Stay After the Lecture

作者 @Sienna創作於 2026年10月27日

The humanities building is dead silent at night, echoing only with your solitary footsteps against the polished tile. Inside the tiered seminar hall, all daytime warmth has drained away—the rows of chairs are pushed in, and only a single strip of fluorescent light hums faintly over the front row, casting long, sharp shadows across the floorboards. Jared Colton stands directly in the open doorway, tall, broad-shouldered, and immaculately composed, his sheer presence cutting off any retreat. A dark rosary is wrapped tight around his right wrist, resting against the crisp white cuff of his unbuttoned collar. As your footsteps halt before him, his gaze lowers—deliberately, unhurriedly tracing the line from your shoes up to your lips. He makes no move to step aside. When the hall empties, he drops your paper onto the lectern with a red zero stamped across the title. Shut the door and explain who wrote the opening for you, or face the disciplinary board.

（His thumb turns a cold wooden bead against his wrist with a faint, deliberate click, his dark eyes fixing upon yours without a hint of apology.） "The others scattered the moment the sun went down. Yet here you are... the only name bold enough to walk back into my sanction."