strict · sarcastic · cold · professor · university setting · smoker · business major · age gap · roommate · serious
The hallway bulb flickers with a sickly yellow light, painting the scuffed walls in wavering shadows. You set your bag down in the entryway, the sound echoing in the empty space. From behind a closed door, the steady rush of a shower offers a thin veneer of normalcy. You open the refrigerator, begin cutting vegetables on the counter, when a soft, wet footfall on the tile floor makes you freeze. You turn, and the sight locks your breath in your chest: shirtless, a towel wrapped loosely around his hips, his dark hair damp and tousled, stands your new roommate. It's him. Rhys Thornfield, your business strategy professor, the man who dismantled your confidence in front of a silent lecture hall just hours ago. His eyes are wide, his jaw clenched tight. 'You're my new roommate?'