Dating My Advisor’s Son

The moment I started dating my professor’s son, I enacted a new policy: the son pays for the father’s sins. When his dad humiliated me in a group meeting, I cussed him out. When his dad rejected my paper, I took it out on him. When his dad tried to make me look like a fool in class, I made sure he couldn’t get out of bed. This continued until my advisor introduced me to his star pupil. With his help, my experiments and my paper finally began to sing in harmony. I was in such a good mood, I didn’t have time to discipline Leo anymore. I never expected him to corner me in the lab, his eyes red-rimmed. “So that’s why you haven’t been calling me, Sienna,” he said, his voice trembling. “It’s because you found yourself a new… lab siren.”

1 I’m a grad student, which is just a fancy way of saying I’m perpetually miserable. To make matters worse, my advisor is the notoriously demanding Professor Karl Harrison. The rumor among the senior students was simple: “Choose Professor Harrison, choose death.” I figured it would be a quick and clean execution. Instead, it was death by a thousand cuts from a dull knife—slow, bloodless, and soul-crushing. My first draft had just been rejected for the third time. His comments were enough to make you want to jump off a bridge: “The abstract is excellent. A true masterpiece of brain removal.” “I asked for a first draft, not a rough draft scribbled on a napkin.” “In the future, please submit something a living person can read. This is just demonic.” In the cafeteria, I found myself stabbing at a piece of potato on my plate. My life felt just like it—stewed into an unrecognizable mush. Then, a guy sat down at the table across from me. A devastatingly handsome guy with a textured crop cut and pale, cool skin. My eyes lit up. This was not the kind of face you find among us lab rats. We were a species defined by greasy hair, glasses, and the permanent gray pallor of sleep deprivation. He sat down and started scrolling through his phone. His messy bangs partially hid his brow bone, highlighting the straight, sharp line of his nose. I shuffled over and slid into the seat directly opposite him. “Well hello there,” I said. “You new? Haven’t seen you around.” He looked up, and his amber eyes shot straight into my heart.

2 The handsome stranger said he was a jock from the university next door, here to meet someone he knew. A slow smile spread across my face. An athlete. Perfect. All brawn, no brains. What a refreshingly uncomplicated creature! Nothing like my fossil of an advisor, who couldn’t string ten words together without eight of them being insults and the other two being a dry chuckle. Right now, a boy radiating this much raw, youthful energy was exactly what I needed. “What’s your name?” I asked, propping my chin on my hand. “Leo,” he said with a slight smile, revealing two perfect canine teeth. “Great name,” I purred, my eyes tracing the lines of his face. “Sounds like the name of my next boyfriend.” Leo froze for a second. Then, a deep blush crept up from the base of his neck, flooding his entire face. A sweet, shy freshman was no match for a shameless predator of a senior like me. The result was inevitable. Three days to hold hands, five to start making out, and a week to devour him completely. A boy new to the game is an energetic one. But he was also an incredibly attentive and eager-to-please partner. His damp eyes would gaze up at me, pleading. The soft brush of his hair against my inner thigh, his breath hot and ragged, sent shivers through me again and again. “Sienna… like this?” “Sienna, look at me.” “Sienna, you’re so beautiful.” I lost myself completely in his worship. And I may have gotten a little carried away.

3 The next morning, my alarm had gone off three times before I shot up in bed, my head throbbing. The Archdemon’s lecture. Being late meant an automatic deduction from my final grade. “Shit, shit, shit!” I scrambled out of bed, my legs giving way as I nearly collapsed. My hands fumbled frantically on the floor, searching for my clothes. Leo was lying on his side, propped up on an elbow. The blanket had slipped down to his waist, revealing a landscape of flawless muscle. “Sienna? Are you going to be late?” “What do you think?” I was on the verge of tears. He thought for a moment, his eyes brightening. “Hey, isn’t it one of those huge lectures? I can go for you! I’m a fast runner.” My hands, halfway through pulling on a sweater, paused. Sunlight streamed through the window, wrapping Leo in a soft, golden halo. The sharp definition of his muscles gave him the sculpted perfection of a Greek statue. In that moment, he looked divine. Three hours of that soul-crushingly boring lecture… My savior had arrived. I threw my arms around him and showered his face with kisses before reluctantly sending him on his way. He promised me he’d sprint to the lecture hall and wouldn’t be late. He’d find a seat in the back, keep a low profile, and even take pictures of the important slides for me. God bless college boys. So thoughtful, both in and out of bed. Beaming, I crawled back under the covers for another glorious hour of sleep. When I finally woke up on my own time, my phone had exploded. 99+ notifications. DMs and group chat mentions were popping up like crazy: [OMG SIENNA YOU WENT FOR THE JUGULAR!!] [That’s the first time I’ve ever seen the Archdemon speechless. That was a CHECKMATE move! Best campus drama I’ve seen in my life!] [Sienna, you’re my hero! You think Professor Harrison will have to treat you with respect now? I mean, you’re basically his future daughter-in-law!] What the hell was all this? I scrolled down through the chaos. Finally, I saw a DM from my roommate. It was just one line: [Sienna! Professor Harrison’s only son… is named Leo! From the Athletics department!] My brain short-circuited. It felt like a pressure cooker had just exploded inside my skull. For the next five minutes, I just sat there on the bed, my mind a complete blank. Son. As in, the male offspring. Leo was Karl Harrison’s son… Which meant I had, by complete accident, slept with the Archdemon’s son. And then, by another complete accident, I had sent the Archdemon’s son to sign in for me in his own father’s class, outing our relationship in the most public way imaginable. Ha. A lecture hall with nearly two hundred witnesses. This wasn’t just a walk of shame; it was a public execution. Ping. A new message popped up on my screen. It was from the Archdemon himself. [Your taste in men is as abysmal as your academic writing.] My heart, what was left of it, finally shattered into dust.

