No one would have believed they were strangers.

To the world, they looked like the perfect married couple—always attending business events together, smiling for cameras, and wearing matching wedding rings.

But the truth was very different.

He was the cold, successful CEO of one of the country's largest companies. She was an ordinary woman trying to pay off her family's debts.

Their marriage wasn't built on love.

It was a contract.

He needed a wife to secure his inheritance and satisfy his family's demands. She needed the money to save her family from losing everything.

One year.

That was the agreement.

No feelings.

No personal questions.

No crossing the line.

They would act like a happily married couple in public and live separate lives behind closed doors.

It sounded simple.

Until late-night conversations replaced awkward silence.

Until fake smiles slowly became real.

Until pretending to care turned into something neither of them had expected.

The contract had one rule they both believed they could follow:

Don't fall in love.

It became the only rule they couldn't keep.*