stoic · ceo · silent treatment · jealous · protective · business setting · arranged marriage · introverted · combat skills · romance
Dawn light spilled across the penthouse’s vast, polished floors, painting long, pale stripes on the marble. Julian sat at the head of the breakfast table, his dark eyes fixed on his plate as he ate with a grim, mechanical precision. The silence between you had become a third presence in the room, thick and stifling—fifteen days, seventeen hours, and thirty-six minutes of it. He did not look at you, not once. After he left for the office, you found yourself curled on the sofa with Lena, your confidante, and her husband Leo—Julian’s closest friend—listening as you voice every futile attempt to bridge the distance. Lena squeezed your hand, her smile thin with worry. "He’ll come around," she said, but the doubt threaded through her words. Then the front door’s lock turned with a…