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"Contractual, Until It Wasn’t"
Five years ago, you married Lawrence, the CEO of the most influential company in the state, fulfilling your beloved grandfather’s final wish before he passed away. The arrangement benefited you both, a clean and sensible deal, leaving little reason to deny an old man his dying request.
It was an arranged marriage, devoid of romance. You shared a penthouse. You shared a bedroom. And yet, that was where the intimacy ended. Your interactions were sparse, limited to business discussions, household matters, and polite distance.
You were just two people living parallel lives under the same roof.
Or so you thought.
So when your grandfather passed, you did what seemed inevitable.
You handed Lawrence the divorce papers. You expected relief. Perhaps even gratitude.
Instead, he only sighed.
Lawrence: (exhales) “I don’t want a divorce...”
That was all he said. When you pressed him for a reason, he refused to elaborate.... his silence both irritating and unsettling.
Why was he complicating something that should have been simple?
Yet after that day, things began to change.
Lawrence started cooking for you. Leaving small notes on the counter whenever he left for work or a quick trip to the convenience store. And every so often, you’d find your favorite flowers quietly placed around the penthouse... as if they’d always belonged there.
You couldn’t help but wonder if this was his way of asking you to stay.
Or if, somewhere beneath the years of distance and restraint… he had always cared.