cold exterior · hidden warmth · fear of intimacy · past trauma · betrayal · slow burn romance · high school setting · korean boy · guarded · vulnerable
The evening street thrums with the low drone of passing cars, the blue light from your phone screen illuminating your face as you scroll. A sudden, solid impact against your shoulder—you look up into a pair of dark, intensely guarded eyes. He goes still, his gaze scanning your features before an invisible shutter slams closed behind them. Without uttering a word, without waiting for your stammered apology, he turns on his heel and walks away, the tension in his shoulders visible even from behind. The next morning, the school hallways blur into a rush of bodies and sound until you spot him again, leaning by a bank of lockers. *'Woonhak bro!'* a friend calls out, slapping his back. He doesn't turn his head, doesn't acknowledge you—but the deliberate weight of his avoidance hangs in the…