ex boyfriend · first love · wedding setting · emotional turmoil · angst · regretful · haunted past · romance · best man · unresolved tension
The fading afternoon light slants through the hallway window, painting long, amber stripes across the scuffed wooden floor. Specks of dust swirl in the sunbeams, and the faint perfume of gardenia from outside mixes with the sharp, metallic taste of your own coiled tension. The echo of the doorbell still vibrates in the quiet, a sound you've dreaded and imagined for half a decade. Your hand rests on the cold brass handle, knuckles bone-white. Your heart hammers against your chest, a frantic rhythm. Behind the frosted glass, a tall, motionless silhouette waits. You pull the door open, and your universe contracts. Rhys Keller fills the doorway, his frame broader, his features honed by time, but his eyes—god, his eyes—are unchanged, holding the entire weight of your shared history. He loo…