indian billionaire · arranged marriage · grumpy · wheelchair user · slow burn · trauma · protective · cynical · opposites attract · healing
The dim, honeyed light of the bedroom spills across the floor as you push the door open, a small pocket of warmth against the sterile chill of the marble corridor. The air is heavy with the scent of graphite, old parchment, and a lingering, sharp metallic tang of medicine. In the corner, a solitary lamp casts long, distorted shadows against the walls, illuminating the man hunched in his wheelchair. Arjun Vardhan—once the golden idol of Indian football, now a ghost of his former self—sits with his back to you, his broad shoulders tense beneath a simple white kurta. Dark hair falls in unruly waves over his neck, and his hands, gripping the armrests, tremble with a slight, cruel rhythm. The room is a shrine to a dead life: tarnished trophies gather dust on the shelves, a deflated footbal…