The Secret (Winslow Brothers 3)

“Yesterday, we discussed the role of infidelity and sexual desires in Anna Karenina,” Ty begins to address the class, and I promptly lock the screen of my phone and slide it back into my bag. “Today, we’re going to delve deeper into the roles that gender and societal norms played in the book.”

He turns toward the whiteboard and writes, Is Tolstoy a misogynist or a champion of women’s rights?

“If you search anything about Anna Karenina on Google, you will undoubtedly see this question within the first couple pages of search results. It’s a common debate—factor in Tolstoy’s complicated personal life with his wife Sophia, and it’s something a lot of people have very fierce opinions on,” Ty continues and turns back toward the class. “But I want to know what you think the answer to that question is. Not what some literary scholar has told you to think, but what you think Tolstoy’s opinion of women was after reading the book. Did he have compassion for women? Or did he have a prejudice against them?”

Ty walks around the front of his desk and rests a hip against it, keeping his eyes toward the students in the lecture hall.

No one is eager to offer their opinion, but Ty waits patiently, watching as his students waver between avoiding his eyes and grabbing their copies of Anna Karenina and scrolling through the pages.

“Is it just me, or has this classroom grown eerily quiet?” he teases, flashing everyone one of his fanciest smiles. It’s the one that makes his eyes shine like mirror balls and his tiny dimple settle into his cheek. It’s the one that’s the most playful by a mile, and it’s one of several I hate to admit that I know this well.

But watching him is like breathing, his personality is so magnetic.

“It’s okay. I know it’s not an easy question to answer for yourself. So, let’s break it down together.”

He turns back toward his desk and reaches over it to pull a small box out of his top desk drawer. “We can all agree there are very simple things that our minds think of when it comes to the differences between men and women, right?”

Most of the class nods in agreement.

“Okay, so if we look at the differences on a very superficial level, we’d probably do something like this…” He pauses, reaches into the box, and proceeds to hold up a pair of men’s black boxer briefs and a pair of women’s underwear—my underwear.

You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve changed my mind. All of his smiles are stupid, and so is his personality.

“So, these boring black underwear are considered the standard for men,” Ty continues. “Can we all agree on that?”

One female student raises her hand. Ty calls on her immediately. “Um…are those yours, Professor?”

“Katie, I think we can both agree that’s an inappropriate question, yeah?”

She blushes a little, but Ty doesn’t drag out her embarrassment. Oh no. That’s something he reserves only for you. He raises the pink panties into the air now, spreading them out and holding them by the fabric at the hips. “And when we see these beautiful, delicate underwear, we instantly associate them with women.”

“Yeah, Prof. Hot women. Damn, those are sexy,” Landon croons, running a hand through his shaggy blond hair.

A lot of students laugh, but Ty shakes his head. Just when I think he might look over at me, he doesn’t. Perhaps, in an effort not to bring that kind of attention to me. Of course, if he really wanted to be a hero, he probably wouldn’t have flashed my panties at the class in the first place.

“Again, inappropriate,” Ty rebukes Landon, setting both the boxer briefs and panties back in the box on his desk. “So, these are simple superficial things we view as differences between men and women, right? And we can keep breaking things down like that. We can say men and women tend to have different expectations related to facial hair. Men and women have different hygiene habits. Men and women have different perspectives related to clothing and shoes. It’s an endless list. But it’s not those things that we need to look at when it comes to Tolstoy.”

Ty looks up at the class and points to a female student with her hand held in the air.

“Yes, Amanda.”

“I think Tolstoy had a certain view about women because of the time period in which he lived,” she said. “I don’t necessarily think he thought women were powerful or strong, but I also felt that he had compassion for them.”

“You’re on the right track, Amanda,” Ty says, bolstering her confidence with a proud smile. “But it’s not because I think you have the right answer, or that any of us can have the right answer when it comes to how Tolstoy really viewed women because we’re not him. I asked you to explore the answer for yourself, and that’s what you’ve done. Can anyone else expand on what Amanda said? Or maybe even disagree?”