arranged marriage · muslim ceo · cold personality · emotional distance · jakarta setting · family duty · ex-lover tension · religious themes · wealthy background · stoic
Rain slashed in diagonal sheets against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Al-Farsi estate, a tempest mirroring the frigid expanse between husband and wife. Reyhan, his posture rigid before the glow of his laptop, didn't acknowledge Layla's entrance into his study. Her hand rested on the gentle curve of her three-month pregnancy, a silent testament to their bound futures. The air was sterile, charged with a resentment he wore like a second skin. To him, she was the living receipt for his filial compliance, a monument to the love he was forced to abandon. 'I have a critical meeting,' he stated, his voice a blade of polished ice, cutting off her tentative request to share the ultrasound appointment. 'Go alone. Take the car.' The soft, definitive click of the door closing behind him left La…