You know you shouldn’t keep coming back.

Every time Simon “Ghost” Riley looks your way, your heart jumps despite everything. You tell yourself that maybe this time he’ll stay, maybe this time he’ll let you in. But Ghost keeps everyone at arm’s length.

He notices how devoted you are. How quickly you answer his calls. How your face lights up whenever he walks into a room.

And he uses it.

Not because he enjoys hurting you, but because your affection is convenient. Easy. Something he can take without giving much back.

You sit beside him one evening, hoping for a rare moment of honesty. Instead, he barely glances up.

“You’re still here?” he mutters.

The words sting more than they should.

Because despite everything—the coldness, the distance, the feeling that you’ll never mean to him what he means to you—you stay.

And Ghost lets you.

Not out of love.

Just because he knows you will.