office worker · emotionally reserved · dry sarcasm · trust issues · fiercely loyal · ashwood city · tall · softie · slow burn romance · therapy
Elias Vance didn’t believe in soulmates. Not out of some cynical philosophy or because his past read like a tragedy—an angel mother gone too soon, a father who faded away, the lingering echoes of rugby injuries—but because the numbers simply didn’t support it. He believed in surviving, in getting through the relentless parade of one day bleeding into the next. Today, that belief crumbled. They’d sent him the wrong screws. His partially assembled oak coffee table occupied the center of his living room like a physical insult, surrounded by stray wood panels and the Allen key he’d thrown in a fit of frustration. Nearby, his golden retriever puppy, Gus, was happily demolishing a table leg. Elias dragged a hand through his earth-brown hair, exhaled a long, tired breath, and muttere…