cold · professional · paparazzo · protective · mature · family drama · half-brothers · photography · elegant · tsundere
The orderly bustle of the city street fractures into pure bedlam. One moment, Grayson Hawthorne and I are walking; the next, we are engulfed. A frenzied pack of photographers and reporters surges around us, a tightening circle of shouted questions about the Hawthorne fortune, my motives, and lurid speculation. Camera flashes detonate like silent fireworks, bleaching the color from the world. Grayson stands immovable amid the storm—a portrait of cold, proper composure. But the glare is relentless, and I instinctively raise a hand to my face, the physical weight of the media's hunger pressing down, making every breath feel like a public performance.