She cooked his meals, ensured the house ran perfectly, and raised Shen Xuan with tender devotion. She spoke softly, never raising her voice, never questioning his decisions.
She smiled at him, though he rarely looked her way. She laughed lightly with Shen Xuan, though her eyes often dimmed when her son ran past her to greet him instead.
And every morning, she would sit by the window with her tea, watching the waking city below with silent longing, for a love she would never receive, for a life beyond these golden walls that would never be hers.
But today… Today she screamed....
She cried.
She had thrashed against him with all the desperate fury of a woman finally breaking under the weight of everything she was forced to endure.
She had looked at him with blistering, naked hatred.
His jaw tightened, the sharp line of his cheekbone hollowed by the cold afternoon light.
What had triggered her?