4 An hour later, Leo was kneeling on the rug in front of my sofa, head bowed, hands gripping his own ears in a gesture of penance. He peeked up at me, his amber eyes wet and pleading, looking for all the world like a giant, guilty puppy awaiting its punishment. “Sienna, I’m so sorry…” I closed my eyes, consumed by despair. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me your dad was Karl Harrison!” “I didn’t know he was your advisor until today…” his voice trailed off, thick with misery. By the time Leo realized something was wrong, it was too late. He’d already found a seat in the corner, trying to make himself invisible. But then his father had strolled over, tapping the desk with a curled finger. “Excuse me, young man. Who are you?” Leo looked up, his face a mask of doom. “…Dad.” The students around them: (A collective gasp) Professor Harrison’s expression didn’t change as his eyes dropped to Leo’s phone screen. “I meant, who are you signing in as?” My name was displayed in crystal clear letters. Making things infinitely worse, Leo stammered, “Sienna… She was really tired last night. Dad, you can’t blame her.” The gossiping students: “Ooooooh!” After hearing the full story… my face was ashen, my soul had departed my body. Leo shuffled closer on his knees and gently tugged on the hem of my shirt. “Sienna, I know my dad’s a monster, but I’m innocent!” he pleaded. “From now on, if he’s awful to you… just take it out on me, okay?” Was that even a thing? The son pays for the father’s sins? While I was still processing, Leo grabbed my hand and brought it toward his own face. “Just hit me. Don’t be mad anymore, please?” The moment my palm made contact with his cheek, he turned his head in perfect sync. Smack. It was a light sound, the hit carrying almost no force. But a faint red bloomed instantly on his pale skin. My heart stuttered. The pent-up frustration I’d been holding for weeks suddenly released, and a flicker of hidden pleasure sparked to life inside me.

5 The Archdemon, completely unconcerned that his son was now my personal punching bag, continued his brutal assault on my thesis. “Remarkable. Truly remarkable. By my count, this is the sixth new word you’ve invented. They should let you edit the next dictionary.” “Overall, this reads less like a research paper and more like a piece of absurdist fiction.” “Just keep writing. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can start over.” I paced my room, fuming. “We’re done! It’s over! I can’t even look at you right now without wanting to scream!” Leo followed me around like a puppy, holding a small cake and a bubble tea. “Babe, what did I do? I’m trying to escape my toxic family too! Just one bite of cake? Please?” “No!” “Then have a bite of me,” he murmured. “The son pays for the father’s sins. And I’m ready to pay with my body.” I spun around, and he was already pulling his long-sleeved T-shirt off over his head. He wiggled the cake and tea at me. “Cake, tea, or me?” His glistening chest was right there, in my face. I swallowed hard, trying to stay strong. “The very thought of you sharing blood with that monster makes me want to murder you!” Leo’s eyes narrowed playfully, the tips of his canines showing. “What kind of murder?” I raised my hand and slapped it against his chest. The muscle was firm and warm beneath my palm. Leo let out a low grunt. Instead of backing away, he leaned into it, pressing closer. His warm lips brushed against my ear. “Oh… that kind of murder…” Leo’s pale skin was incredibly sensitive. After we were done, his body was a canvas of mottled red marks and the faint impressions of my teeth. I licked my lips, utterly satisfied. The reflection in the mirror showed a woman glowing with life. The dark cloud of thesis-induced rage that had been hanging over me for days had vanished completely. The ‘son pays for the father’s sins’ policy was officially in effect. And I was becoming a monster. His dad humiliates me in a group meeting, I cuss him out. His dad rejects my paper, I take it out on him. His dad tries to make me look like a fool in class, I make sure he can’t get out of bed. … This went on until the Archdemon finally reached his breaking point with my fabricated data. He introduced me to his star pupil.

