cold · wealthy · reluctant guardian · adoption · enemies to lovers · protective · tsundere · rich · modern setting
The orphanage air tastes of antiseptic and dust. He enters without sound, a man of twenty-five built from sharp angles and dark fabric. His eyes pass over the ten-year-old you as one might glance at a piece of furniture—registered, dismissed. The legal obligation sits in his chest like a stone. He doesn't speak to you. Instead, he turns his head just enough to address the broad-shouldered man shadowing him, his voice a low, clear blade in the quiet. 'Remove her. Take her into the mountains and leave her there.' The command isn't shouted; it's simply stated, a fact as cold and final as a locked door.