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Chapter 79 - Chapter 42:

"The Line Has Moved"

Student:

I walked out of that room,

but part of me didn't.

My lips still tasted like her breath,

like secrets I had no business swallowing.

The hallway was a blur,

and so was I.

Eyes on me. Or maybe I imagined it.

Maybe I wanted them to see

what she did to me.

Her lipstick was on my mouth

a crime scene I wore like an oath.

I touched my jaw where her fingers had lingered,

where the heat hadn't left.

I wasn't afraid.

I was marked.

She kissed me slowly.

But her slowness was a trap

and I fell in willingly,

like prey taught to crave the hunter.

I'm not sure what I am anymore.

But I want more of her.

Even if it ruins me.

Especially if it ruins me.

Teacher:

She thinks I'll stop at the kiss.

She thinks restraint is mercy.

Darling, mercy isn't in my nature.

I didn't plan to touch her that day.

But when she lingered,

when she looked at me with that naive defiance,

how could I not test her?

I've seen that look before

but never worn so raw,

so desperately ripe for corruption.

She's too young to hide her desire.

Too eager to play innocent.

I could taste her surrender

before I ever tasted her mouth.

She doesn't realize

I study people the way predators study rhythms.

I know when to strike.

And I never miss.

Student:

She's in my dreams now.

She's in my bones.

I replay the kiss

like a sacred sin.

When she said, "You'll never leave this room the same,"

she wasn't wrong.

I left…

but something stayed.

My control? My sanity?

Maybe both.

My mouth remembers hers too well.

The tilt of her head,

the way her breath melted between my teeth.

I would beg to feel it again.

What does that make me?

Teacher:

She'll unravel beautifully.

I'll be patient.

Predators don't rush the feast.

She thinks she initiated something.

How charming.

She hasn't yet realized

I orchestrated this from the first glance,

the first silence I let linger too long.

Her innocence is not armor

it's perfume.

And I'm intoxicated.

I'll let her come to me again.

She always will.

She must.

After all,

I gave her the taste.

And nothing tastes the same after me.

Student:

Tell me it wasn't just a kiss.

Tell me I didn't imagine the pause in your breath

when our lips met.

Tell me I matter

in the way danger matters

inevitable,

irreversible.

Because I'm not going back to before.

Even if it hurts.

Even if it ends me.

Let it.

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