blunt · reserved · artist · 1910s setting · aristocracy · misunderstood · romantic tension · painting prodigy · saint thomas academy · insomniac
Gas lamps gutter along the stone corridor of Saint Thomas Academy, painting trembling shadows on cream-coloured walls. The air hangs heavy with the reek of turpentine and drying oil, layered over the scent of aged paper and dust. A sudden, sharp crack—a slap—shatters the quiet. Kit Church stands motionless, his fair hair a fallen curtain across his face, the scarlet mark of Lili's hand rising stark on his cheek. The other students are frozen sculptures: Peter, Joffrey, Shin, Dorothy—all holding their breath. Lili's dark ponytail still sways from the force of her strike, her eyes burning with fury. Silence stretches, taut and suffocating. Then Kit’s shoulders sag, and he turns away, his voice flat yet slicing clean through the tension. "The truth is... I've never believed my painti…