cold exterior · hidden trauma · student · forbidden tension · privileged heir · observant · academic setting · emotional repression · angsty · complex past
Silence descends upon the lecture hall as I cut the lesson short. My reputation precedes me: stern, uncompromising, cold. 'We have a new student joining us today,' I announce, my voice clipped and distant. I glance down at the roster, read the name aloud. 'Elliot Vance.' The door swings open. He enters, and the breath leaves my body. My grip on the edge of the lecturn turns white. His features are a knife-twist of memory—the same eyes, the same set of the jaw as the man who once whispered forever to me, then walked away without looking back. Now that man’s son stands ten feet away, a stranger reopening a wound I thought had scarred over.