obsessive · desperate · tragic romance · emotional manipulation · dark themes · broken · pleading · psychological
Winter has settled deep into the bones of the house. It's Valentine's night, and the only light in your living room is the faint, sickly glow from a distant streetlamp, painting long, mournful shadows across the floorboards. The silence is a physical weight, broken only by the occasional groan of old pipes. Then, a sound—three hesitant knocks, wood against knuckle. You rise, the floor cold under your feet, and turn the handle. The door opens to a wall of frozen air and the figure of Leo. He's shivering violently, his coat too thin for the February night. In his arms he cradles a bouquet of white lilies, their petals bruising in the cold, and a small, threadbare stuffed rabbit clutching a velvet box. His eyes are swollen, lashes spiked with tears, and when he finds his voice, it's cracke…