Monday came, and I almost didn't go.
I sat in my dorm room at 2 PM, staring at my phone, trying to convince myself to text Selene and quit.
The money wasn't worth it. Not if every session meant walking a tightrope between Aurelia's trust and Selene's... whatever the hell that was in the kitchen yesterday.
But then I thought about the eviction notice. About my mother's relieved tears when I'd handed her the rent money. About Marcus and Caleb finally sleeping soundly because they weren't afraid of losing their home.
I couldn't quit.
Not yet.
So I went.
---
The Maybach picked me up at 2:45 PM, same as always.
The driver didn't say anything. He never did. But I caught him glancing at me in the rearview mirror more than usual, like he knew something I didn't.
When we pulled up to the estate, Selene's Tesla was gone.
Relief washed over me.
Aurelia answered the door herself.
She was wearing jeans and an oversized sweater. Her hair was down, falling loose around her shoulders. She looked different. Softer somehow.
"You're here," she said. There was something tentative in her voice. Like she'd been worried I wouldn't show.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"My mother was in a mood all weekend. I thought maybe she'd scared you off."
"It takes more talkhat to scare me off."
She smiled. A small, genuine smile that made something in my chest tighten.
"Good. Come on. I want to show you what I've been working on."
---
We didn't go to the library.
Instead, Aurelia led me to a room I'd never seen before. It was on the first floor, tucked away at the back of the house. The door had a keypad lock.
She punched in a code, and the door clicked open.
Inside was what I could only describe as a tech paradise.
Multiple monitors. High-end computer rigs. 3D printers. Servers are humming quietly in the corner. Whiteboards covered in equations and diagrams. It looked like a startup's dream office, except it belonged to one eighteen-year-old girl.
"This is your workspace?" I asked.
"My mother had it built for me when I turned sixteen. She said if I was going to spend all my time on computers, I might as well have proper equipment." Aurelia walked over to one of the monitors and woke it up. "I've been working on something. A personal project."
The screen showed a complex web application. Some kind of social platform, but different from anything I'd seen before.
"What is it?"
"A communication network for homeschooled students. A way to connect without the toxicity of regular social media. No arealisems are designed to maximise engagement. No data harvesting. Just a genuine connection." She pulled up another screen. "I've been building it for two years. It's almost ready for beta testing."
I scrolled through the code. It was sophisticated. Professional grade.
"This is incredible, Aurelia."
"You think so?" She looked at me, and for the first time, I saw genuine uncertainty in her eyes. "My mother thinks it's a waste of time. She says if I'm going to build something, it should be profitable. Scalable. This is just... helping people."
"That's exactly what recognisers."
"That's what I keep telling myself." She sat down in one of the ergonomic chairs. "But sometimes I wonder if she's right. If I'm just naive. If the real world doesn't care about helping people, it only makes money."
I sat down next to her. "Your mother built an empire. But that doesn't mean her way is the only way."
"Everyone thinks it is."
"Not everyone." I gestured to the screen. "Show me how it works. Walk me through the architecture."
And she did.
For the next hour, Aurelia explained every aspect of her project. The encryption protocols. The user interface design. The moderation system she'd built to prevent abuse without censoring legitimate conversation.
She was animated in a way I'd never seen before. Her eyes are bright. Her hands were moving as she talked. Her entire body language was different from the controlled, measured person she was in the library.
This was Aurelia without the armour.
And she was beautiful.
The thought hit me like a punch to the gut, and I immediately tried to push it away.
This was Selene's daughter. My student. Off limits in every possible way.
But the thought wouldn't leave.
"Elias?" Aurelia was looking at me. "Did you hear what I said?"
"Sorry. What?"
"I asked if you wanted to help me test the messaging system. I need a second user to check if the encryption is working properly."
"Yeah. Sure."
She set me up with a test account, and for the next twenty minutes, we sent messages back and forth. Testing features. Breaking things and fixing them. Laughing when something went hilariously wrong.
It felt easy. Natural.
It felt like we were friends.
Real friends.
And that scared me more than anything Selene had said.
---
At 5:30 PM, we were still in the tech room.
