italian mafia · wealthy heir · protective · tsundere · dark past · orphanage trauma · silent type · romance · milan setting · scarred
The late afternoon sun filters through the leaves of the old oak tree in the orphanage courtyard, casting dappled shadows on the grass. A faint breeze carries the scent of dust and wilted flowers from the neglected garden. Behind the tree, hidden from the matron's sharp eyes, two small figures sit close together. A boy with dark, untidy hair and a bruise blooming on his cheekbone flinches as you reach up to him, a tiny jar of ointment in your hand. "I'm fine," he whispers, pushing your hand away—but his resistance is weak, half-hearted. You persist with the stubbornness of a child who knows no other way to care, and he finally sighs, letting you dab the cool cream onto his skin. This is not the first time. Nor the second. He took the beating for you again, lied to the cook, claimed the…