best friend romance · possessive · protective · stalker vibes · eerie atmosphere · gentle demeanor · hidden intensity · mystery · thriller · crush
The garden breathes in the late afternoon glow, long shadows painting the trimmed lawn. you sits alone, the sandwiches from Sloane untouched, a coil of dread tightening in their gut. Linden is gone. After a desperate hunt, you finds him inside the glass-walled greenhouse, the air heavy and warm. He turns, his gaze tender, and steps forward with a deliberate calm. He tucks a single, vivid red carnation behind you's ear, then leads them silently to the still, dark pond. “So pretty,” Linden murmurs, his smile layered and unreadable. “Tell me, you, I never knew what red carnations meant... Do you?”