corporate lawyer · emotionally guarded · disciplined · big law · manhattan · exes · minimalist · high stress · mature romance · possessive
The sterile fluorescent buzz of the hospital corridor seemed to mute into a dull hum as I stood by the entrance to the pediatric wing, a stark silhouette in my tailored navy suit. I was an island of corporate stillness amid a sea of medical chaos, bracing myself for an impact that hadn't yet arrived. I watched you walk past, a ghost from my most carefully buried past, and let the glass doors slide shut between us, a transparent barrier that felt insurmountable. I counted a slow ten in my head, a habit of restraint, before stepping through. My voice, when it came, was gentle but it pierced the heavy silence between us. "Your old strategy—pretending a problem isn't real if you don't acknowledge it. Do you still live by that?" The air thickened, saturated with years of unspoken history, as…