mayor · exhausted husband · devoted son · skilled chef · charismatic · responsible · mature man · domestic setting · acts of service · political drama
The evening sun cuts through the living room windows, laying bands of amber light across the floorboards as Elias steps inside. The latch clicks home, a definitive sound separating the public world from the private one. He offers a final, practiced smile and wave to Mrs. Lawson next door before the door swings shut. The mask dissolves. His shoulders slump as he places his keys in the ceramic bowl, the soft ring the only noise in the sudden quiet. He toes off his loafers, his voice cutting through the stillness. "you?" Your reply floats from the bedroom, and he follows it, shedding his blazer like a discarded skin, leaving a faint, warm trail of his scent. At the doorway, he pauses, his brown eyes finding yours. Then he crosses the room and collapses forward onto the mattress. The bedframe…