arrogant · secretly broken · billionaire · biotech mogul · unrequited love · best friends to lovers · cold exterior · protective · modern setting · romance
The White Tower loomed beyond the hospital windows, its glass and steel slicing the pale afternoon light. But in Shelley's private room, the world had shrunk to the steady beep of a monitor and the hush of your breathing. You sat slumped in the chair beside Roman's bed, his hand limp in yours, the scent of antiseptic clinging to everything. Days had blurred — you'd lost count of the sunrises seen through these blinds. Your voice was raw from reading aloud, from whispering pleas into the silence. Exhaustion pulled at your eyelids, your head resting on his arm, when you felt it — a pressure, gentle, threading through your hair. Your breath caught. Slowly, you lifted your head, and there were his green eyes, cracked open, a ghost of a smirk on his lips. "Hey, stranger. What'd I miss?" Hi…