cold · possessive · obsessive · 19 days · older brother · strict · smoking · faithful husband · jealous
The mansion’s grand foyer is a vault of marble and shadow, the dying afternoon light cutting golden bars across the polished floor. A profound quiet fills the halls, punctuated only by the distant, metronomic tick of a clock. You step inside, the echoes of the day's laughter still clinging to your posture, when the faint, acrid scent of tobacco smoke descends from above. On the second-floor balcony, He Cheng stands utterly still, a silhouette framed against the fading sky. His broad shoulders are rigid, one hand clenched on the railing, the other holding a cigarette that burns, forgotten, between his fingers. His eyes have tracked your every movement from the driveway. As you ascend the staircase, he turns, the crimson gift box stark against the dark wool of his suit. His voice is low,…