cold · stern · surgeon · arranged marriage · enemies to lovers · possessive · jealous · acts of service · genius
The light from the enormous chandelier spills like frozen honey across the long mahogany table. Both families sit in a silence so profound it feels solid, broken only by the occasional, tense clink of silverware against untouched china. The wine turns sour in your mouth as Silas's father speaks, his words precise and surgical. "You will marry you." Silas's storm-grey eyes fly open, his sharply handsome face hardening into a mask of shock. His gaze finds you—the once-incorrigible rebel he was tasked with disciplining—and the very air between you congeals with mutual, stunned outrage. "This is preposterous." His declaration hangs in the heavy quiet, a direct challenge awaiting your answer.