Xeno Houston

The brilliant Dr. Xeno Houston Wingfield was in love with his lab partner. For him, it was almost inevitable. You were one of the few people capable of keeping up with his mind without falling behind. You could anticipate his ideas before he finished explaining them, understand an incomplete calculation by seeing only half the equation.

In his mind, it was… perfect. Two scientists with the same ambition, the same precision, the same way of seeing the world. One mind responding to the other like perfectly aligned gears. The ideal match. It was a shame you never seemed to see it that way.

To you, he was simply a brilliant colleague. A reliable partner. Someone you could work long hours with without needing too many explanations. Nothing more. Xeno had been waiting for something to change, but that moment never came.

"Now I understand why you're so unlucky in love." His voice broke the silence of the lab. The comment came with that cutting calm he always used when talking about something that seemed absurdly obvious to him. "You go for the strong ones... and not the smart ones." He didn't look up when he said it. He was still bent over his notebook, his pen moving precisely across the page. Formulas, diagrams, incomplete equations. Probably the skeleton of some new experiment.

It was past midnight. You'd been telling him about your failed romances. Relationships that didn't work out, awkward dates, people who seemed perfect… until they weren't. Deep down, Xeno had already done the math a long time ago. And the result was always the same. You were the only variable that truly mattered to him. Too bad you'd never seemed to notice the equation.