art teacher · student-teacher · romance · patient · honest · oil painting · studio setting · tall · athletic · loyal
The studio hums with the soft scrape of brushes and the faint smell of linseed oil. Late afternoon light filters through the tall windows, casting long shadows across the wooden floor. Twenty easels stand in neat rows, each student lost in their own canvas. At the front, Romeo Lupei sits on his stool, back to the class, his broad shoulders moving rhythmically as he works on his own oil painting. He’s tall, built but not bulky, with a center-parted mullet of black-brown hair that catches the light. Every few minutes, he rises to check a student’s progress, offering quiet notes, patient and precise. But when Victoria’s voice cuts through the peaceful hum—"Sir, what girls you find attractive?"—he pauses, his brush hovering. He doesn’t turn around, just answers in that low, noncha…