wearing a plain white shirt tucked into a pair of loose gray slacks. I watched as she locked the front door, and walked to her car, slipping into the driver's seat.

"Here we go," Nakyung said, nudging my arm. I nodded and kept my eyes glued to the car, as it began to back out of her driveway. It started driving down the street, before eventually turning and disappearing out of sight.

"Okay, we're clear," I mumbled, unbuckling my seatbelt. "Let's go." I pushed open the car door and stepped out, hearing the sound of Nakyung following me. As the two of us hurried down the sidewalk, we glanced around, looking for any passerby or witnesses. The block was relatively quiet, so we were in the clear as far I can tell.

Reaching the fence that protected Taeyeon's backyard, I turned to Nakyung and wrapped my arms around her waist. With a slight lift, I held her up, allowing her to grab the edge of the fence and pull herself over. She landed with a loud thump on the other side, and I was quick to follow, climbing up and throwing myself over.

Nakyung was waiting for me on the other side, standing near the backdoor.

"This is so exciting," She said, biting her lip and glancing at me. I couldn't help but smile back, feeling a little giddy and nervous myself. I walked over towards the window I had unlocked, pressing my palm against the glass and pulling it up, opening the window completely. With the end zone right in front of me, I turned to Nakyung and gave her a small wink.

"Ready?" I asked. She nodded and started pushing her body through the window. I politely helped her through, my hands resting on her hips as I guided her. Once her upper body had fully entered the house, I watched as her lower half followed. Her feet disappeared into the window, and she was gone, entering Taeyeon's house.

I was about to aimlessly follow after until I heard the backdoor to my right start opening.

"Hey," Nakyung whispered, poking her head outside. She grabbed my attention and opened the door wider. "Don't be stupid, dummy. Use the door," She chided. I smiled sheepishly and ducked away from the window, stepping into the house with her. Closing the door behind me, we finally had the house to ourselves.

Everything looked the same since yesterday. However, the silence was the most unnerving part. Something about the lack of sound made me feel nervous, maybe even more nervous than if Taeyeon was home. Needless to say, my guard was up but Nakyung, on the other hand, seemed comfortable enough.

"C'mon," She said, grabbing my hand and tugging me forward. She was excited, her face was lit up with joy and a wide smile. Her fingers laced with mine, and she started walking me around the kitchen, exploring the nooks and crannies the kitchen had to offer.

I spotted a collage of pictures tacked to the front of her fridge, something I didn't notice in my brief and rushed moment of hiding underneath her dining table. From what I could see, Taeyeon had a love for nature as most of the photos on her fridge were shots of scenic views.

Few of them contained Taeyeon, who was often seen posing in front of a nature shot. Near the bottom of the collage, there was a photo of Taeyeon hugging a man in front of a waterfall. Her smile in this photo was definitely the biggest and the brightest out of all the others. It just tickled my brain as I wondered why a picture like this would be near the bottom of the collage, where it'd basically be hidden away from view.

"I don't think we're gonna find her panties in the kitchen," I pointed out, looking back at Nakyung. She smiled as she closed a cabinet, "You're right, let's get to that bedroom already." Her eyes must've caught the hallway as she naturally started gravitating towards it. I followed along, passing up the dining table that I had some fond memories with.

Nakyung's steps echoed through the house, as she walked across the hardwood floor and towards the carpeted hallway. She carefully pushed open doors, peering in and closing them until she found what she was looking for. Entering Taeyeon's bedroom, we were immediately met with the sight of a queen-sized bed. Taeyeon's bedroom was relatively big, and everything was perfectly placed. From the nightstand, the dresser, and even the lamp on top of her drawer, there was nothing that felt out of place.

I could feel the tension between us rising. Nakyung turned her head towards me, a sly grin on her face as her fingers slipped into mine, giving my hand a light squeeze. To our right was a doorway which led to her bathroom. She had a big shower, complete with a jacuzzi tub. The counter had a few knick-knacks and some bottles of perfume.

"We should start looking," Nakyung said, letting go and wandering deeper into her bathroom. Of course, my first instinct was to explore the dresser drawers. As I pulled them open from top to bottom, I got a good look into Taeyeon's casual life. She had a liking for plaid and pastel colors, having multiple sets of matching shirts and pajama pants.

It was a cute discovery. As I went from drawer to drawer, there was a distinct lack of underwear and bras. That is, until I opened up the bottom-most drawer. Inside were multiple pairs of bras and panties. My eyes scanned over the jackpot, and I was surprised by how normal and vanilla they looked. The bra she wore was just your standard everyday bra, and her underwear was mostly mute colored panties like beige or black.

I didn't want to seem too disappointed, but I had been hoping for something more, well, exciting. However, I had no room to complain. So long as they belonged to Taeyeon, they were enough for me. I reached in and pulled out the first pair, a plain black set of panties.

"Did you find anything?" I called out.

"Just some clothes, that's about it," She answered, shuffling around inside. I decided not to call out to her and instead focused on the underwear I had picked up. It was soft and silky in my hand, the fabric nice to the touch. As I held it close to my face, I noticed a sweet floral scent coming off of it.

My eyes were glued to it as I inhaled the scent, smiling softly to myself. I didn't bother looking for anything else, not even a bra. With a pair of Taeyeon's panties in my hands, it was a big enough treasure for me. I folded the undergarments and slipped it into my pocket, continuing to sift through the drawer, wondering what else she had stashed inside.

