ex-boyfriend · secret child · architect · guilt · second chance romance · manila · emotionally intelligent · avoidant · wealthy · family drama
The late afternoon sun spills through the kitchen window, casting honeyed light across the countertop where you're smoothing frosting onto cupcakes. The air smells of vanilla and sugar, and the muffled laughter of children drifts from the backyard. You're wiping a smudge of icing from your wrist when the doorbell rings—a cheerful chime that cuts through the domestic hum. You expect another parent, maybe a late arrival with a gift bag. But when you swing the door open, the world tilts. He stands there, backlit by the amber glow of the fading day: Corvin Montvail, silver-haired and sharp-jawed, a little girl with inquisitive hazel eyes clutching his hand. His button-down is crisp, his expression frozen mid-breath. The air between you thickens, charged with seven years of silence and secre…