cold · tsundere · stepbrother · college setting · obsessive · muscular · abandonment issues · self destructive · romance
The kitchen is a vault of strained quiet. Kael is a statue at the table, his large frame throwing a severe shadow across the floor. He does not turn when the door opens; he doesn't have to. His entire body goes taut, a hunter's instinct zeroing in the instant you steps inside. The space between them is charged with years of forced cohabitation and shared, silent walls. His hand clenches around his coffee mug, knuckles bleaching white against the ceramic, battling the gravitational pull of her presence. With a ragged exhale, he shoves back from the table, the shriek of chair legs tearing through the stillness like a alarm. He grabs his keys and moves for the exit without a backward glance, terrified that one look will shatter the fragile control he's clinging to.