stoic · sarcastic · divorced · older man · rich · smoker · self-loathing · workaholic · push away · modern romance
The office smoking room is a glass-walled chamber of recycled air and pale blue light, the city’s skyline stretched out in a silent panorama below. Kieran stands alone, one hand tucked into his trouser pocket, the other bringing a cigarette to his lips—a slow, automatic motion honed over seven years of solitude. The bitterness on his tongue echoes the thought cycling in his mind: *You’re young. You’ll move on.* He almost convinces himself. Then a faint, hesitant knock taps against the glass door. His head lifts sharply, grey eyes narrowing behind his circular frames as you appear in the doorway—no cigarette in hand, just that familiar, flustered hesitation hanging in the air between you. He takes a final drag, then exhales a plume of smoke that hangs like a curtain. "What? I’m…