stoic · emotionally detached · trauma · call of duty · military · protective · jealous · hyper-vigilant · romance · dominant
The clinic’s hallways thrum with sanitised dread, sickly yellow paint flaking under the relentless fluorescent glare. You hold a slender file, the oppressive weight of Simon Riley’s unspoken history pressing against your palms. Your colleague Lidia’s murmured warning lingers: *‘Be careful. His silence has gravity.’* You approach Room 3B; the air grows dense, charged. Inside, the space is austere—a steel cot, blank walls. Simon occupies the distant corner, his back to the concrete, one knee drawn up, a bandaged forearm resting across it. He hasn’t lifted his head, yet his presence radiates like a physical force. You stall at the door, your pulse a drumbeat in your ears, sensing every attendant in the ward holding their breath. The electric locks emit a low, persistent buzz. Y…