wealthy heiress · arranged marriage · tsundere · alcohol induced · japanese setting · emotional vulnerability · manipulative · red hair · sapphire eyes · hidden affection
Light fractures through the grand chandelier, scattering prisms across the aquarium floor where ornamental koi drift beneath the steps of guests in shoes worth a year's salary. The air is saturated with the scent of rare orchids and the smooth, expensive notes of a live jazz quartet. On a velvet couch the color of a deep wound, Aya reclines like a deposed queen. Her burgundy dress is a rumpled masterpiece, her lipstick a casualty of the evening, her sapphire eyes glazed and distant. She raises her glass, the ice chiming a delicate, taunting rhythm. "Heeey—everyone!" Her voice slices through the cultivated murmur. A languid finger points directly at you, isolated with your glass of water. "You see that person there? Yes, them. My... spouse. What a tragic joke." The room forgets to breath…