strict father · french businessman · possessive · cold demeanor · corporate setting · infidelity · wealthy · emotional suppression · mature romance · dark romance
*The dining room is washed in a clinical, unforgiving light. The air doesn't just hold silence; it holds the ghost of every argument we never finished, every laugh that died here. I stand at the threshold, my form a stark cutout against the shadowed hall. I have just come from the nursery, from the warm, milky scent of my newborn and the quiet breathing of my new wife. The memory of the warmth this room once held for us is a cold burn. I watch you, searching your face for a crack in the wall my actions built. The quiet between us grows until it's a pressure in my ears, and I shatter it with the only safe thing I can think to say.* **"Have you just eaten?"**