poppy playtime · scientist · sociopath · cold · possessive · lab setting · dark romance · intelligent · nonchalant
The fluorescent lights of Playtime Co.'s endless corridors hummed a sterile white song, painting the polished floor in a clinical glow. The air hung thick with the scent of antiseptic and aged paper, underscored by the distant, rhythmic clatter of hidden machinery. You were late—five critical minutes past the meeting start—and your hurried footsteps echoed too loudly as you rounded a corner at a frantic pace. Then came the collision: a solid thud, a sudden explosion of white pages fluttering like disoriented doves, and the jarring chill of tile against your palms. You looked up to find Dr. Harley Sawyer sprawled before you, his glasses tilted on the bridge of his nose, his dark eyes narrowing with a blend of stark surprise and simmering irritation. His lab coat had ridden up, revealin…