Silent Flames, Forbidden Paths
Alina Hart, a sharp-tongued high school senior, hides behind sarcasm and wit to mask the pain of fractured family life. Shipped off to a prestigious boarding school by a father who no longer sees her, Alina struggles to find her place in a world of strict rules and academic expectations.
Enter Professor Cristiano Wright, a 27-year-old literature teacher whose calm demeanor and sharp intellect make him both an enigma and a fascination. Tasked by Alina’s older brother Ethan to keep an eye on her, Wright finds himself drawn to the complexity beneath her rebellious exterior.
In the backdrop of Shakespearean sonnets and Romantic poetry, Alina and Wright navigate an increasingly fraught connection. What begins as reluctant mentorship soon transforms into a tangled web of forbidden emotions, unspoken words, and an undeniable pull that neither can ignore.
Set against the bustling corridors of an urban high school and the quiet corners of a library filled with unspoken confessions, Silent Flames, Forbidden Paths explores the fine line between admiration and desire, duty and vulnerability. As Alina and Wright grapple with their feelings, they must confront their moral boundaries and the cost of their choices.
Can they maintain the lines they’ve drawn, or will their emotions blur them beyond recognition?
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Chapter: Silence is a Crueler Punishment than WordsSilence is a crueler punishment than words.I’d rather he yelled at me, scolded me, told me I was a reckless, impulsive girl who didn’t know what she was playing with. I’d rather he looked at me with disgust, with regret—hell, even with anger.But he gave me nothing.Not a glance.Not a word.Not even the barest acknowledgment that I existed.Cristiano Wright had vanished.Not literally, of course. He was still here, in the same classroom, standing at the same podium, his deep voice filling the space with lectures about history that I wasn’t listening to.But he wasn’t here.Not for me.And it was driving me fucking insane.It started the moment I walked into class.His eyes skimmed over the room, pausing on every student but me.I sat in my usual seat, watching him, waiting for the subtle smirk, the flicker of emotion, the challenge in his gaze that always made my pulse quicken.Nothing.He didn’t look at me once.“Alright, let’s continue where we left off yesterday,” he said, voice
Last Updated: 2025-03-07
Chapter: Fractured RestraintThe kiss was wildfire—devouring, insatiable, reckless. Cristiano’s hands gripped my waist, not forcefully, but with the kind of desperation that made my pulse stutter. It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful. It was raw and filled with something neither of us dared name.I knew this was wrong. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to stop, to pull away, to regain the control that had already slipped through my fingers. But how could I, when his lips moved against mine like he was memorizing me?His hands skimmed the fabric of my blouse, fingers flexing like he was trying to ground himself, to hold back. But I didn’t want him to hold back.I deepened the kiss, pressing closer, feeling the hard lines of his body, the way his breath hitched. My hands tangled in his hair—so soft, so inviting, so maddeningly perfect—and a shudder ran through him.But then, like a snapped thread, everything shattered.Cristiano wrenched himself away from me so fast it left me breathless. His chest heaved, his
Last Updated: 2025-03-06
Chapter: Tuesday, or was it Wednesday?Honestly, does it even matter anymore? Time’s just a blur, a fleeting concept that slips through my fingers, especially when I’m stuck in the suffocating hell of History class, pretending to care about monarchies and powdered wigs.I couldn’t focus on the lesson, though. How could I? My eyes were locked onto the back of Mr. Wright's head, as though it was some kind of magnetic force pulling me in. He'd insisted on being called Cristiano now—no longer ‘Mr. Wright,’ no longer the untouchable figure I once saw as my teacher. And every time he said my name, every time those deep brown eyes flickered to me from the front of the class, something in my chest twisted with a hunger I couldn’t ignore. The worst part? He knew it. And that infuriated me.The way his dark hair—messy, like he'd just rolled out of bed, trying to look all tortured artist chic—begged to be touched, ran my thoughts into a frenzy. Not that I wanted to think about touching him, of course. That would be... wrong. But ther
Last Updated: 2025-03-05
Chapter: When Care Feels Like Burning FireThe door clicked shut behind me, and I exhaled, pressing my back against the wood. Silent. Still. Every move calculated. I was a ghost, a shadow, a fugitive in my own damn dorm room.Mission: Get to bed.Obstacle: Mia Carter, the world’s nosiest roommate.If she so much as sniffed out a secret, she’d gnaw at it until there was nothing left. And tonight? Oh, she was on the hunt. She’d been circling me all day like a damn vulture, eyes gleaming with the thrill of my supposed “date.”Too bad for her—I was slipping in unnoticed. No interrogation. No prying. Just sweet, glorious peace.I crept forward. One step. Two. Almost there—“I thought you weren’t coming back tonight.”HOLY FU—I sucked in a breath so hard I nearly choked on it. My knees buckled. My soul left my body.“MIA, WHAT THE HELL?!” I hissed, clutching my chest like a damsel in a 19th-century novel. “Are you TRYING to send me into cardiac arrest?!”She cackled. Not giggled. Not chuckled. The sound that left her mouth was pure
Last Updated: 2025-03-03
Chapter: Caught in the ActThe door clicked shut behind me, and I exhaled, pressing my back against the wood. Silent. Still. Every move calculated. I was a ghost, a shadow, a fugitive in my own damn dorm room.Mission: Get to bed.Obstacle: Mia Carter, the world’s nosiest roommate.If she so much as sniffed out a secret, she’d gnaw at it until there was nothing left. And tonight? Oh, she was on the hunt. She’d been circling me all day like a damn vulture, eyes gleaming with the thrill of my supposed “date.”Too bad for her—I was slipping in unnoticed. No interrogation. No prying. Just sweet, glorious peace.I crept forward. One step. Two. Almost there—“I thought you weren’t coming back tonight.”HOLY FU—I sucked in a breath so hard I nearly choked on it. My knees buckled. My soul left my body.“MIA, WHAT THE HELL?!” I hissed, clutching my chest like a damsel in a 19th-century novel. “Are you TRYING to send me into cardiac arrest?!”She cackled. Not giggled. Not chuckled. The sound that left her mouth was pure
Last Updated: 2025-03-02
Chapter: The Fire I Can’t ExtinguishMr. Wright's POVThe clock ticks.A steady, methodical sound. A sound that should be comforting, grounding.But tonight, it’s deafening.I sit at my desk, back stiff, fingers curled into the polished wood as if holding onto reality itself. The glow of the lamp casts long shadows across my apartment, but none of it—none of it—feels real.Not when my mind is trapped in her.Clara.The rain.The dress.The way the fabric clung to her like a second skin, exposing her in ways she didn't intend.I shouldn’t have looked. I know that. But knowing and doing are two very different things.I close my eyes, exhaling sharply, forcing myself to retreat into logic, into discipline—the very things that have always anchored me. But she is there, waiting in the darkness behind my eyelids.Her hair, dark and wet, slicked against her skin. Her lips, slightly parted, trembling from the cold, from the sheer weight of what had just happened.And that dress. God, that fucking dress.The rain had betrayed her
Last Updated: 2025-03-01
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