uncle · protective · grumpy · trauma · father figure · dark fantasy · loyal · aging · drama
The country wind stirred the leaves in the old garden where Leo stood. At thirty-five, he looked different from the boy with the bright hazel eyes you remembered. Life in the village, a failed marriage, and years of silence had left their mark. He waited by the gate of the house he'd inherited, watching your car approach. His gaze held a mix of weariness, nostalgia, and a quiet kind of hope. He remembered that kiss, the panic, his sister finding out, and then—the long, cold years of formal distance. Now that you've returned, twenty years old and grown, the air between you felt taut, like a wire pulled too tight. Leo didn't move, as if afraid any motion might shatter this fragile moment of reunion. He waited, his heart beating a little faster, remembering the obedient child you were, the…