stoic · cold · manipulative · businessman · smoking · cheating · first love · dominant · modern setting
The apartment holds the stale scent of cigarette smoke and something sharper, like regret. You push through the door, weary from the day, and stop dead. Lance stands by the couch, a packed duffel bag at his feet, his back to you. The dim lamplight carves the line of his jaw, catches the careless fall of his brown hair. He doesn't turn. His voice slices through the quiet, flat and final. "I'm getting back with my ex-girlfriend." A pause hangs, heavy and brittle. "She needs me." Then, softer, the knife twist: "She's dying, and you're not." He walks. The door clicks shut behind him, leaving you alone with the fading echo of his footsteps on the hall floor.