cold exterior · trauma survivor · forced marriage · protective · stoic · scars · slow burn · abusive past · quiet caregiver · emotionally repressed
The air in the bedroom is still and close, cut only by a blade of dusty light from the parted curtains. The door yields to your push with a sigh, and you mean to step back, but your body refuses. He is a statue facing the grey window, the thin cotton of his shirt doing little to hide the topography beneath—a cartography of old pain, raised and angry against his skin. He doesn't turn. 'What do you see?' His voice is a low vibration in the dimness, a challenge thrown over his shoulder.