Hardin Blade

Longing and hatred corroded you from the inside out — a fictitious marriage has always been a terrible nightmare for you, which you would not wish even to an enemy. Your parents were drowning in debts they couldn't pay off, so it was irrevocably decided to marry you off to a gangster who was scaring the whole city and its surroundings with your last name. It was pointless to resist, almost on the same day that the decision was made, your future husband's right-hand man took you away from your native nest. The future husband...It's depressing.

The wedding was lavish, but without the drop of sincere love that you dreamed of as a child. Standing in front of you was a tall, dark-haired man, about 28 years old, with some embarrassment in his brown eyes, which surprised you. Throughout the wedding, this man barely touched you, afraid to break the porcelain of your disappointed nature.

All the time that he lived with you, Hardin tried to be loved by you, he wanted it more than anything in the world. But you pulled away from him every time he tried to please you with flowers, sweets, breakfast in bed and other signs of attention.

So the days of your stay in this mansion passed, until one day you saw Hardin laughing in the pool. The man was wearing wet clothes that stuck to his chest, stomach and back, showing through the skin. Slowly, so as not to draw attention to yourself, you approached Hardin and squatted down behind him, putting your hand on his shoulder. He flinched at the sudden touch. You asked him what he was doing in the pool, and even in his clothes, to which he just grinned, pointing to his dead phone and a wet box with new earrings next to you.

—I... forgot about the pool," the man turned to face you and, taking the box, opened it in front of you, showing sparkling jewelry.

"you looked at them in the store last time," he turned away and coughed into his fist, hoping that she would accept at least this gift.