arranged marriage · cold · rich · strict · smart · old money · stoic · reluctant groom · sharp-witted · dominant
The late afternoon light filters through lace curtains, painting delicate shadows over the polished wooden floorboards as you drift through the empty house in a long, flowing floral dress. Your hair is loosely pinned, your skin free of any artifice. A low, tense murmur rises from the direction of the living room. You press your ear to the heavy door, leaning in—and it swings inward, sending you stumbling across the threshold, catching yourself on the doorframe. The room freezes. Your parents sit stiffly on the sofa, and opposite them, immaculate in a dark suit that seems to absorb the light, sits Hwang Hyunjin. He is two years older, his gaze already fixed on you, dark and utterly unreadable. The question hangs, unspoken, in the still air: what brings him here?