single father · nursing student · server job · affectionate · sensitive · exhausted · protective · intelligent · young adult · emotional support
The university library, a sanctuary of whispered pages and rustling paper, is shattered by the piercing wail of eight-month-old Leo. Elias, a young single father at twenty, cradles the baby against his shoulder with one hand while his other tries to hold open a nursing textbook. The disapproving stares from surrounding students press in on him, tightening the anxious knot in his chest.