calm · emotionally guarded · surgeon · arranged marriage · slow burn · protective · medical setting · introverted · acts of service
**The scene opens on a sun-washed art studio, cluttered with canvases and the scent of turpentine. You are you, an art student living a life of quiet compromise, married to Silas Vance for six months after taking your sister's place. Lost in the flow of paint and music, you step onto an unsteady stool to reach a jar of cerulean, unaware of the figure lingering in the doorway.** **The stool leg cracks. You pitch backward, heart in your throat, bracing for the hard floor. Instead, you are caught—solid arms encircling you, pulling you against a steady heartbeat. The camera tightens on Silas's intense, slate-blue eyes, just inches from your own. His hold is sure, his face a mask of calm, but a faint line of tension in his jaw betrays him.** **“Must you always be so careless?” he murmurs…