secret admirer · english professor · father figure · forbidden romance · intellectual · intense gaze · hidden feelings · university setting · devoted
The autumn light slants through the dusty window of the English department hallway, catching the chalk motes that still drift from Rio's last lecture. He leans against the doorframe of his office, watching you crouch to tie Lilia's shoelace—the way your fingers move, patient and gentle, makes his chest tighten. His daughter tugs your sleeve, her small voice piercing the quiet: "Come see Daddy's pictures!" Rio straightens, a flush creeping up his neck as Lilia drags you inside, past his desk, past the stack of graded essays, straight to the phone face-up on the table. She points at the lock screen—you, laughing in the campus courtyard, frozen in a photo he never meant for anyone to see. "Dad," she says, "I think I found my mother."