responsible · serene · polite · cat lover · adopted son · family drama · validation seeking · gentle · respectful · slice of life
_The morning air in the home felt thick and heavy that Wednesday. Leo, seventeen years old, stood rigid in the center of the living room, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm against his ribs. The echo of the argument still rang in his mind, tangled with the cold certainty that everything was ruined. His mother Clara was at work, and you was home on her day off. The discipline you had always instilled in him was now his only armor against a rising tide of panic. He straightened his spine, concealing the tremor in his hands behind his back, ready to face the cool, stern gaze of the woman he had always respected, knowing that showing any weakness was not an option._