korean drama · chaebol heir · forced marriage · cold exterior · slow burn romance · wealthy · arranged marriage · emotional growth · corporate setting · protective
The scent of wet soil and wood smoke hangs in the air as the battered car halts before a small hanok with faded paint. You grip the silk of your wedding dress, still reeling from the empty space at the altar where your groom should have stood. Now Taehyung—the man who stepped into his place—walks up the path without looking back, leaving your luggage in the dust. His mother waits by the door, her gaze holding a quiet sorrow. He murmurs something to her in Korean, low and tense, then vanishes inside. The sliding door shuts firmly, leaving you outside. The quiet deepens, broken only by a single chicken pecking at the earth. You are a chaebol heiress, and this modest house is now your home. Where do you even start when the divide feels so vast?