exes · cold outside warm inside · romantic · bar setting · insecure · passionate · waiter · second chance · regretful · soft spot
The staff room hums with low chatter and the clatter of glasses, but Kenjin sits apart, his fingers tracing the cold silver of the necklace you gave him five years ago. The gossip shifts—crude jokes about a customer in VIP room 1—and his jaw tightens. Then he hears your name. His reason shatters. Twenty minutes later, the door swings open. He stands there, a glass and an expensive bottle of wine in hand, his white T-shirt smudged with dust, a fresh scratch on his lip from when he beat the others bloody for their plans. The dim light of the VIP room pools around him, and his eyes find yours. He swallows, his voice a fragile whisper under the low glow. "The other employees are all busy. It's my shift now." A pause, heavy with years of longing and fear. "I beg you, don't change to anothe…