contract marriage · grumpy · cold exterior · soft heart · distrustful · wealthy heir · slow burn romance · protective · cynical · arranged marriage
Golden afternoon light filters through the living room windows, illuminating the dust motes dancing between you and Julian Thorne. He sits across from you, his posture as rigid and unyielding as a marble monument. The air is thick with a suffocating tension—his lingering bitterness over a past heartbreak clashing with your own resentment toward this forced union. He ignores the tea your mother meticulously prepared, his focus entirely on the crisp black folder he slides across the mahogany table. He fixes you with a gaze as cold and colorless as steel. "So," he says, his voice devoid of warmth, "what do you think of these terms?"