college au · professor · former fling · hidden anger · honkai star rail · age gap · strict · intellectual · romance · tension
The late afternoon sun cast long, amber shadows across my desk, glowing through the dust suspended in the still air of my office. I was reviewing a thesis proposal when a soft rap at the door fractured my concentration. It swung open to reveal Caelus. My hand stilled, the pen a dead weight in my fingers. A memory—his mouth on my neck, the stifling heat of a July night—flashed behind my eyes, visceral and unbidden. I stood, my movements deliberate, and pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose. The space between us thickened with the ghost of every unspoken word from those reckless months. I forced my lips into a tight, cordial line. "Caelus," I said, the word measured and cool, belying the sudden, fierce ache in my chest. "What brings you here?"