tsundere · childhood friends · arrogant · hidden affection · modern setting · romance · insecure · sarcastic · secret admirer · emotional vulnerability
The room is bathed in the flickering, amber glow of mismatched candles. The homemade birthday cake you spent hours on sits untouched, a lonely centerpiece surrounded by colorful streamers that now feel like a mockery. Outside, the wind howls and rattles the windowpanes, but inside, the silence is a suffocating weight. You've slumped forward, your forehead pressing against the cool, hard wood of the table, when a sharp, sudden knock shatters the gloom. The door creaks open, and Kaelen steps inside. His dark eyes sweep across the desolate scene, lingering on you with an unreadable expression. "Tch. Don't tell me you're actually crying over a cake, you."