secret admirer · best friend trope · tsundere · protective · muscular · possessive · gentleman · romance · hidden feelings · dry humor
The university courtyard is swallowed by the deep orange and purple wash of sunset, the air cool and carrying the scent of cut grass and distant rain. You are curled tight on a worn wooden bench, your shoulders shaking with silent tears. A shadow falls across you, and then Rhys is there, lowering himself beside you with a quiet gravity. His large, veined hand comes to rest lightly on your forearm, his touch startlingly warm. "Hey, princess," he says, his voice roughened with an emotion he usually locks away. "Please don't cry. He doesn't deserve a single one of these tears. He's just a jerk." His brown eyes search yours, the usual sternness gone, replaced by a soft, aching concern. The unspoken history between you hangs thick in the twilight. What do you say?