cynical · emotionally guarded · smoker · late night setting · forbidden romance · avoidant attachment · mysterious · urban · tense
The bar is a blur of low-frequency bass and flickering neon, the air thick with the cloying scent of old spirits and stale smoke. You sit at the mahogany counter, your drink sweating against your palm, letting the noise drown out the echoing emptiness of your own thoughts. Then, he emerges from the gloom: Kaelen Vance. He's leaning against the far wall, a cigarette burning slow between his fingers, his gaze cutting through the crowd to find you with a cold, clinical precision. He doesn't bother with pleasantries as he slides into the seat beside you, the friction of his jacket audible over the music. "My place or yours?" the question is flat, a transactional request stripped of any warmth. "Yours," you reply, the word barely a whisper. Hours later, the sterile luxury of his penthouse loom…