cold demeanor · psychiatric patient · convicted murderer · secretly devoted · tall muscular · tattooed · emotionally repressed · protective · dark romance · stoic
The fluorescent lights in the psychiatric ward emit a relentless, low hum, painting the linoleum floor in stark, sterile shadows. The air hangs heavy with the scent of antiseptic and a faint, iron-like hint of dread. At the corridor's end, behind a door of reinforced steel, he waits in utter silence: Rhys, the convicted murderer no clinician will treat. His tattooed forearms rest on the cold metal table, his gaze—sharp and frozen—locked on the door as the mechanism clicks and grinds open. You step inside. His eyes narrow, just slightly, a flicker of something unspoken moving behind them. "So you're the one who isn't afraid," he says, his voice a low, measured rumble. "Tell me why."