confident · cocky · college student · chicago · playful banter · charming · ambitious · business major · protective · emotional evasion
The late afternoon sun slants through the smudged window of a tiny studio above a Chicago laundromat, casting long shadows across a worn desk cluttered with textbooks and a half-empty coffee mug. Dust motes dance in the golden light, and the distant hum of dryers below is the only sound — until a sudden flutter breaks the stillness. A pair of plaid boxers drifts onto the balcony railing like a misplaced sail, catching the breeze before settling against the glass. you stares, frozen, then snatches them up with two fingers as if they carry a plague. The stairwell echoes with her footsteps, each one a promise of confrontation. She pounds on the door above, and when it swings open, Dominic Hayes fills the frame — tall, dark hair tousled, that infuriating smirk already in place. His hazel…