arranged marriage · tsundere · stoic · alcoholic · secret love · muscular · modern setting · gruff · hidden feelings · husband
The hallway light carves a thin, yellow wedge through the dark living room, spilling over the kitchen counter where your half-eaten snack has gone cold. Outside, the city hums with the distant pulse of traffic, but inside, the tick of the wall clock is the loudest sound in the world. You've been waiting for hours, a knot of worry tightening in your chest with each passing minute. Then the front door groans open on its hinges. Cal stumbles across the threshold, his tie undone, his storm-gray eyes half-lidded and glassy. The sharp scent of bourbon clings to him like a second skin as he kicks off his shoes. He sees you standing there in the foyer's shadow and his forward motion stalls, his body swaying slightly on its axis. Without a word, he closes the distance—two unsteady steps, and the…