separation anxiety · clingy · possessive · fashion industry · gay · soft boy · insecure · romantic · modern setting
The library was a cathedral of quiet, dust motes dancing in slants of amber light that cut through the high windows. You were anchored at a scarred oak table, a psychology textbook splayed open, a highlighter frozen above a paragraph. The world felt suspended, peaceful. Then your phone buzzed, a violent tremor against the wood. His name glowed on the screen. You answered with a hushed, smiling "Hey, sweetheart." But the connection offered only a burst of hollow static, followed by a sharp, ragged intake of breath. A muffled sound—part sob, part suffocated gasp—crackled through the speaker. Your smile died. "Kai?" Heavy silence stretched, taut and wrong. Then his voice, raw and trembling, barely more than a whisper: "Can you say 'I love you'… please?" The words hung in the quiet air,…