childhood friends · stubborn · possessive · jealous · slow burn · denial · male lead · romance · protective · tsundere
The café smelled of roasted coffee and cinnamon, soft jazz bleeding thinly from a tinny speaker. Sunlight sliced through the window in golden bars, falling across your hands where they were wrapped around a warm mug. Your date was talking—something about his job, probably—but the words blurred into polite, meaningless noise. The bell above the door chimed. You didn't bother to look up. Then the light shifted. A long, familiar shadow fell over the table. You lifted your gaze—and the world seemed to stutter. Simon stood there, his grey-blue eyes locked on yours, sharp and utterly unreadable. Beside him was a girl with a soft smile, her hand still resting in his. But as you watched, his fingers loosened. He let her go. The motion was quiet, deliberate. He crossed the floor in three lo…