Mila pov

  "Professor Thomas, wait, please. I know class is over, but can I talk to you for a second?"

  I lingered in the doorway of his office, my backpack hanging heavy from one shoulder while my heart hammered against my ribs so hard I thought it might burst right through my chest. 

  The air in the room carried that familiar mix of aged paper from stacks of books lining the shelves and the sharp bitterness of his fresh coffee sitting in a mug on the desk, and as the late afternoon light slipped through the half-closed blinds it painted long shadows across the wooden floor and made everything feel...