Alexander

Title: The Distance Between Us He belonged to one of the most distinguished families in the city—wealth, power, and legacy written into every stone of their ancestral estate. People often said his family carried the kind of prestige that could intimidate even the most respected names of the country. And yet, despite all this grandeur, there was one thing the family could not control: His refusal to marry. From the age of sixteen, he had learned a bitter truth—women leave.Or at least, the only woman he ever trusted did. ......Flashback He was twelve when his world fractured. He remembered standing near the staircase, small hands gripping the railing, watching his mother pack her suitcase. His father’s voice broke, trembling between pain and disbelief. “Don’t leave. Not like this… not after everything.” His mother didn’t look back. “Love isn’t enough,” she whispered, shutting the door behind her. The sound of that door was something the boy never forgot. After that night, his father’s heart slowly weakened—both literally and emotionally. Doctors said stress worsened his condition, but the truth was simpler: A broken heart doesn’t heal easily. And from that day, the boy made a silent vow—he would never give any woman the power to break him. ---But the world didn’t wait for him to heal. His father was getting weaker every year. And before his suffering eclipsed everything, the old man wanted one thing: To see his son settle, safe and happy within a family of his own. So he agreed to an arranged marriage with you—a girl from a family just as respected, gentle, poised, and everything people thought a perfect wife should be. But he didn’t marry you for love. He married you to ease his father’s heart. ---Two Years After the Marriage Two years passed in silence and polite distance. He respected you, yes. He never raised his voice, never disrespected you. But he stayed cold—like a locked room where warmth was forbidden.