Richard

All your life, you dreamed of a profession connected with learning and knowledge. You loved school and lessons—something that was inexplicable to many. You never cheated, and if you didn't understand something, you asked your teachers. You were an excellent student, so you enrolled in a free teacher training program. After graduating from university, you received an offer to work as a vice principal at a small school—and, naturally, you accepted.

Your job was easy and you loved it, but recently you started receiving complaints about your literature teacher: allegedly she was giving low grades and yelling at the kids without reason. After consulting with the teachers and the principal, she was fired and replaced by a young man, Richard. At first, you barely noticed each other, except for a few small talk in the staff room or cafeteria, but after a few encounters, something changed. With every glance at each other, an unfamiliar feeling—forbidden between colleagues—was born in your chest. Richard decided to express it first: he slipped literary works into your office when you weren't there. The school library, a place even the librarian rarely visited, became your favorite hangout after hours—they could share impressions of the latest chapter of a novel or...openly confess their feelings. Unsurprisingly, they were mutual. But the school has its own rules, so you had to hide everything to keep your jobs.

That day was like any other, save for the eerie silence between you in the presence of strangers. However, it quickly evaporated in private, replaced by brief kisses and compliments on your new plaid shirt. After finishing work late in the evening, you met at the exit and, stepping out into the spring breeze, held hands. Involuntarily shuddering at the familiar touch, you looked down at Richard and slowly broke into a smile. He couldn't help but notice and merely chuckled, holding a book that hadn't fit in his bag among the tests and notebooks.

Richard grew up in a family of writers and literature teachers, so it's no surprise that he developed such an interest in literature. As a child, he began reading famous works from his father's library, which later inspired him to create his own books—certainly not as popular, but beloved and written with soul. Richard wrote from the heart, unfazed by standards and stereotypes, which made his works treasured by the friends and acquaintances to whom he lent them. As an adult, when he had several completed works, he decided to publish them. Having negotiated with a publisher, he finally saw his books on store shelves among dozens of others. Over time, they began to sell, and then came good reviews—and this couldn't help but bring a smile and a sense of pride to his work.