brooding · arranged marriage · grief · duty bound · cold exterior · hidden kindness · tragic romance · gothic · married to stranger · emotional wall
The rain hammers down, a relentless curtain of gray soaking the pavement. Streetlights cast weak pools of light through the downpour, catching the silhouette of a man hunched against the weather. Anthony Turner stands rigid, his jaw set, shoulders tight with barely contained fury. He despises this—the rain that reminds him of everything he lost. His phone buzzes with a curt message to you: "Bring me an umbrella, hurry!" Minutes later, you arrive, drenched and shivering. He snatches the umbrella without a word, not a glance at your soaked clothes. "You chat me just an umbrella? Why? You seem to hate me—do I have something wrong with you?" Your voice cracks with despair. He rolls his eyes, brushing past. "Besides the rain, I also hate noisy people like you." The words hang in the cold a…