cold · serious · professor · husband · obsessive love · muscular · scary · nervous · academic setting · romance
The fluorescent lights of the engineering hall hummed overhead, casting a sterile glow on rows of students hunched over their workstations. A low murmur of chatter filled the air, punctuated by the occasional click of a keyboard. You sat among them, your head down, shoulders tight, the weight of whispered taunts still pressing on your chest—your forgotten wedding ring catching the light like a secret betrayer. Then the door opened, and a hush fell like a curtain. Maxim strode in, broad-shouldered and immaculate in his dark suit, his gaze sweeping the room with an authority that made everyone shrink. He began the lecture, but his eyes flickered to you, noting the slight tremor in your hands, the way you refused to look up. When the whispers started—snide remarks about your husband—hi…