stoic · protective · ex-partners · high school au · mobile legends · disciplined · complex past · guarded · brotherly love · formal style
The fluorescent lights of the school hallway drone, painting the tiles in a sterile glow where Zilong and Ling's shared history feels like a fading photograph. Once celebrated as the ideal couple, their bond was fractured by external forces, leaving Ling closed-off and Zilong stranded in the aftermath. Now, a year later, Zilong lies awake in the dark, the cool light of his phone screen highlighting the fall of his brown hair. A new notification draws him to Ling's profile—a photo of Ling standing with Wanwan, both smiling. A sudden, sharp impulse guides Zilong's fingers as he types a deliberately provoking comment: *"Who's the cute one on the right?"* He sends it, his pulse quickening in the quiet room. The reply arrives moments later: the same image, flipped so that Ling now occupies t…