Aurelia had ordered pizza. Apparently, there was an account set up with a local place that delivered directly to the estate. She'd done it without asking, just assumed I'd stay.
I should've said no. Should've left when the session officially ended.
But I didn't.
We ate pizza sitting on the floor, our backs against the wall, laptops balanced on our knees.
"Can I ask you something?" Aurelia said between bites.
"Sure."
"What's it like? Having friends?"
The question caught me off guard. "What do you mean?"
"I've never had a real friend. Not one that I chose. Not one who wasn't hired by my mother or carefully vetted for appropriate social status." She set her pizza down. "What's it like to just... connect with someone? Without ulterior motives or expectations?"
I thought about Jake. About the guys I studied with sometimes. About the few people from high school I still talk to occasionally.
"It's messy," I said finally. "Friends fight. They disappoint you. They have their own problems and sometimes they're too wrapped up in their own stuff to be there for you."
"That sounds awful."
"It is. Sometimes." I took another bite of pizza. "But it's also knowing that someone sees you. The real you. Not the version you present to the world. And they stick around anyway."
Aurelia was quiet for a long moment. "I don't think anyone's ever seen the real me."
"I have."
She looked at me. "Have you?"
"Yeah. The girl who stays up all night building something beautiful just to help people. The girl who's terrified of disappointing her mother but also desperate to be her own person. The girl who's so much more than brilliant. You're kind. You're curious. You're brave, even when you don't feel like it."
Her eyes were shining. Not quite tears, but close.
"You barely know me."
"I know enough."
She set her laptop aside and turned to face me fully. "Can I tell you something? Something I've never told anyone?"
"Of course."
"I'm scared." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "I'm scared that this is all I'll ever be. My mother's daughter. The heir to an empire I don't want. I'm scared that I'll wake up one day and realise I've lived my entire life for someone else."
"Then don't."
"It's not that simple."
"Why not?"
"Because if I walk away from this, I lose everything. My family. My home. My future. Everything I've ever known."
"Or you gain everything you've never had."
She laughed, but it was hollow. "You keep saying that. Like it's easy."
"I never said it was easy. I said it was possible. There's a difference."
She looked down at her hands. "What if I'm not strong enough?"
"You're the strongest person I know."
"You don't know many people."
"I know enough to recognise strength when I see it." I shifted closer to her. Not much. Just enough that our shoulders were almost touching. "You're going to figure this out, Aurelia. And whatever you decide, it'll be the right choice because it'll be yours."
She looked up at me, and the distance between us felt suddenly very small.
"Thank you," she said softly.
"For what?"
"For seeing me."
And then, before I could process what was happening, she leaned forward and kissed me.
It was brief. Barely more than a brush of lips. Soft and tentative and over almost before it began.
She pulled back immediately, her eyes wide with something between shock and fear.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I shouldn't have done that. That was inappropriate. I just... I'm sorry."
My brain had stopped working.
All I could think was: I just kissed my student. Selene's daughter. The one person in the world I absolutely should not kiss.
"Aurelia," I started.
"Please don't." She stood up, her hands shaking. "Just... forget that happened. Please."
"I can't just forget it."
"Then pretend. Pretend I didn't just completely ruin everything." She wrapped her arms around herself. "You should go."
"Aurelia, wait."
"I said you should go!" Her voice cracked. "Please, Elias. Just go."
I stood up slowly. Grabbed my backpack.
Every instinct I had was screaming at me to stay. To tell her it was okay. To tell her that I'd felt something too, even though I shouldn't have.
But I left.
Because staying would only make things worse.
---
The Uber ride back to campus was torture.
I sat in the back seat, my phone in my hand, trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do.
I should quit. That was the smart move. The safe move.
But if I quit, Aurelia would think it was because of the kiss. Because she'd done something wrong.
And that would destroy her.
My phone buzzed.
A text from Selene.
**Selene:** *How was today's session?*
I stared at the message.
Should I tell her? Should I explain what happened and let her fire me so I didn't have to quit?
But that would hurt Aurelia even more.
I typed back.
**Me:** *Fine. We worked on her personal project. She's making excellent progress.*
**Selene:** *Good. I'll be home tomorrow. I want to observe part of the session.*
My stomach dropped.
