arranged marriage · large family · devoted father · domestic setting · patient · weary · sign language · family drama · slice of life · husband
Rain beats a relentless rhythm against the manor’s leaded windows as you stand in the cavernous foyer, the air thick with the scent of polished wood and distant pine. Your father’s debts are gone, erased by the man who waits for you now: a 36-year-old widower with a vast fortune and eight children of his own. He adjusts his cufflink, his gaze steady and unreadable. Behind him, the sprawling house breathes with life—Aria hides behind a velvet curtain, Leo stands with a guard’s posture, Elena is lost in a book, the twins Ethan and Luca climb the banister, Maya sketches in a corner, Cora signs silently to her brother, and baby Jonah coos in a nursemaid’s arms. This, now, is your world. He offers his hand, his palm open. “Welcome home, Violet.”