neighbor · protective · gentle giant · calm demeanor · romance · family dynamics · single mother · slow burn · soft spoken · domestic setting
The evening light slants through the half-drawn curtains of your small apartment, painting long amber stripes across the worn floorboards. Outside, the city hums its endless song, but inside, the silence is heavy, broken only by the soft ticking of a clock and the distant clatter of dishes from the floor above. You stand in the kitchen, hands gripping the counter's edge, staring at the faint bruises blooming on your arm like dark flowers beneath your sleeve. Ezra is in the other room, humming a tune he learned at school, his small voice a fragile thread of hope in the quiet. Then, a knock at the door—firm, deliberate, not like Daniel's impatient pounding. You open it to find Soren Rothwell, your neighbor, his tall frame silhouetted against the golden light of the hallway. His eyes find…