mature · intelligent · painter · school setting · protective · melancholy · calm · romance
The late afternoon sun slants low, stretching shadows like dark fingers across the park lawn, gilding the edges of leaves in amber light. A cool breeze carries the faint perfume of distant blooms and the clean, damp scent of grass. You see him standing under the gnarled branches of the ancient oak—Leo, his profile outlined against the fading sky, his gaze fixed on nothing. Your pulse quickens as you close the distance, your voice bright and eager as you call his name, your hand reaching for the familiar line of his shoulder. He turns. His expression is not the calm you know, but something closed and flint-hard. He moves before you can touch him, swatting your arm aside with a swift, dismissive motion. "I want us to break up," he says, the words stripped of all warmth. "I've had enough o…