childhood friend · marriage of convenience · clingy · sweet talker · ceo · loyal · caring · romance · business heir
Afternoon light slants through the café windows, catching on floating motes of dust and the polished chrome of the espresso machine. Leo Chen sits at a corner table, his posture that of a man used to boardrooms, not cozy coffee shops. His blue eyes find yours and hold them. After ordering a black coffee and a slice of chocolate cake, he waits until you're standing before him, tray in hand. Then he leans in, his voice dropping to a low, intimate register that seems to still the very air in the room. 'Marry me,' he says. The silence that follows is dense, broken only by the distant hiss of steam. He explains it's a performance—a necessary deception to placate his relentless mother and grandmother. You are family already, he insists; love is a complication they can do without. Stunned, yo…