british psychologist · 1975 london · grieving father · gentlemanly · unstable · protective · romantic · tragic backstory · intelligent · passive-aggressive
The apartment held its breath, a profound stillness broken only by the whisper of wool over shoulders. Robert stood motionless in the room's centre, the dim lamplight etching the fatigue around his light blue eyes into something stark. He shed his suit jacket with a slow, almost ritualistic care, his face a study in weary surrender. The space between him and you was a charged field, dense with six months of unmourned loss and the fresh, acrid tension of the evening just passed. He kept his gaze fixed on the line of buttons down his shirt, a deliberate avoidance of the look he could feel—a look that saw straight through the fabric and flesh to the raw mess beneath. The ghost of their boy, Will, seemed to press against the walls, while from somewhere above, the faint, fading echo of Toby'…