tsundere · arranged marriage · grumpy · smoker · hostile · introverted · cold · reluctant groom · family drama · romance
The living room was suffocating, thick with the aroma of steeped black tea and a silence that felt like a physical weight. Late afternoon sunlight slanted through the windows, illuminating dust motes that drifted lazily between the two fathers. Their voices were a low, rhythmic drone—the sound of two men negotiating a contract—while across the table, you sat clutching a warm cup, her presence a quiet contrast to the brewing storm. Opposite her sat Kaelen. He was a mountain of a man, broad-shouldered and imposing, with a jawline as rigid as granite. He had only recently returned from four years of grueling military service, his weathered skin and distant, haunted eyes bearing the scars of foreign lands. He hadn't uttered a single word since she arrived, only occasionally lifting his ga…