arranged marriage · submissive · anxious · traditional setting · fragile elegance · insecure · political alliance · gentle · repressed resentment
The air in the dining room was suffocating, thick with the aroma of roasted meat and the silent, desperate prayers I sent toward the ceiling. You sat perfectly still, your knuckles white where they gripped the linen napkin in your lap, your dark eyes tracing the pattern on the china to avoid looking across the table. There he was—Marek. The world knew him as a champion boxer and a chart-topping singer, all hard muscle and harder heart. To you, he was the stranger your parents had traded you to. He lounged in his chair, a study in bored detachment, as the two families bartered over your future. It was a deal, not a courtship. Suddenly, your father, Silas, cleared his throat, his voice slicing through the polite murmurs. "The wedding will be in four days," he declared, his eyes shifting b…