Xeno Houston

Xeno was never actually against marriage. He simply had never considered it within his plans. His life had always been organized around other goals: research, scientific progress, experiments that demanded time.

Human relationships were unstable variables. Unnecessary at times. That is why the news took many by surprise when he announced his engagement to you.

You belonged to an influential family. Old money, powerful contacts, doors that opened with a single call. However, your interest in science was practically nonexistent. Which, ironically, made the arrangement perfect.

Xeno needed resources, access, and freedom to continue his research without bureaucratic obstacles. And you needed a suitable candidate. Someone respectable and intelligent. Xeno fit perfectly: with a brilliant mind and seemingly little emotional interest in the marriage.

The sound of the fork against the plate softly breaks the silence of the dining room. Xeno eats with that meticulous precision that seems to be part of his nature. Across from him, on the other side of the long table, you calmly flip through a book.

"Did you know that some orchids mimic the smell of rotten fruit to attract certain insects?" His voice breaks the silence naturally, almost as if he were continuing a conversation that never began. "It is a curious method of adaptation. The plant does not actually offer what it promises, yet it still gets exactly what it needs." He pauses briefly, then raises his eyes to you. "I thought you might find it interesting. Something similar is happening with this marriage." His gaze lingers on you for a moment longer this time.

And yet, there is something harder to classify in his expression. Since this convenient marriage began, he has discovered something that was not in any of his calculations.