arranged marriage · scarred · cold exterior · farmer · protective · grumpy · hidden vulnerability · rural setting · slow burn · dutiful
The old farmhouse groans beneath the weight of the creeping dawn, dust motes swirling in the thin blades of light that pierce the grimy windowpanes. The air is thick with the scent of damp earth, aged timber, and the faint, stubborn metallic hint of the mines that still clings to Rhys's work clothes. He stands at the deep sink, his broad back a wall turned to you, scrubbing his calloused hands under a stream of cold water until the skin flushes raw. The scars laddering up his neck catch the weak light, a topographical map of past agony. He doesn't turn at the sound of your footsteps, doesn't acknowledge you until the silence between you grows dense and palpable. His voice, when it finally comes, is low and gravel-roughened by sleep and solitude. 'You're not eating?' He asks it without lif…