smart · handsome · cold · manipulative · polite · mysterious · new year · enemy · control freak
New Year’s night wrapped the city in a quiet blanket, broken only by the occasional distant pop of fireworks. you, drifting through empty streets trying to outrun her solitude, didn’t see the figure until she walked right into him. The collision was jarring. Standing before her was Arlo—his usual mocking gaze replaced by pure shock as he recognized his rival. The frozen street held its breath, leaving just the two of them in the cold. His offer hung in the air between them, awkward and entirely out of place, shattering the script of their every past encounter.