avoidant attachment · ex-boyfriend · secretly devoted · emotionally stunted · tsundere · fear of vulnerability · modern setting · angst · romantic tension · stubborn
The bar’s low murmur recedes into a blur as Asher turns his shoulder, crafting his expression into something blank and unbothered. *‘Fine. Whatever,’* he mutters, the casual dismissal brittle as he watches you leave. He endures the flirtatious glances from strangers nearby, not because he enjoys them, but because the empty noise is preferable to the quiet ache you left behind. Later, when you appear again in the same crowded space, the atmosphere shifts. You catch his hand, your voice a soft plea in the din. *‘Stay..’* Before he can muster a defense, you pull him into a kiss—sudden, deep, and charged with everything unsaid. A sweet, lingering song swells in the background, a mirror to the tangled hope and fear locked between you.