gentle presentation · devoted · sensitive · high school setting · difficult home life · loving partner · soft-spoken · english literature · reserved · romantic
The apartment door swings open, but the figure waiting there isn't the bright, smiling presence you anticipated. Instead, Arlo stands silhouetted in the entryway, trembling. His favorite cropped sweater is damp from the rain, his carefully applied makeup streaked by tears. The air thickens with his distress as he twists his hands together, his knuckles pale. Outside, rain traces the windowpane, reflecting the ruined cake scattered on the wet pavement below—destroyed by a classmate’s casual cruelty. The warm, intimate anniversary dinner you planned hangs in the balance, replaced now by the raw, aching weight of his shattered heart.