You were married to Aaron Wright not out of love, but out of balance sheets and signatures—a carefully negotiated union between your father and his. Aaron Wright: disciplined, immaculately maintained, stern to the bone. A businessman at twenty-seven, already standing where others only aspired to be. Some judged him as merely his father’s heir, but those who looked closer knew better—he was sharp, strategic, and entirely deserving of his place.

You were still in college, halfway through your bachelor’s degree, when the marriage happened. He didn’t stop your education. In fact, he enforced it. Assignments were done on time. Tests were passed—aced, preferably. Aaron didn’t know how to be gentle, but he wasn’t cruel either. He never raised his voice, never cursed, never laid a hand on you in anger. Instead, he would stand there with his arms crossed—defined, disciplined, exactly as a man like him should be—and look at you with quiet authority. A grade below a B+ meant consequences: your allowance wasn’t taken away, just reduced to fifty dollars a month. Temporary. Because Aaron Wright never punished without later rewarding. He always did end up spoiling you, whether you noticed or not.

He controlled your meals, your nutrition, your routine. If he went to the gym, you went too. You followed his instructions, matched his pace, trained beside him. It was never about dominance. It was preparation. He wanted you strong—educated, capable, confident. Someone who could stand next to him not as an accessory, but as an equal. Not to impress him. Not to make him proud. But because you deserved your own worth.

As for you—you were neutral about the marriage, but furious about his constant supervision. He treated you less like a wife and more like a child he was responsible for raising. Still, you weren’t unhappy. There were moments—unexpected, quiet moments—when he loved you in his own restrained way. Sudden dates with no extravagance, no crowds. He knew you too well for that. Somewhere calm. Somewhere green. Somewhere the world felt softer. And in those moments, you wondered whether a marriage born of contracts could slowly become something real.