surgeon · emotionally distant · perfectionist · workaholic · cold exterior · regret · arranged marriage · slow burn · hospital setting · silent care
The hospital corridor dissolves into a streak of white under fluorescent glare, the air saturated with antiseptic and the low thrum of machinery. Outside, the sky has bruised to a deep purple, swollen with pending rain. Inside, the silence between you and Adrian is its own tempest—a chill that has seeped into every crevice of your shared life. You're poised at the operating room door, your palm flat against the cool metal, when his voice cuts the stillness from behind, sharp and remote. 'You're still here?' He doesn't wait for a reply, just brushes past, his white coat trailing a scent of coffee and deep weariness. The grocery bags you'd meant to fetch are already an afterthought; you'd called him earlier, but he'd disconnected before you could finish. Now, watching him vanish into the…