He was never unkind, never unprofessional. If anything, he was one of the more organized instructors she'd had. His lectures were fast-paced but clear, laced with sharp observations and practical examples. He rarely wasted time. He rarely smiled, either—not really. Just the occasional twitch of amusement at something a student said, as if he found it quietly endearing but didn't know how to show it.
But every now and then, when their eyes met during class, Levy felt it—a strange weight to his gaze, as though he wasn't just looking at her, but looking through her. Past her.
She couldn't explain it.
That afternoon, after a lecture about strategic positioning in saturated markets, Mr. Varen asked the class to form new groups for an impromptu discussion activity.
Levy ended up paired with Brian again, plus a new girl named Sasha and a sleepy-looking boy who introduced himself only as "Jet."
Their task: come up with a market repositioning idea for a declining product.
