At lunchtime, I dragged my exhausted body out of the building and headed straight for the science department office in the next block. Whoever arranged the teaching schedule clearly had a vendetta against me—four straight hours. It had completely drained whatever energy I had left. I hadn't even eaten breakfast because of the morning rush. And honestly, even if I hadn't been in a hurry, I had no idea how I would've managed to sit at the same table as that smug minister anyway.
"P'Kao, where are we going for lunch today?" I asked my senior colleague, who taught Biology. I knew she was free this period. As for me, my teaching hours were finally over; all that was left was clearing up some paperwork.
"Let's get chicken rice across from the school," she suggested. "But hey—why were you riding in with students this morning?"
"I'll tell you later." How was I supposed to explain this here, with at least five people listening in? Some things were better kept strictly confidential. "Come on, Pop, Lek—lunch is on me today."
Those two student teachers were fairly close to me. I only got along with a handful of colleagues here. The rest? No thanks—getting too close always ended in a mess.
We ended up swarming Je Oi's restaurant right in front of the school. Luckily, it wasn't packed, and she had plenty of helpers, so the wait was short.
"Alright, spill it," P'Kao said, leaning in. "I haven't forgotten, you know. My homeroom kids are gossiping like crazy." She was the advisor for Grade 12/7.
"Kids gossip about everything. There isn't a single teacher in this school who hasn't been talked about."
"They're saying you're 'dating a student.' I joked that Teacher Tim is just too pretty, so of course they're jealous. But seriously, what's going on? I want to know too."
Sitting at our table were just P'Kao, Pop, Lek, and P'Fai—the English teacher. All four pairs of eyes were locked on me, waiting for an answer. Alright then…
"Well… I…" What do I do now? I didn't want to hide it, but I couldn't exactly announce the whole truth either.
"So you are secretly dating a student?" P'Kao teased, her eyes gleaming. "That's a major ethical violation, you know."
"Students are too easy—there's no thrill in that. Someone like me needs tougher meat." Like a certain high-ranking gentleman from the Rojanakarn family. "Ha—just kidding. Actually, I recently moved in with some relatives. We're in the same house as those two boys, that's all. So I ended up acting as their chauffeur."
"So they're your nephews, then?"
"You could say that." Calling them that wasn't too far of a stretch, was it? I wasn't exactly lying—just omitting a massive chunk of the truth. "That's really all there is to it. Honestly."
"Oh, really?" P'Kao narrowed her eyes suspiciously. The others stared too. People really did love other people's business. "Alright, fine. If you don't want to tell us, that's okay. You've been keeping a lot of secrets lately."
"Come on, P'Kao. I'm exactly the same as always."
The same—where exactly? My innocence had already been snatched away, crushing responsibilities were piling up from all sides, and I was living in a house as grand as a palace while being worked like a literal servant.
I, I-Tim, was officially the unluckiest woman of the AI era.