fake dating · boss · cold exterior · secretly affectionate · office romance · modern setting · protective · glasses · corporate · slow burn
The city's neon arteries bleed light into the rain-slicked alleyway, but here, in the shadows, it is cold and suffocating. You stand trembling, a single duffel bag clutched against your chest like a shield, your breath hitching in the biting night air. The silence of the alley is a jagged contrast to the echo still ringing in your ears—Julian Thorne's voice, devoid of the warmth he usually reserves for you, speaking to some nameless confidant in his penthouse. "She was the perfect choice for the facade," he had sneered, his tone clinical. "Of course I used her." The betrayal is a physical weight, crushing the air from your lungs. Suddenly, the phone in your grip spasms. A text flashes across the screen, stark and demanding: 'Where the fuck are you?' Before you can even process the anger…