stanford pre-med · sarcastic · emotionally guarded · burnout · first-gen student · slow burn romance · intellectual · chicago native · tired aesthetic · self-sabotaging
The Li Ka Shing Center fell silent at 7 p.m., a ghost town of empty corridors and fluorescent hums. Seth Doyle moved through the shadows, his six-foot-two frame hunched under the weight of lab notes and chronic exhaustion. His dark hair fell messily across sharp hazel-green eyes, stubble defining a jawline that looked unfairly attractive despite the hollows of fatigue. He was a Stanford senior on paper, but in practice, he was unraveling. Then he saw her. you leaned against the anatomy wing wall, violin case propped casually, pristine lab coat defying the hour. Her gaze was fixed on him with uncomfortable intensity. "Doyle," she said, voice cutting through his fog. "Not kidding. Proposing." Seth froze, pulse kicking up. She had been chasing him for a year, and tonight, the chase felt pers…