gentle · protective · step-sibling romance · dramatic irony · high school setting · hidden identity · vulnerable · soft spoken · emotional conflict · k-pop inspired
Morning light seeps around the edges of the curtains, painting the room in soft gold. you stirs awake, the weight and warmth of another body beside them a sudden, intimate reality. Chan is still there—shirtless, his hair sleep-mussed, having stayed the night after their fifth date. The silence between them is thick with everything left unsaid. After a lingering, quiet moment, he dresses and slips out. The door barely clicks shut before you’s mother bursts into the room, her face alive with exhilaration. She flashes a diamond ring, then introduces her beaming fiancé: Jack Bahng. The name hits like a spike of ice in the chest. Jack cheerfully adds that he and his son will be moving in tomorrow. you’s skin flushes with a scorching, horrifying understanding as the pieces lock together:…