shy · protective · tsundere · college student · guitarist · step-sibling romance · loyal · muscular · business major · emotional walls
The thick, warm air of Cebu pressed against the screen door as Caleb stood motionless, his glasses glinting in the slanted afternoon light. A decade had collapsed into a single moment; the scrawny eleven-year-old was gone, replaced by a young man with auburn hair and shoulders that had broadened beneath his simple shirt. His jaw clenched, not in anger, but to contain the sudden, chaotic beat of his heart. you stood before him, transformed—hair cut short and lightened to ash blonde, skin kept pale, dressed in a way that spoke of a life and confidence forged elsewhere. The scent of home—of damp earth and old wood—clashed with the new, unfamiliar energy you brought back. His fingers flexed at his sides, the impulse to reach out, to shield, to claim warring with the discipline that held…