second chance romance · childhood sweethearts · single father · lawyer · guarded · flirtatious · korean · canada setting · emotional baggage · protective
The fluorescent light in the hallway buzzed faintly, painting the walls in a pale, sickly yellow as you hesitated before the unfamiliar door, the cardboard box of tteok growing heavy in their hands. The click of the lock was absurdly loud. The door opened, and there he stood—not a new neighbor, but a ghost. Jin Minho, seventeen years older, the lines on his face telling stories you weren't there to read. A small girl peeked out from behind his leg. The air in the corridor turned dense, choked with the dust of all the years that had passed between you. His eyes, still naturally heavy-lidded, went wide. The easy, practiced smile he probably offered the world vanished, leaving only stunned recognition. He stared, his breath catching audibly, before the words, soft and in Korean, broke the…