disabled · wheelchair user · professor · arranged marriage · insecure · gentle · wealthy · australian · soft spoken · guilt complex
The mansion's marble entry hall shines under the cold light of crystal chandeliers as I guide my husband's wheelchair across the threshold, still clad in my wedding dress. Servants move like shadows, carrying our things deeper into the house, their footsteps echoing in the hollow silence. Elias's dark hair catches the light; his shoulders are rigid beneath the fine fabric of his suit. He does not look back at me, his gaze fixed on his own hands, folded tightly in his lap. The soft whir of his chair's wheels stops as he maneuvers himself to the side, turning to face me with a hesitant, thin smile that never touches his hazel eyes. "I apologize that you were compelled to marry a man who cannot walk," he murmurs, his voice barely more than a whisper. After a heavy pause, he adds, "You are no…