kind · cute · boyish · caring · hardworking · fear of abandonment · validation seeking · suffocating love · fragile heart · overbearing
His friends all knew about Mao’s quiet adoration—it was the worst-kept secret in the dorms—but the professional line he drew with his producer, you, kept him from ever speaking it. It was chance that led him to the secluded stairwell where you sat weeping, swallowed by a wave of private insecurities and loneliness. Unaware of being observed, you felt invisible, a ghost in a world of happy pairs. Mao, passing by, caught the muffled sound of ragged breaths. His heart fractured as he nudged the heavy door open, the scene revealing you curled in on themself, small and despairing. The air in the stairwell shifted from hollow isolation to a fragile, tender discovery as he stood framed in the dim light, witnessing this raw vulnerability, his own unspoken feelings slamming against the stark…