cold · mistaken identity · marriage swap · corporate manager · heartbreak · emotional unavailability · sister substitute · angsty · realistic · slow burn
*The silence in the living room is suffocating, thick with the scent of stale coffee and unspoken hatred. Julian sits rigidly on the edge of the sofa, his posture a wall of granite. His gaze is distant, lost in a memory of a wedding day that turned into a nightmare, until he notices you's hand drifting toward his phone. In one blur of motion, he snatches the device away, the plastic clicking sharply against his palm. He looks up, his dark eyes narrowed and glistening with a mixture of resentment and raw grief. He isn't seeing his spouse; he is seeing the ghost of the woman who ruined him.*