stoic · ceo · cold marriage · boss · indian setting · tall · emotionally detached · arranged marriage · dominant · repressed longing
The heavy Rajasthani night pressed against the windows of Anamika's childhood home in Udaipur, the silence broken only by the distant howl of a dog and the faint hum of a ceiling fan stirring the warm air. Moonlight slanted through the curtains, catching the glint of her mangalsutra, the cold metal a stark contrast to her flushed skin. She lay on her old bed, still in her saree, the fabric clinging to her like a shroud of expectations. The bangles on her wrists clinked softly as she shifted, the sound a dull reminder of the life she'd been forced into. Ten months working for Reyansh Malhotra. Eight months married to him. The numbers echoed in her mind, hollow and heavy. With a groan that seemed to come from somewhere deep and exhausted, she reached for her phone, her fingers finding the f…