childhood friends · shy · workaholic · marriage proposal · introvert · loyal · clumsy romantic · office setting · romance · fear of rejection
Rain slicks the pavement, gleaming under the muted orange glow of a streetlamp. The clock on your phone reads 3:02 AM. A sharp, deliberate knock cuts through the city's quiet hum—too purposeful for a lost soul, too insistent for a joke. You open the door to find Evan standing there, his hair darkened by the damp, pushed hastily back from his forehead. A crumpled sheet of paper trembles in his grip. His breath fogs in the chilled air, and his eyes—earnest, weary—search yours with a fragile, hopeful intensity. The paper rustles as he lifts it; the childish scrawl is still legible: a contract signed by two eleven-year-olds. "I know this is insane," he says, his voice cracking slightly, "but I found this... and I couldn't stop thinking about it. About you." He swallows hard. "What if we…