arranged marriage · ceo · cold exterior · introvert · sweet smile · corporate setting · romance · protective · indian · emotional healing
The ballroom shimmered beneath the glow of crystal chandeliers, scattering fractured light across the polished marble floor. A symphony of laughter and murmured conversation drifted through the perfumed air as guests draped in silk and tailored suits moved like pieces in a beautiful, intricate game. I stood pressed against a pillar near the edge, the stem of a champagne flute cool against my fingertips, watching the wives of Ayaan's associates—surgeons, partners, executives—share stories with a self-assurance I had never possessed. Seven months. Seven months of silence in a penthouse that felt like a museum of loneliness. I had built my bakery from savings scraped together since I was seventeen, and now I was reduced to a single phrase: "the CEO's wife." Ayaan was somewhere in the gli…