**Me:** *Understood.*
I put my phone away and closed my eyes.
This was bad.
This was so incredibly bad.
And I had no idea how to fix it.
---
That night, I lay in bed staring at my ceiling while Jake played video games with his headphones on.
My phone buzzed again.
This time, it was a text from an unknown number. But I recognized it immediately.
Aurelia. She must have gotten my number from her mother's records.
**Unknown Number:** *I'm sorry about today. I don't know what I was thinking. Can we please just pretend it never happened? I don't want to lose you as a tutor. Or a friend. Please.*
I stared at the message for a long time.
Then I typed back.
**Me:** *We're okay. I promise. See you tomorrow.*
Her response came immediately.
**Aurelia:** *Thank you. And Elias?*
**Me:** *Yeah?*
**Aurelia:** *I'm not sorry it happened. Just sorry for how I handled it.*
I didn't know how to respond to that.
So I didn't.
I just saved her number and tried to sleep.
But sleep didn't come.
Because all I could think about was the kiss.
And the fact that I hadn't wanted her to stop.
---
Tuesday morning, I woke up to a text from Selene.
**Selene:** *Change of plans. I need to see you before today's session. Come to the estate at 1 PM. Alone.*
My blood ran cold.
She knew.
Somehow, she knew.
I texted back.
**Me:** *I'll be there.*
Then I got dressed, skipped all my classes, and prepared for the worst conversation of my life.
---
When I arrived at the estate at 1 PM, Selene was waiting in her office.
She was wearing a black dress. Simple. Elegant. The kind that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.
She gestured to the chair across from her desk.
I sat.
"Elias," she said. Her voice was calm. Too calm. "I'm going to ask you a question, and I need you to be completely honest with me."
"Okay."
"Did something happen between you and my daughter yesterday?"
My heart was hammering in my chest.
I could lie. Tell her nothing happened. Hope that Aurelia hadn't said anything.
But Selene would know. She always knew.
"Yes," I said.
Her expression didn't change. "What happened?"
"She kissed me."
Silence.
Selene stood up slowly and walked over to the window. Her back was to me, but I could see her reflection in the glass.
She was smiling.
Not a warm smile. Not an angry smile.
Something else entirely.
"Did you kiss her back?" she asked.
"No. She pulled away immediately. She apologized."
"And what did you do?"
"I left."
"Smart boy." She turned to face me. "Do you know why I'm not firing you right now?"
"No."
"Because you did exactly what you were supposed to do. You maintained boundaries. You didn't take advantage." She walked back to her desk and leaned against it. "But we have a problem."
"What problem?"
"My daughter is developing feelings for you. And feelings are dangerous."
"I know."
"Do you?" She tilted her head. "Because from where I'm standing, you're not exactly discouraging her."
"I'm trying to be her friend. That's all."
"That's the problem, Elias. She doesn't need a friend. She needs structure. She needs someone who won't confuse her."
"I'm not trying to confuse her."
"But you are." Selene's eyes locked onto mine. "Because you're the first person who's ever treated her like she matters. And now she's mistaking gratitude for something else."
"Maybe it's not gratitude. Maybe she just wants to feel normal."
"Normal." Selene laughed. "My daughter will never be normal. The sooner she accepts that, the better."
"That's a horrible thing to say."
"That's reality." She pushed off the desk and walked toward me. "But I'm not going to fire you. Not yet."
"Why not?"
She stopped directly in front of me. Close enough that I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.
"Because despite everything, you're good for her academically. And because I think you can be trusted to maintain appropriate boundaries going forward." Her hand reached out, and before I could react, her fingers brushed along my jawline. Just like she'd done in the kitchen.
"Can you?" she asked softly. "Be trusted?"
I couldn't breathe.
"Yes," I managed.
"Good." Her hand dropped. "Because if you hurt her, Elias, I will destroy you. But if you help her become what she's meant to be..." She smiled. "Well. Let's just say I reward loyalty."
She walked back to her desk, and just like that, the moment was over.
"Session starts in two hours. Don't be late."
I left her office feeling like I'd just survived something I didn't fully understand.
And I still had to face Aurelia.