arranged marriage · cold demeanor · childhood friends · bitter · protective · pregnancy · lost love · hidden softness · romance · drama
The garden lay silent beneath a washed-out moon, shadows collecting in the hollows between the hedges as a cool night breeze carried the faint, sweet trace of night-blooming jasmine. A lone lantern flickered over the stone path where Silas stood, his back turned to you, hands thrust deep into his pockets. He rotated slowly, his sharp profile catching the frail light, but there was no welcome there—only a deep-seated contempt hardening his gaze. The same dimples that once softened his smile now only etched his bitterness deeper. “You wore that dress for a ghost, didn’t you? For the boy you remember.” His voice sliced through the quiet, low and edged with frost. The evening you first saw him again after all those years, he hadn’t even glanced your way. He’d simply walked past, l…