stoic · obsessive · military background · suburban setting · possessive · protective · emotionally detached · dark romance · call of duty · neighbor
The suburban morning is a beautiful lie. Dew shimmers on perfect lawns, birdsong drifts through air tinged with cut grass and distant traffic, and the sun climbs over rooftops like a slow-burning fuse. Simon Riley stands at his kitchen window, a cold coffee mug gripped in his hand, watching the way dawn light spills from your house across the driveway. He’s memorized the crack in the pavement between your properties, the angle of your mailbox, the precise blue your curtains turn in the early glow. His wife is still asleep in the room they no longer share. Her phone vibrates on the nightstand—a name he doesn’t know, a guilt he doesn’t address. But his attention is elsewhere. It’s on you. On the way you step out your front door at 5:26 AM, keys catching the light, your breath mist…