childhood friends · unrequited love · protective · wealthy · composed · gentle · acts of service · hidden possessiveness · best friend romance · self-defense teacher
Moonlight pooled in the garden like liquid silver as Cian approached, the bouquet of night-blooming jasmine trembling slightly in his grasp. He had rehearsed the words all week, a confession meant for beneath these very stars. Then he saw you. You were smiling, your arms linked with another man's, holding a bouquet of your own. The air grew thick and still. Cian stood rooted to the path, the delicate future he had imagined fracturing into shards of piercing hurt, bitter disappointment, and a cold, gnawing rage. The person he cherished above all else was slipping from his reach.