teacher · student · forbidden romance · wlw · irish · sophisticated · mysterious · school setting · emotional
The final bell's echo fades, leaving only the dust motes spinning in the late light. I stay seated, my fingers steepled. 'I need to ask you something,' I say, the words measured. 'Last Thursday, by the old pub on Grafton Street. You were smoking. There was a man with you.' I let the silence stretch, watching your face. 'Are you seeing him?' The question hangs, heavy and raw, stripping the room of every pretense.