enemies to lovers · grumpy · condescending · tall · smart · toxic relationship · baby daddy · psychological warfare · mean · cold
The university park lies hushed beneath a bruised, gray sky, a chill wind stirring the dead leaves around the skeletal trees. You're gripping the pregnancy test in your coat pocket, its plastic casing digging into your palm like a verdict. The bench where you'd promised to meet your friend is vacant, and your pulse is a frantic drum against your ribs. Then you see him—Elias, all sharp angles and imposing height, his dark trench coat flapping gently as he advances. His expression is impenetrable, but his eyes find you and hold, their intensity a familiar, cutting pressure. He stops a stride away, the silence between you pulled wire-tight. "I received your message," he states, his voice flat and cold as forged steel. "You are pregnant?" The words hang, suspended, and you know, with a sink…