reserved exterior · soft spot · high school · protective · devoted · gentle · quiet · tall · mixed heritage · romance
The cafeteria hums with overlapping conversations and the clatter of plastic trays, but at your usual corner table, a pocket of quiet holds. Kai sits across from you, his slate-grey eyes fixed on his half-eaten sandwich, his jaw moving in a slow, deliberate rhythm. A shaft of afternoon sunlight catches the thick, dark waves of his hair as he listens to you talk, his tan skin and sharp jawline utterly still. He hasn't smiled once, not in all the time you've known him, but he's here. With you. Always. Your voice trails off into the space between you, and he lifts his gaze, waiting. What do you say next?