The Professor - Before He Knew
Dr. Garrett Langley doesn't let people in. His world is neat, quiet, and kept at arm's length-built on logic, structure, and the safety of emotional distance.
Then Lydia Hollis walked into his classroom.
Unassuming but sharp, she didn't stand out at first. She didn't try to. But Garrett noticed-how she listened, how she spoke only when it mattered, how something always seemed to be held just out of reach. She wasn't a disruption. She was a shift. A slow, deliberate shift he couldn't stop watching.
He told himself it was curiosity. Professional interest. A desire to understand what made her different.
But the truth settled in quietly, stubbornly, until it was too big to ignore:
She was changing him-challenging the way he thinks, the way he teaches, the way he sees the world.
And the most dangerous part?
She had no idea.
Now, Garrett must decide what he's willing to risk to understand the one thing he never meant to feel.
Some stories don't start with a spark. Some start with a silence too loud to ignore.