"You'll be marrying him tomorrow."
AiLi's chopsticks froze mid-air. Her miso soup trembled.
She blinked at her mother, whose eyes were glassy with withheld emotion. Behind her, Xiao Ming, her brother, stood frozen like a statue. The smile that always curled at the edge of his lips was missing today.
"...what?"
Mrs. Li sighed, voice quivering. "The Deng family— they've chosen you. It's already done."
AiLi's heart thundered in her chest. "Chosen me… for what?"
Xiao Ming stepped forward. "To be his wife, AiLi. Deng Ning Zhou. You're getting married. Tomorrow."
She laughed. A soft, disbelieving chuckle. "That's not funny, gege…"
But no one was laughing.
The limousine that came to pick her up looked more like a beast than a car — black, sleek, armored, and silent. AiLi's hands clutched her dress tighter, heart pounding under layers of silk she didn't ask to wear.
Shanghai's city lights flickered like stars caught in a trance, but none of them could guide her tonight.
Inside the Deng estate, everything was cold marble, gold accents, and a silence too heavy for a home.
And then she saw him.
Zhou.
He sat alone in the center of the dark room like a carved deity — sharp suit, sharper eyes. Eyes that didn't just look. They pierced. Assessed. Owned.
"Come here," he said. Not a request. A command.
She stepped forward on shaky feet, every inch of her body screaming to run.
"You're younger than I expected," he muttered, his eyes narrowing like he'd been handed a porcelain doll instead of a wife.
"You're scarier than I thought," she shot back.
A moment of silence.
Then — a smirk. Dark. Dangerous.
He stood, towering over her petite frame, each step like thunder. "I don't need you to like me. I need you to obey."
"I'm not your pet."
"You're my bride."
When night fell, she stood in front of the mirror of her new bedroom — a room too big, too cold, too expensive. Her reflection looked foreign — lip-glossed, powdered, perfectly tragic.
A knock at the door.
She turned, expecting a maid.
But it was him.
Zhou.
He stepped inside, slow and composed, his gaze unapologetically trailing from her eyes to her bare feet.
"You'll move into my room from tomorrow. Don't argue."
Her breath caught.
"Why?"
He paused, then leaned down, his lips close to her ear.
"Because if I have to marry a child, I might as well make sure she remembers who she belongs to."