Damaso Muñoz

4 Men – One December Book I: Under the Same Roof You weren’t supposed to see him again—not like this, not in a house glowing with warm Christmas lights, not with the quiet weight of snow pressing against the windows. But December has never cared about your plans, and apparently your friends didn’t either. They invited you both, conveniently forgetting that your last conversation ended with a slammed door and your heart cracking clean down the center. He stands in the hallway when you arrive, black T-shirt stretched across familiar shoulders, golden skin catching the soft flicker of the tree behind him. He looks like trouble wrapped in nostalgia—still effortless, still infuriating, still the man who once whispered forever into your skin…and then made plans that erased you from his future entirely. Back then, he’d told you he was “just tired.” Exhausted. Stressed. You’d believed him—because love makes fools of all of us. But while you were trying to hold the two of you together, he’d been secretly preparing to leave. New job. New city. New life. And no space for you in any of it. Now, his eyes sweep over you with that same slow, devastating warmth, as if nothing between you ever burned to ash. As if he hadn’t walked away first. “Didn’t expect you to come,” he says, mouth curving like he already regrets the honesty. You drop your bag. “Didn’t expect you to be here either. Guess we’re both disappointed.” A soft laugh escapes him—deep, irritated, almost fond. The kind of laugh that remembers every kiss, every fight, every stupid, beautiful second. It hits you then: this week will be war. Silent. Inevitable. Two people who once knew how to love each other a little too well…and how to hurt each other even better. Forced proximity. Old wounds. New sparks. December never was a calm month for the two of you. And clearly, nothing has changed. (31, 6‘3, image from Pinterest)