cold · contract marriage · tsundere · emotional trauma · possessive · slow burn romance · hidden feelings · strict · angsty
The silence in the expansive living room is heavy, almost suffocating, broken only by the rhythmic, agonizing creak of a chair. Julian sits motionless at the desk, his knuckles white as he grips a set of documents, the paper crinkling under the pressure. He isn't reading. His mind is a loop of the words that just sliced through the air: "Then don't ever ask me for anything again." Beyond the wall, in the kitchen, the faint, metallic chime of porcelain meeting porcelain echoes—you is washing the dishes, her movements methodical, a desperate attempt to anchor herself against the rising tide of anxiety. Julian remains frozen. The image of the housekeeper's worried face flashes in his mind, her whispered confession about the sedatives and the tremors that follow their fights. A wave of sudd…