Nakyung came out from the bathroom empty-handed, sighing as she joined me near the dresser. She dropped to her knees and peered into the bottom drawer. "I couldn't find anything interesting, like a sex toy or something," She commented, disappointment in her tone.

I smiled at her words, laughing softly. "Yeah, neither did I," I said. She sighed and pulled out a random pair, inspecting them closely.

"I mean, you got your panties," Nakyung remarked, picking out a beige pair of panties. Her fingers ran across the fabric and I nodded, humming.

"Yeah," I muttered. I watched as her gaze lowered to the drawer, where she stared at the remaining pairs of underwear. There were so many that I figured we could probably steal a handful and still wouldn’t make a dent. I held back though, knowing there was a limit that I shouldn’t test. As she rummaged through them, I couldn't help but notice her gaze lingering longer and longer.

"You wait here for me, okay? I'm gonna use the bathroom," She suddenly said, getting to her feet. Her hand gripped onto the pair she had been holding, and she walked back towards the closet doorway, disappearing.

I was left alone with the open drawer. Shrugging, I closed it and continued browsing through her room, taking my time. I noticed a lack of photos everywhere, and wondered where else she had her memorabilia. After searching around for a bit, my eyes landed on her bed.

A mattress, pillows, and a comforter. There wasn't anything special or out of the ordinary about her bed, but I still couldn't stop thinking about it. I simply sat down onto her mattress, sinking into it. It was really soft, and I was impressed by how comfortable it was. I was about to lean back and rest, but my urge to explore was peaking.

Guided by my instincts, I stood up from the bed and fell down to my knees. I craned my head down as I looked underneath her bed, scanning the space underneath. I saw a rather large box sitting in the middle.

Curiosity getting the best of me, I reached forward and dragged the box out. Out in the open, I can see the top was covered by a plastic lid. I pulled back the lid and saw a large assortment of printed pictures. I couldn't stop myself from digging through her stuff, diving through her past as the photos flew in between my fingers.

The majority of these pictures were Taeyeon, but I knew she was younger in these photos. There was a sense of normalcy with each photo, and it made me smile. They were cute and nostalgic, making me think of my own high school memories. In one picture, Taeyeon was in the center of a group of about nine girls, all smiling towards the camera underneath a banner that read "Girls' Generation". It must've been some club she was in while she was in school by the looks of it.

Wow, she was really cute when she was younger. Taeyeon was definitely the type of girl I would’ve been crushing on during high school. There even seemed to have been an era where she went through a blonde phase. I wasn’t into blondes but damn, Taeyeon made it look good. I sorted through the photos, digging through my professor’s past.

Then, as the stack of pictures in my hand began to grow smaller, I eventually came across a photo that caught my eye. I could recognize Taeyeon, still smiling as always, while dressed in a wedding dress. She was holding a bouquet of flowers and standing in the background were a group of girls who were wearing bridesmaid dresses, some I recognized from that club she was a part of.

It was the groom who I was curious about. He was handsome and looked much older than her, with his hair slicked back and dressed in a dashing suit. I couldn't stop staring at his face.

"So she was married?" I murmured, turning the photo around. There was a date scrawled in pen, indicating it was taken about 12 years ago. She looked extremely happy and carefree, her smile brighter than ever. Pushing aside more pictures, I saw the same man coming into fruition again and again, in varying locations and scenarios.

The thing that was nagging me in the back of my head was if she had a husband, where is he now? There’s barely any pictures of him around, and I for sure only saw just one on her fridge earlier. And why were his photos shoved deep underneath her bed, as if they were being hidden away. My suspicions were confirmed when I finally reached the bottom of the box, a stack of papers catching my eye.

There was a small, thin paperclip connecting the top pages, and as I spread the stack apart, the first page revealed the divorce papers. Taeyeon's name was clearly written on the dotted line, her signature present and fresh. This was somewhat recently done, the marriage ceased just three years ago.

"Damn," I muttered, flipping through the pages and reading each document carefully. A part of me was curious as to why her ex-husband filed for divorce and left her. But, it wasn't really my place to speculate or question. The only thing I could do was put them back and hope I didn't mess anything up.

I neatly stacked the papers back together, and placed them back inside. With a sigh, I filled the box back up with the photos and closed it off. Just as I was about to push the box back underneath, my eyes caught the glimpse of a tiny camera that was revealed after I pulled the box out. It would've been completely hidden from view had I not moved the box out.

"What's this?" I murmured, reaching forward and pulling the camera out. It was a simple and plain camera, and as I powered it on, I saw it had a decent amount of memory on it. However, the camera didn't have any sort of USB port or anything that could link it to a computer, which meant the pictures were kept on the camera.

I didn't even have to scroll far to find pictures of her ex-husband. They were candid, but I could tell she had some interest in him, especially considering she had multiple photos of him on her camera. She took a lot of pictures of him, and there were so many that I even somewhat felt a little bad for her.

She must've really loved him. But, the more I scrolled through the camera, the more I realized these pictures were from a long time ago, when they were dating and were happy. 

From what I remember in class, Taeyeon does smile a lot at us but this type of smile, it was something genuine. Like you could tell that no doubt about it, she was truly happy. Then soon enough, I started finding photos that looked to have been taken somewhat recently and her smile slowly dwindled before the two of them could’ve been mistaken for strangers.