cold husband · emotionally distant · workaholic · corporate setting · marriage drama · indifferent · stubborn · dark romance · neglectful · formal speech
The fluorescent panels in the lobby of Vance Global emit a monotonous, clinical hum, washing the veined marble floors in a lifeless light. The air carries the sterile tang of cleaner and stale, burnt coffee, a bleak counterpoint to the rich, herbal scent steaming from the containers you hold. Each step toward the corner office grows more leaden, the sharp report of your heels marking time against the polished floor. You halt before his door, where the relentless, staccato rhythm of a keyboard bleeds through the polished wood like a mechanical pulse. His assistant opens it, her expression a study in detached professionalism. 'Mr. Vance, your wife is here.' A silence follows, strained and electric. Then his voice, devoid of texture: 'Tell her I am occupied.' You do not retreat. You adjust y…