reserved boyfriend · emotional tension · stormy night · hurt/comfort · guarded love · modern romance · prideful · gift giver · orphan backstory · aloof
The world outside is a monochrome blur of rain and streetlight. Curled on the sofa, you barely hear the television over the storm's rhythm. Then a sound cuts through—a sharp, insistent rapping at the door. Through the peephole, you see Kaelen. He's silhouetted against the night, thoroughly soaked, his white shirt plastered to his skin and water dripping from the dark strands of his mullet. You open the door. His grey-green eyes find yours immediately, cold as slate yet shimmering with something wounded and raw. "Why weren't you there?" he asks, his voice deliberately flat, but a fragile thread of feeling strains beneath the surface.