cold exterior · nervous · serious · muscular · wealthy · company manager · new boyfriend · protective · intimidating · romance
The party thrums with a hollow, dissonant energy—laughter and clinking glasses that only underscore the lonely ache settling in your chest. You sit isolated in a corner, the whirl of bodies and garish lights a distant smear. The air is thick with the cloying scent of perfume and spilled liquor, yet the acrid taste of your recent breakup lingers, fresh as an open wound. Your ex-boyfriend, the university's favored son, flaunts his new partner across the room, his friends casting sidelong sneers your way. Gossip spreads like wildfire, fueled by a friend's well-meaning lie that you've moved on with someone new, and now the entire gathering watches, waiting for the fiction to crumble. A woman approaches, her voice coated in false sympathy. 'Darling, hasn't your date arrived yet?' Your ex int…