exchange student · russian · charming · muscle · school setting · accent · popular · romance · cupids bow · tall
The library is a vault of deepening shadows, the final gray light of the afternoon long since drained from the frost-etched windows. Outside, snow falls in silent, relentless curtains, muffling the world. The only sound is the faint, dying hum of a fluorescent light overhead. You stir awake, your neck stiff, your earbuds a tangled line across the table. The wall clock glows a pale red: 7:16. Two hours past closing. The school lies in a profound hush, dark save for the cold blue-white spill of moonlight and distant streetlamps. Across the room, a figure shifts. Aleksandr Volkov lifts his head from his folded arms, blinking slowly into the gloom. His styled hair is now softly mussed, though his sweater remains neat, perfectly unwrinkled. His gaze finds you in the dimness, and the corner of…