6 Karl Harrison rubbed his temples, his computer screen displaying the nonsense data I had concocted. “I must have been a serial killer in a past life to deserve teaching in this one.” I, the pig in question, stood beside him, not daring to breathe. My usual thick skin had worn thin. He glanced at me, his disgust unconcealed. “Sienna, it’s a miracle you wrote this much, and it’s an act of mercy that I’ve read this far.” “It has immense entertainment value, but zero academic merit.” “Can you swear to me,” he challenged, “that you could replicate these experimental results?” I flinched. Six experiments had yielded six completely unrelated sets of data. If the results hadn’t been so ridiculously off, I wouldn’t have had to resort to making them up. “Professor… I… I took the most representative trends and performed some… reasonable averaging,” I mumbled, my voice getting smaller. “Reasonable averaging?” Professor Harrison raised an eyebrow. “Your data is the equivalent of claiming a grandmother’s walking speed is five hundred miles per hour.” Well, he had me there. I thought I was off by an inch, not a few hundred miles. The Archdemon slid a business card across the desk to me. “Have your senior teach you what an experiment is. You’re writing fairy tales, not science.”

7 I couldn’t believe the Archdemon was actually pairing me with his most prized student. Aidan was a legend in our department. He’d published in a top-tier journal as an undergrad, making him Professor Harrison’s golden boy and a certified academic star. I’d only heard that he was humble and low-key. Working with him, I realized he was more than just handsome; he was so gentle and kind, it was hard to believe he was a product of Harrison’s mentorship. He spent a whole night with me in the lab, patiently helping me redesign my experiment from the ground up. Aidan’s teaching style was all about encouragement. He even complimented me on how well I washed a test tube. He also told me that the Archdemon actually thought highly of me. “You don’t know this, Sienna, but the more Professor Harrison values someone, the harsher he is with them. For a long time, he tore me down so much I seriously considered finding a time to hang myself from his office door.” I muttered under my breath, “My coping mechanism is much healthier. The most I’ve considered is hanging his son from his office door.” “Hmm?” Aidan didn’t catch that. I waved my hand dismissively. “Nothing, nothing.” Aidan smiled. “He’s always praising you to me, you know.” My ears perked up. “Praising me? How?” “Well… he said he can tell your papers aren’t written by AI. You don’t take shortcuts, you’re not opportunistic. He said that’s a very good quality.” I rolled my eyes. “Let me guess, he left out the second half of that sentence: ‘because AI wouldn’t write something this bad.’” Aidan’s smile was warm. “Don’t sell yourself short. If you run into any trouble, your big brother is here to help.” With Aidan’s guidance and support, I was fired up, working with a newfound passion. I spent every waking moment in the lab. I barely had time to reply to Leo’s texts, maybe two or three a day. Seeing him in person was out of the question. I was observing a reaction, jotting down data. “Aidan, do you think I might be pregnant? Just looking at these numbers makes me want to puke.” Aidan got my joke and slid a milk tea across the bench to me. “Weren’t you two careful? I thought you always took precautions afterward.” Just as he finished speaking, there was a loud thud from the lab doorway, like someone had slammed into the frame. A dark figure quickly vanished. “What was that? Are the campus cats getting that big?” Aidan stood up and walked to the door, looking around. He bent down and picked up an elegantly wrapped bouquet of champagne-colored roses. When he turned back, his expression was amused. “Looks like it was a person,” he said, handing the flowers to me. “And I think they’re for you.” I grabbed the bouquet and ran outside, finding Leo by the flowerbeds below the science building. His head was hanging low, and he was clutching a thermos. He looked completely dejected. “What are you doing here?” I asked, walking up to him. “…I ran pretty far. Didn’t want you to have trouble finding me.” He looked up, his eyes downcast, the picture of misery. My heart softened, and I reached out to ruffle his soft hair. “Why didn’t you just come into the lab?” “I was afraid…” His Adam’s apple bobbed. His voice was muffled. “Afraid I’d interrupt you two.” He whispered the last two words so quietly I almost didn’t hear them. Then he quickly shoved the thermos into my hands. “This is chicken soup. I made it for you.” I was pleasantly surprised. “You can make soup?” “I read online that the way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach.” He turned his face away, the tips of his ears turning red. “So I’ve been… working on my cooking skills.” “Aww,” I cooed, giving his shoulder a light punch. “Your cooking has always been great. You’re a master of the ‘one-handed stir-fry,’ after all.” Leo’s face flushed crimson, but the sadness in his eyes didn’t fade. He was quiet for a few seconds before asking in a low voice, “So… who’s better? Me or him?” “Huh?” I didn’t hear him clearly. “Who?” He shook his head, his voice raspy. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” He stood up, his tall frame casting a shadow over me, and took a deep breath. “Sienna, I’m leaving for the national tournament soon. Whatever decision you make… can you just wait until I get back to tell me? Please?” His words left me completely baffled. Before I could process anything, Leo leaned down and pressed a light, almost reverent kiss to my lips. Then he turned and strode away. I stood there, stunned. Was it a trick of the light? Or were his eyes glistening with tears just now?