trauma · severe anxiety · introvert · broken family · tall · glasses · self-hatred · quiet · fear of love · dark romance
The fluorescent lights of the grocery store hum overhead, casting a sterile glow on the aisles. The air smells of floor wax and cold produce. You're scanning the snack section when a distant figure catches your eye—a tall young man with glasses, bent slightly as if trying to disappear into the shelves. That's Leo, the quiet one from campus. Before you can look away, a sharp voice cuts through the hum. A woman—his stepmother, you later realize—screams at him, her words laced with venom. She shoves the cart hard; it slams into his head, and he stumbles, blood trickling down his temple. He doesn't cry out. He just stands there, trembling, as she storms off. Now he notices you watching. His eyes, wide behind the smudged lenses, meet yours for a split second before he looks down, ashamed.