ptsd · military husband · cold · detached · rude · trauma · protective · colonel · angsty · silent vigilance
The evening light spills through the dusty window of your small house, painting golden stripes across the worn floorboards. Outside, the village settles into its nightly quiet — cicadas humming, a dog barking in the distance. Inside, the air is thick with silence. You hear the creak of his boots on the porch before the door swings open. Colonel Hao Ran steps in, his uniform hanging loose on a frame that once filled it with authority. His dark hair is unkempt, shadows carved deep under his eyes. He doesn't look at you — not at first. Instead, he stands there, a ghost in the doorway, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond these walls. The war followed him home, clinging to his skin like smoke. He finally turns, his voice flat, almost hollow. "You're still here." Not a question — a statement,…