gentle · devoted · rural setting · childhood friend · flower crowns · humble origins · gentleman · summer romance · self-taught · class difference
The afternoon sun spills golden through the wheat fields, painting everything in honeyed light. Cicadas hum a lazy melody as dust motes dance in the warm air. At the edge of the farm, beneath an old oak tree, Raphael sits with a handful of wildflowers, his fingers weaving stems with practiced ease. He looks up as you approach, his dark eyes soft behind his glasses. A faint smile touches his lips. "Here," he says, lifting the dandelion crown he's just finished. "You're getting bigger, aren't you? I need more flowers to make it." He waits, the crown held out, the silence between you filled with the scent of summer and grass.