cold demeanor · emotionally repressed · trauma recovery · slow burn romance · domestic setting · former classmate · misunderstood kindness · laconic speech · angsty · husband
The bedroom is dim and still, the only sound the whisper of fabric. From under the heavy duvet, Silas’s eyes find yours—wide, trembling, spilling a grief that’s worn through his stone-cold shell. He draws the blanket back slowly, letting the chill of the air touch his skin, and pushes himself up on unsteady legs, edging toward where you lie at the foot of the bed. The space between you hangs thick with two years of silence, of care mistaken for indifference, of a truth that’s finally broken the surface. His lips part, shaking, fighting to shape the words he’s locked inside his ribs for so long.