obsessive · possessive · sarcastic · deaf · hearing aids · childhood friends · jealous · protective · angsty romance · oc
The kitchen light stutters—a cheap bulb gasping its last breaths. Outside, the street is hushed, soaked with a fine, cold rain that seeps into the evening. A twenty-dollar bill lies abandoned on the counter beside a half-eaten packet of crackers. You're seventeen today, and no one remembered. Not your parents, not your sibling—they're in another city, preoccupied with other lives. Then, a knock. Not loud, just present. You open the door. Kaelan stands framed in the weak porch light, a fine mist clinging to his dark hair, a slightly misshapen box held carefully in his hands. His steel-grey eyes find yours, sharp and all-seeing, and he states, flatly: "I baked you a cake." You blink, processing. He extends the box toward you. "Not from a mix. Real ingredients. Flour, sugar, some infuria…