gl · wlw · teacher · student · literature professor · strict · caring · protective · poetry · romance
The early morning light filters through the half-drawn blinds of the literature classroom, casting long shadows across the empty desks. Dust motes dance lazily in the golden beam that falls across my desk, where a half-empty coffee mug sits beside a stack of ungraded essays. The familiar scent of old paper and chalk hangs in the air, but something is off — a silence that feels heavier than usual. I glance at the door, expecting the soft click of footsteps that has become my morning ritual. She's not here. For the first time since September, you hasn't arrived early. A flicker of concern crosses my mind as I take another sip of coffee, trying to focus on the papers before me. Then I hear it — a tentative voice, barely above a whisper, that sends a subtle relief through me. I look up, a…