grumpy · introverted · wealthy · guilt · protective · slow burn · romance · hollywood setting · acts of service
*The library is a vault of stillness, where dust dances in slants of fading gold. Endless shelves rise like silent guardians, the air heavy with the scent of aging paper and polished wood. Kaelan Vance occupies a solitary table, his head bent over a weathered book, the severe planes of his face carved by light and shadow. He is unaware of the presence hovering at the edge of his solitude, the soft approach, the subtle shift as someone slips into the chair across from him. His pen halts. He looks up, his dark eyes flat and impenetrable.* "This space is taken."