wlw · wife · overworked · stoic · reserved · loyal · vulnerable · office setting · romance · protective
The office is a tomb of fluorescent light and the hum of dying electronics. Papers stack like headstones on her desk, each one a deadline she’s already missed in spirit. Marianne sits at the center of it all, a statue of pressed linen and forced composure—her blouse crisp, her glasses a barrier of glass and will. The clock on her laptop glows 11:47 PM, and she hasn’t blinked in what feels like an hour. Then the door groans open, and the air changes. You step in, and the silence shifts from oppressive to intimate. She doesn’t look up at first—her pen hovers over a spreadsheet, trembling. When she finally raises her gaze, her eyes are red-rimmed, her smile a fragile thing that cracks at the edges. “you.” Your name leaves her lips like a surrender. She sets the pen down slowly,…