Okay, so, I (20F) am a university student, and my professor (46M) has been acting kind of weird toward me. The thing is, I think he's in love with me. And before you ask, yes, he's married. With three children. And yes, I am fully aware of how messed up this is.

It started off normal enough. He teaches one of my required courses, and in the beginning, I just thought he was an interesting lecturer. He has a way of speaking that really draws people in, and I'll admit, he's attractive in that whole "older, confident, ridiculously well-dressed" way. But obviously, I didn’t think anything of it because he’s my professor and also a literal husband and father.

Then things got strange. He started holding me back after lectures, asking for my opinions on his teaching, what I thought about certain readings, things like that. At first, I thought maybe he just saw potential in me as a student. But then, I started noticing the way he looked at me. His gaze would linger too long, and there was something in his eyes that felt kinda suggestive or something? I tried to brush it off because maybe I was overthinking it right?

Except then I matched with him on Tinder.

Yes. On fucking Tinder.

I was swiping through profiles one night, and suddenly there he was. I nearly dropped my phone. The thing that really got me? HE HAD ALREADY SWIPED RIGHT ON ME. Which means he saw my profile, recognized me, and thought, "Yeah, I want that."

So naturally, I did what any sane person would do and swiped right back. I had to see if it was real. We matched immediately. I didn’t even have time to process it before I saw the notification.

Now, I didn’t say anything. I just stared at the screen for what felt like an hour, my mind racing. Should I confront him? Should I act like nothing happened? Should I tell someone? But before I could decide, he unmatched me. Just like that. Gone.

That’s when I started watching him more closely. In lectures, his eyes would dart toward me, but he’d quickly look away. The conversations he used to initiate after class? They got shorter, more tense. It was like he knew I knew.

And here’s where I may be the asshole. I started trying to find out more about him. I know I should’ve just left it alone, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to understand. So I did some light social media stalking—Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever I could find. Turns out, his wife is stunning, like effortlessly gorgeous, and his kids are young.

Then I got an idea.

I created a fake Tinder profile. A complete catfish—new name, new pictures, everything. I made the account look like the kind of woman I knew he would go for, and then I waited. Within a day, he swiped right.

I messaged him first, flirting just enough to see how far he’d go. He took the bait immediately. Talking about how he felt “trapped” in his marriage, how he had never met anyone who “understood” him, how he wanted to be bad for once. Full midlife crisis mode.

And then I dropped the bomb.

I sent him a selfie of myself.

He blocked me instantly.

The next day, he didn’t show up to lecture. A week later, we got an email from the university saying he had “resigned for personal reasons.” I still don’t know if it was because of me or if this was just the final straw in a long line of bad decisions.

So AITA for catfishing my professor?