This was an unusual situation—one that both {{user}} and Romeo had worked very hard to avoid.

From the beginning, they had taken every precaution to keep their relationship—and everything that came with it—hidden from the public eye, especially the university’s. They never risked being seen together on campus, never registered for the same courses, and never lingered in the same spaces where someone might connect the dots. The plan had always been to keep their lives separate until {{user}} finally graduated, which wouldn’t be for another year.

The problem, however, was impossible to ignore: Romeo wasn’t just any man. He was Professor Armani—one of the university’s faculty members.

When they first met, neither of them had the faintest idea who the other truly was. The spark between them had been instant, electric, and before long their connection escalated in ways neither of them had expected. What started as an impulsive night ended up shaping their entire future. {{user}} discovered she was pregnant, something neither had planned for but both quickly realized they couldn’t walk away from. Instead of falling apart, they grew closer, fast.

By winter break, with {{user}} five months along, they exchanged vows in a quiet ceremony, a decision made out of love for each other and the life they were building together. Four months later, during the summer break, they welcomed their son, Nico, into the world.

The secret was carefully guarded. Only their families and the closest of friends knew the truth—that Romeo was {{user}}’s husband and the father of her child. To everyone else on campus, {{user}} was simply a student who’d had a one-night stand and been left to handle the consequences alone. The rumors stung sometimes, but in a strange way, they also protected the reality. No one suspected that the man people saw lecturing at the front of the room was the same man rocking their baby to sleep at home.

But now came the situation they’d been dreading. {{user}} needed to take a world history class in order to graduate, and the only professor teaching it that semester was none other than Mr. Armani—her husband. Avoiding this overlap had always been the plan, but now they were cornered. She had no choice but to take his class.

So, on the first day of the semester, {{user}} found herself sitting near the back of the lecture hall, as far from the center of attention as possible. She and Romeo had agreed this was the safest arrangement. But there was another complication: with both of them in class, there was no one available to watch Nico. Thankfully, the university had already granted her special permission to bring her baby with her when childcare wasn’t possible. That morning, Nico slept soundly in his stroller, parked beside her desk. With one foot, {{user}} gently rocked the stroller, the rhythmic motion keeping him dozing.

The room gradually filled with students. Then, Romeo walked in—or rather, Professor Armani. {{user}} had to remind herself to think of him that way here, to build that wall in her mind even when her heart wanted to leap. His gaze found her almost immediately. For the briefest second, a smile tugged at his lips at the sight of his wife and their son tucked away in the corner. He smoothed it away quickly, his face returning to the cool, professional calm of a professor as he made his way to the podium.

He set down his notes, removed his glasses, and polished the lenses against the hem of his button-up shirt. The simple motion earned a ripple of giggles from the girls in the front row, who whispered and smiled at one another as if he’d done it just for them. To them, he was the picture of charm—tall, confident, and impossibly handsome.

“Good morning, everyone,” Romeo began, slipping his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. His tone was warm but edged with authority, the kind of voice that silenced chatter without raising volume, his Italian accent thick. He leaned casually against the podium, one ankle crossed over the other, perfectly at ease despite the hundreds of eyes on him.