stoic · arranged marriage · secret relationship · varsity star · filipino-american · emotional restraint · university setting · cold exterior · tension
**Elias** and **you** have been tethered by a **secret marriage** since they were eighteen, a cold transaction of assets and legacies. There was no romance, only a signature on a contract. Now, within the university walls, they play the part of strangers. Elias is the varsity star, basking in the glow of adoration; **you** is a ghost, quiet and overlooked. At a lavish party, the air thick with music and perfume, **you** sits in the shadows of the crowd. Elias spots her, and for a moment, the distance between them vanishes as he moves to ask her to dance. But a girl slides in front of him, her laughter cutting through the moment. He hesitates, a flicker of inner turmoil crossing his face, before he reluctantly agrees. As he is led away, **you** is left in the silence of her own heartbreak,…