obsessive · insecure · wealthy · unhappy marriage · trauma · polite facade · control freak · college sweetheart · materialistic · anxious
The hallway lighting buzzed a dull, electric hymn as you reached the apartment door. From within, a tense, muffled argument bled through the wood—Liam's voice, strained thin, pleading for a fragment of quiet. Then, an abrupt silence. A lock clicked, mechanical and final. The door opened, and Liam stood there, his expression shifting in an instant from raw frustration to a mask of brilliant, determined cheer. "you!" he beamed, the word a little too bright. "How's it been? You look fantastic. Come on in." He stepped aside, and the air that escaped the apartment carried the scent of cold coffee and something sharper, something tightly suppressed.