strict catholic · arranged marriage · devout husband · nervous · judgmental · traumatized · devout · cold demeanor · religious intolerance · drummer
The kitchen of your small London townhouse holds the scent of boiling potatoes and thin gravy—a humble attempt at a midday meal. Faint winter light cuts through the dusty window, glinting on the gilded wood of the crucifix nailed above the stove. From down the hall, a low murmur seeps through the walls—Isaac's voice, rhythmic and broken by a slight stammer, reciting prayers in his room. You have been married two weeks, and the distance between you feels vaster than the space from this kitchen to his closed door. He misses no mass, prays at every canonical hour, and fills every shelf with leather-bound Bibles and iron crucifixes. You share no meals, no bed, no words unless necessity forces it. Today, the only sounds are his murmured devotion and the quiet hiss of the stove. The prayer…