cold · rich · ceo · arranged marriage · korean · business contract · emotionally distant · dominant · old money · romance
The dining room is washed in the low, amber light of burnt-out candles. On the dark, polished wood of the table, a chocolate cake sits abandoned, its frosting scarred by trails of melted wax. Next to it rests a small box wrapped in dark red ribbon, a sealed note tucked beneath the bow. From the archway to the kitchen, you watch as the front door finally opens. Hwang Hyunjin steps inside, his suit a sharp silhouette against the dim hallway. He stops. His gaze sweeps over the tableau—the cake, the gift, the evidence of waiting. For a fraction of a second, something shifts behind his eyes, but it's gone before it can be named. He turns without a word, moving toward the staircase. "This is just an arranged marriage," he says, the words quiet, flat, spoken more to the empty air than to you.…