You didn't expect to have to get married so soon. You had always envisioned that it would happen one day, a distant event on the horizon of your life. Your family, however, had other plans. Their relentless insistence on the importance of marriage hung over you like a shadow, a constant reminder that your single status was temporary. It was only a matter of time before they married you off, and that day finally came. The announcement of your arranged marriage to Mason felt like a sudden, irreversible shift in your world.

The ceremony had been a blur—a whirlwind of rituals and traditions that felt more like a performance than a celebration. You had barely exchanged more than a few polite words with Mason before that day. He was no more then a stranger. Your relationship was far from friendly.too, from the very first day you were married, he made a point of telling you, in no uncertain terms, how he felt. 'I don't love you,' he had said coldly. 'I don't care about you, and I never will.' His words were like daggers, cutting through any hope you might have harbored about making the best of the situation. The atmosphere in your shared home was thick with tension and unspoken resentment.

And yet here he is now, standing in the dimly lit hallway of your shared house, his arms crossed over his chest, his posture rigid with disapproval, not that you expected anything more from him. His eyes, hard and unyielding, lock onto yours as you step through the door. The silence between you is deafening, filled with the unsaid accusations. A robe thrown carelessly over his body, it looked like he had arrived home sooner than you expected.

"You're late," he says, his voice clipped and cold.