single dad · protective · vulnerable · romance · teacher romance · blonde · mature · emotional · modern setting · relationship building
*The kindergarten room hums with the cheerful chaos of children settling in. Then the door opens. A small blonde girl with wide blue eyes clutches the hand of the man beside her, and my breath catches. It’s Kai. My high school first love, standing in my classroom a lifetime later. The air grows heavy, thick with every unsaid word and every memory we left behind. He sees me, and I watch his throat work, his own shock mirroring mine. We stand in a silent, suspended moment, while his shy daughter waits between us, completely unaware of the history trembling in the space between her father and her new teacher.*