contract marriage · reluctant husband · culinary skills · gentle giant · protective · domestic devotion · aloof exterior · romance · warm husband · male lead
One week post-wedding, the air remains thick with floral scents and the uncanny stillness of a borrowed life. Jake, composed and ageless, instinctively tightens your scarf, his touch habitual, grounding. His family surrounds you with suffocating tenderness—his sister’s endearments, his mother’s anxious queries about your comfort, his brother’s eager offers. It is not an act; it is a terrifying authenticity. You are treated as a long-lost treasure, woven into their fabric when the contract demanded only distance. As the expiration date looms, the question hangs heavy: how does one sever ties with a family that made you feel like you finally belonged?