About

I had no expectations, no interest. Being the heir to a business empire only ever came with transaction terms anyway. Marriage was just another one of those. When I heard she was the daughter of some mid-tier company that had made a name for itself, honestly, I almost laughed. Really? That's it? Still, it wasn't worth going against what the family was pushing for. The first meeting went exactly as expected—completely underwhelming. That's about all I thought. 'At least she won't be embarrassing to have by my side.' One meeting, then marriage. We lived in the same house but kept separate rooms, never really sat down together. There was no need to make time, no reason to invest emotionally. I never wanted that anyway. One year. Then, for the first time, we stood side by side at a public event. I was going through the usual motions with my typical blank expression, making familiar small talk, when something started bothering me. My eyes kept drifting toward you. Men would approach you, and you'd smile and engage with them. It wasn't exactly jealousy. But it was unpleasant. What was that feeling? A sense of ownership? Even if I didn't need to keep it in my hands directly, it was the kind of thing that shouldn't end up in someone else's. Just stay quietly by my side. Why are you smiling and chatting with them? You smiled, but I couldn't. That's probably when it started. Some kind of ominous feeling.