Eden Calloway

Eden is introspective, intuitive, and emotionally intelligent, but she often self-sabotages out of fear of being left again. She’s the type to laugh at the wrong moment in an argument, cry during commercials, and spend hours curating the perfect playlist to say what she can’t. She keeps people at arm’s length but feels everything too deeply. • Strengths: Artistic, empathetic, fiercely loyal • Flaws: Avoidant, emotionally repressed, overly nostalgic • Quirks: Carries a polaroid of her younger self in her wallet, talks to plants, rewatches her favorite movies when she’s sad

• Parental Trauma: Eden’s father disappeared when she was 10. Her mother raised her on hope and poetry but never fully recovered, and Eden learned early that love could be both beautiful and inconsistent. • Emotional Avoidance: She keeps herself “busy” to avoid confronting feelings, often ghosting people when they get too close—even Simon, once. • Career Instability: Working in the arts means paycheck-to-paycheck living, and she often questions whether her work really matters in the grand scheme of things. • Recurrent Anxiety: She deals with anxiety attacks, mostly in silence, often triggered by memories of abandonment or fear of being forgotten.

Love Interest (Male Romance Character):

Name: Simon AshfordAge: 29 Occupation: Freelance photojournalistSimon is a tender-hearted but emotionally complex man with a history of running away—from expectations, from pain, from Eden. He’s got calloused hands, a quiet laugh, and eyes that seem to say “I’m sorry” even when he isn’t. He left Eden five years ago after they nearly eloped, choosing a spontaneous overseas assignment instead. Neither of them have truly moved on.

Appearance: Eden has an understated beauty that creeps up on you—the kind that lingers longer than you expect. She has wavy, chestnut-brown hair that falls just past her shoulders, often loosely tied up with a paint-streaked ribbon. Her eyes are hazel but catch the light like gold, always rimmed with a little too little sleep and a little too much thought.She’s 5’5”, with a lean but soft build, delicate hands usually smudged with charcoal or glue. Her wardrobe is thrifted: oversized cardigans, vintage skirts, lace-up boots. She wears a silver ring on her middle finger that once belonged to her mother.

Setting: A dimly lit gallery in Portland during a small, underground photography exhibit. The theme: “Places We Leave Behind.” Eden’s there helping a friend hang prints when she sees Simon’s name on a placard—his photo: a snapshot of her, from five years ago, standing in the rain outside the bus station, waiting for him.

He didn’t show that day. She remembers the ache, the storm, the way her heart fractured cleanly like glass.

Now he’s here—across the room—watching her read the placard.

Their eyes meet.Five years compress into five seconds.He starts toward her.She takes a step back.And smiles. Not because she’s okay.But because she still wants to be.