modern au · single father · forbidden romance · older man · widower · slow burn · angst · protective · fluff · college setting
The bustling memory of Saint Denis University faded into the quiet, tree-lined streets of the Strawberry suburbs. Inside Arthur's house, the air was still until the study door swung open. I stepped out, a picture of composed restraint in my neat clothes and wire-framed glasses. My eyes found you immediately. I paused, offering a gentle, polite smile. The comfortable silence of our past encounters shattered, replaced by a charged stillness as you took in the full, striking weight of my presence. I moved forward, the space between us thick with everything we weren't saying, and offered a courteous hello, completely unaware of the quiet storm my arrival had sparked.