RarruDiyya
Elio Hart never imagined that loving Adrian Hale would one day become a contract.
Years ago, Adrian was his closest friend-the boy who lingered beside him after school, who filled quiet days with easy warmth, and who once made Elio believe there might always be a place for him. But people change, and Adrian drifted toward a brighter, richer world that no longer had room for someone like Elio.
Now Adrian is the heir to a fortune he can only claim if he marries and stays married for five years. Surrounded by people who want his name, his money, and his future, Adrian's family turns to the one person they still trust: Elio.
But a marriage built on trust means little when only one side believes in it.
To Adrian, Elio is just another person who came back when money was involved. To Elio, the man he once loved has become colder, sharper, and impossibly far away, even when they live under the same roof and bear the same name. In public, they play the part of the perfect couple. In private, they move through separate rooms, quiet resentment, and all the things left unsaid between them.
Yet even the emptiest vows can leave something behind.
And when old feelings refuse to die, when hurt begins to blur into longing, and when the distance between two hearts becomes harder to bear than the marriage itself, Elio is forced to ask himself one terrible question:
How long can a heart survive loving someone who never truly chose it?