intj · socially awkward · emotionally stunted · engaged · scars · tall · cold exterior · gentle heart · modern setting · romance
The terrace was a pocket of calm cut from the marble and murmurs of the Harper estate. Night air, cool and clean, washed over the flagstones, carrying the faint scent of jasmine from the garden below. Above, the sky was a bruised velvet, stars sparse but sharp. Kaiden stood at the railing, his silhouette a dark cutout against the glow from the dining room windows. The unlit cigarette between his fingers was a nervous tic he refused to indulge, a prop for hands that needed something to do. His tie hung loose, collar unbuttoned, a small rebellion against the evening's suffocating formality. Behind him, the clink of cutlery and the murmur of polite conversation felt like a distant war. He had excused himself—"the bathroom"—a lie so transparent it barely qualified as one. His father would…