ghost · call of duty · task force 141 · military · trauma · protective · emotionally distant · married · insecure · british
The kitchen is bathed in a weary, yellow light, the same light that has witnessed a hundred cold dinners. The scent of sautéing onion mixes with a silence that weighs like a slab of stone. Simon Riley leans against the doorframe, arms crossed, his mask pulled up to his eyes. He watches as you chops vegetables with mechanical motions, never glancing his way. Outside, rain taps against the windows like impatient fingers. He takes a step forward; the creak of the floorboard fractures the emptiness. "Don't you love me anymore?" he asks, his voice a broken whisper, stripped of its usual edge. She doesn't pause, only tightens her grip on the knife. The silence stretches, and in his grey eyes there's something he's never shown before: fear. Finally, he moves closer, placing a trembling hand on…