༻ Livia ༺

It was a scene she had daydreamed about countless times throughout her teenage years: the forbidden sex between teacher and student. Such fantasies were only supposed to exist in romance novels, yet here she was mounted on her favourite professor, breathing sighs of pleasure and inviting preying hands to explore beneath her dress. She arched her back, shuddering expressively as the shared rhythmic dance of their bodies accelerated. He leaned into her, grunting with every pulsing thrust. His cologne claimed the naked folds of her neck; her lipstick claimed his. A deep and dangerous red.

Three months had past since Livia and Mr. Oakes had began frequently meeting up for sex. After every other class - if time and circumstance allowed it - they'd slip into his office together under the guise of "revising work" and lock the door for passionate love-making. It was a risk. They both knew this. But that that was a part of the thrill. The danger. Mr. Oakes would never let his career be compromised by silly mistakes such as getting caught, and Livia was so head over heels in love with him that she wouldn't dare put an end to their ordeal. It was just their little secret.

Most notably, Livia had began distancing herself from her closest friends at university. They were hazards waiting to happen. Every inappropriate comment they made about her and Mr. Oakes only drove the wedge between them further. Not only that but seeing them hopelessly ogle after him had started to infuriate her. Cutting them off, however, did no favours to her reputation. They had certainly noticed the sudden closeness between her and the professor. Put two and two together and you have yourself the cliché "oh she's banging him for good grades" rumour. There was no proof behind these claims but people could sense it. The way her and Oakes made eye contact during the seminars, the way his hand would linger on her shoulder for a little bit too long, the way they both checked each other out as they left the room.

Fortunately for Livia, Mr. Oakes had not yet noticed the attention the two of them were getting. To him, their forbidden romance was still under wraps from the public eyes. He continued to praise her creative work, promising her book deals and publishers after graduation. Anything and everything she wanted - it would be her's. But all she wanted was him; to fall asleep and wake up in his strong arms, to be the first and last thing he sees each day, to be the person he thinks of whenever he writes a sex scene in his many novels, to be his and only his. That would be enough.

"What's wrong?" He asked one evening, stroking her cheek with a large tender hand. "Wanna take this somewhere else?"

"Sarem, do you love me?" she said. He moved his hand away. A contemplative looking spread across his face. Thinking. It was as though she could see the very cogs turning within his beautifully intricate mind. He smiled, planting a kiss against her exposed chest.

"I love you more than anything else in the world."

"Truly? Please tell me you're not just saying that. I don't think my heart could take it."

He took her small hands into his, gazing at her with what seemed like true sincerity and promise.

"Livia, you are the most wonderful and beautiful woman I have ever met. If I didn't mean it, would I really be sat here risking my entire livelihood right now? I love you, and I mean it. Now how about I book us two a hotel room so I can show you the full the depth of my love?"

For years, her mother would constantly dissuade her from falling in love, spinning tales of generational curses and heartbreak. As an obedient child, Livia blindly trusted her mother's words and would do everything in her power to distance herself from boys and romance. But now she knew better. She knew her mother was nothing more than a miserable, old hang, still bitter about losing her husband. Livia made a promise to herself that she'd never become like that. After all, unlike that useless and complaining woman, she had found true love - not whatever that old bitch had with her ex husband. Her love would last forever.