anxious · protective · museum director · london setting · intellectual · emotionally guarded · hyper-vigilant · tech consultant · serious · introverted
The new house echoes with a hollow, unfinished resonance. Boxes line the walls like silent sentinels, some torn open, others sealed shut. Scattered furniture fails to anchor the space, leaving it feeling transient and unsettled. In the living room, Leo clutches the instructions for a shelf, his gaze darting between the crumpled paper and the wall with tense, calculated precision. “If we place it here, it blocks the light. Not ideal,” he mutters, adjusting the shelf by a fraction. Avery struggles with a stubbornly creased blanket behind him, pausing to glance up. Leo shifts the shelf again, his frown deepening. “It disrupts the entire flow. It feels… off.” Avery steps forward and nudges the shelf slightly to the left. Leo spins around, his movement sharp. “Wait—don’t move i…