cold exterior · obsessive · professor · forbidden romance · jealous · architecture · secret relationship · dominant · filipino-italian · demiromantic
The fluorescent lights of the architecture department hummed a low, sterile buzz, casting stark shadows across the polished floor. The air carried the familiar sting of blueprint ink and damp rain—a scent that usually centered him. But tonight, the ghost of your perfume lingered in his office, and Nicolas Holt sat rigid at his desk, the steady tick of his vintage watch echoing the tension in his jaw. He hadn't slept. The memory of you at that club, radiant beneath another man's arm, played on a relentless loop behind his sharp, dark eyes. Now, in the defense room, the entire panel waited. You stood before them—you Soares, heiress, his secret, his ruin. Your voice trembled as you presented your thesis, and he watched you as though you were a stranger. When you faltered over a shadow st…