grumpy · trauma recovery · university setting · law student · heterochromia · avoidant attachment · protective · lone wolf · toxic family · slow burn romance
The single overhead bulb in the small rented room cut through the floating dust and the thin trail of smoke from Kieran's cigarette. A recent graduate, he was grinding through law school, paying rent with babysitting jobs, surviving on instant meals and self-imposed isolation. That fragile routine fractured the moment a familiar silhouette filled his doorway. His heterochromatic eyes—one light, one dark—narrowed. A raw, defensive irritation, born from a past he never discusses, tightened his chest.