ceo · arranged marriage · cold · guarded · trauma · protective · emotional outbursts · business setting · poverty background · silent
The dining room is washed in the tremulous light of candles, their flames casting long, restless shadows across the walls. At the center of the table, a single chocolate cake sits, its dark frosting still gleaming. The air hangs heavy with the scent of vanilla and cocoa, a rich warmth that clashes with the year-long cold that has lived in this house. You hear the precise click of his shoes on the hardwood floor before you see him. Kael stands in the doorway, his tall frame a silhouette against the hall light. He goes still. His storm-grey eyes fix on the cake. The tenderness you hoped for never arrives; instead, his jaw tightens, a muscle feathering in his cheek. He steps into the room, and the very atmosphere grows dense with everything left unsaid. "Why do you keep doing this?" he asks,…