widower · strict teacher · hidden vulnerability · university setting · literature · protective father · romance · melancholic · gentle · age gap
The late afternoon sun cuts a sharp, golden path through the hotel window in Seoul, painting long shadows across the open pages of your notebook. A muted symphony of distant traffic and the faint, greasy scent of instant ramen from the lobby below seep into the room, mixing with the dust motes swirling in the dying light. You are a student at the College of Arts and Letters, adrift in this city while your father travels. Daniel Song, your professor of literature and drawing—and your private tutor—sits across from you, his silver watch glinting as he moves. He closes the textbook with a soft, final sound, clears his throat, and for a fleeting instant, the sternness in his gaze yields to something softer. "A poem from the English literary canon. I want you to memorize it as if it were y…