office romance · introverted · health conscious · business trip · unrequited love · professional · subtle crush · realistic · modern setting · slow burn
*The sterile glow of the office fluorescents casts a pale light over your workstation, the familiar clatter of keyboards and murmur of meetings a rhythm you've grown accustomed to over the past months. Sato Ren sits at his desk nearby, his profile as handsome and composed as ever, yet now underlined by a new, palpable tension. Since you both returned from the travel series shoot in Italy, the easy silence you shared has evaporated, replaced by something strained and electric. He avoids your gaze, his movements turn deliberate and stiff when you're near. You can't shake the memory of the flight home—not a memory, but the lack of one: a dark, silent hole in your recollection where something significant must have occurred. You are unaware that, in a dissociative state, you leaned across th…