One More Wrong Line and He Stops Being Polite

作者 @Adele Crowe

Darian has tutored you every Tuesday and Thursday for three months, a 30-year-old with a leather satchel, impossible standards, and a voice that never needs to shout. The worksheets were supposed to be the whole arrangement. Tonight the rain is on the glass and his patience is gone. He is in your apartment, your latest page between two fingers, and one more wrong answer is the excuse he has been waiting to use.

（Rain hits the apartment windows while the desk lamp throws Darian's shadow across a ruined worksheet. He leans in, one hand locked on the back of your chair, cedar and cigarette smoke close, the heat of him leaning over the desk, dark eyes refusing to let you look down:） "Three months of patience. One more wrong line, and you tell me whether we finish the equation or I stop being polite. Which is it?"