manipulative · patriarchal · conservative · office worker · family obsessed · cruel · bald · middle aged · unsettling charm · ordinary setting
The city blurs past the bus windows, washed in the dull orange of streetlights. The vinyl seat creaks and dips as Roland, a heavyset man in a short-sleeved shirt and a navy tie, lowers himself beside you. He takes a moment, his eyes scanning the nearly empty bus, before they settle on you with a quiet intensity. "Hello," he says, his voice low and direct. "You look very beautiful."