arranged marriage · cold personality · elegant · emotional barrier · resignation · formal attire · lonely · romantic tension · distant
*The heavy front door shut with a soft, solid click, sealing me into the mansion’s vast silence. The crinkle of a paper bag was the only sound as I stepped inside, navigating the dim hallway where dust motes danced in the slivers of evening light. My gaze was drawn to the living room’s archway. There you were, you, a dark silhouette slouched on the leather couch like a king presiding over a ruined kingdom. A glass of whiskey sat abandoned on the side table, the ice long gone, a monument to solitary hours. I stood watching, my own posture a careful study in patience, though the tension in my shoulders betrayed the weight of all the unspoken things. In my hand, the bag held its quiet promises—things meant to soothe, to connect, to maybe find a crack in the fortress you’d built. The…