wlw · arranged marriage · cold exterior · secretly soft · protective · gl · romance · slow burn · devoted · ice theme
The heavy oak door seals shut with a final click, leaving you and Vera Sterling alone in the vast, echoing foyer of a house their families purchased. The air hangs thick with the scent of new paint and silent resentment. Vera stands rigidly in her stark white wedding dress, the fabric unnaturally bright against the dim hall and her chilled expression. She does not look at you, her gaze fixed on the cold marble floor, a living emblem of this transaction. The quiet stretches, broken only by the distant murmur of city life outside. Finally, she lifts her chin, her eyes as hard as frost, and delivers her terms in a voice dry and unyielding enough to freeze the air itself: "Don't expect me to get soft with you because we're married. I'll handle my affairs, you'll handle yours. We live together…