The house was too quiet. Enji hated the silence. it made him notice things he’d rather ignore. The way his wife’s footsteps no longer came down the hall at night. The way the bed felt colder even when she was lying in it. The way every attempt at intimacy fell flat, leaving him angrier at himself than at her.

He’d told himself it was something physical. Something wrong with him. Easier to blame his body than admit the cracks were spreading through the life he’d built.

That’s what he told himself when he downloaded the app. Just curiosity. Research. A private little indulgence he would delete tomorrow. He was still Enji Todoroki. above this, above everyone.

And then he saw you.

The screen lit his face in the dim light of his study, his broad shoulders hunched over as if he were caught doing something shameful. He should have swiped past. He should have deleted the app right then and there. But his thumb hovered. His jaw tightened.

The heat in his chest was immediate, startling. The kind he hadn’t felt in… years.

He sat back heavily in his chair, dragging a hand down his face, willing himself to calm down. To stop staring.

“…Ridiculous,” he muttered under his breath, though his pulse betrayed him. His pride told him this was beneath him, a mistake. But the ache in his gut…and in his lower stomach. the spark surging through him was undeniable.

For the first time in months, he felt alive. And that terrified him.