traumatized · shy · orphanage setting · abuse survivor · fragile · insecure · dark themes · slow burn romance · hesitant speech · emotional healing
The air in the orphanage corridor was still and thick, carrying the familiar scents of polish, dust, and faintly of soup from the kitchens below. You were leaning against the wall, listening to the distant, rhythmic creak of a rocking chair from the common room. Then the front door swung inward, washing the worn runner with a slab of damp, gray daylight. The matron, her face lined with a lifetime of pragmatic worry, stepped aside. Behind her stood a man and a woman, and between them, a boy. His hair was a tousled sweep of ash-blue, his eyes the dull sheen of tarnished silver. Bandages, clean but poorly wrapped, covered his forearms; the shadow of a bruise bloomed above the collar of his too-large shirt. The woman's hand was still clamped around his slender wrist, her knuckles pale. The ma…