Sophia was lying unconscious on the marble floor.<\/p>\n
For one terrifying second, Fahad couldn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n
The balcony doors were still open, letting cold early-morning air sweep through the room. One of the curtains fluttered wildly beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cSophia.\u201d<\/p>\n
No response.<\/p>\n
He crossed the room immediately and dropped to his knees beside her.<\/p>\n
Her skin felt burning hot.<\/p>\n
Fever.<\/p>\n
His pulse tightened unexpectedly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSophia.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time his voice came out sharper.<\/p>\n
Her eyelashes fluttered weakly, but she didn\u2019t wake up.<\/p>\n
Fahad stood instantly and pressed the intercom on the wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow,\u201d he snapped. \u201cSend the doctor upstairs immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within minutes, the quiet palace exploded into motion.<\/p>\n
Staff rushed through hallways.<\/p>\n
A private physician arrived carrying medical equipment.<\/p>\n
And Fahad stood beside the bed watching everything with an intensity that surprised even him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n
The doctor checked Sophia\u2019s temperature and sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cExhaustion. Stress. Severe dehydration. And she spent too long outside in the night air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fahad frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was fine yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d the doctor corrected gently. \u201cShe was pretending to be fine yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sentence stayed with him long after the doctor left.<\/p>\n
Pretending.<\/p>\n
Fahad looked toward Sophia sleeping weakly against the pillows.<\/p>\n
For the first time since the wedding, she no longer looked challenging or composed.<\/p>\n
She looked young.<\/p>\n
Fragile.<\/p>\n
Human.<\/p>\n
And suddenly, unexpectedly, guilt pressed against his chest.<\/p>\n
He remembered her standing alone on the balcony in that white silk robe after he dismissed her so coldly.<\/p>\n
He had wanted distance.<\/p>\n
Control.<\/p>\n
He wanted her to understand immediately that this marriage meant nothing.<\/p>\n
But now, watching her unconscious because she had spent the night silently suffering inside his palace, something about his victory felt ugly.<\/p>\n
Hours later, Sophia finally opened her eyes.<\/p>\n
The first thing she saw was Fahad sitting near the window.<\/p>\n
Still there.<\/p>\n
She blinked weakly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stayed?\u201d<\/p>\n
The question irritated him for reasons he couldn\u2019t explain.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
She gave the faintest little smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sound surprised by your own answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
That annoyed him even more because she was right.<\/p>\n
A maid entered carrying tea, but Fahad dismissed her immediately and took the tray himself.<\/p>\n
Sophia looked genuinely confused when he handed her the cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have servants for this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why are you doing it?\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n
Because honestly, he didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Over the next several days, Sophia remained mostly in her room recovering.<\/p>\n
And despite himself, Fahad kept returning.<\/p>\n
At first he told himself it was obligation.<\/p>\n
Then curiosity.<\/p>\n
Then irritation because she somehow continued affecting the atmosphere of the house without even trying.<\/p>\n
She never complained.<\/p>\n
Never demanded affection.<\/p>\n
Never asked why he married her if he intended to treat her like a guest.<\/p>\n
Instead, she thanked every servant by name.<\/p>\n
She read quietly by the windows.<\/p>\n
And every evening, she called her grandmother in Ohio before bed, speaking softly in English while smiling in a way Fahad had never seen before.<\/p>\n
One night, he paused outside her half-open door without meaning to listen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m okay, Grandma,\u201d Sophia whispered into the phone. \u201cReally.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
Then a softer voice:<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u2026 he\u2019s not cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just lonely in a very expensive way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fahad stood frozen in the hallway.<\/p>\n
Lonely.<\/p>\n
Nobody had ever described him like that before.<\/p>\n
The next morning, he found himself watching her differently.<\/p>\n
Not as an obligation.<\/p>\n
Not as a contract.<\/p>\n
As a woman trying to survive inside a life neither of them had chosen.<\/p>\n
That evening during dinner, Sophia surprised him again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do you hate this marriage so much?\u201d she asked calmly.<\/p>\n
Fahad looked up sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t hate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou avoid it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually only for people who are afraid of something.\u201d<\/p>\n
His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what exactly do you think I\u2019m afraid of?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophia studied him quietly for a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeeding someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The silence afterward felt dangerous.<\/p>\n
Because she was right again.<\/p>\n
Fahad had spent his entire adult life controlling everything \u2014 business deals, headlines, expectations, emotions.<\/p>\n
Need was weakness.<\/p>\n
Attachment was risk.<\/p>\n
Love made people negotiable.<\/p>\n
That was what his father taught him.<\/p>\n
But Sophia disrupted something inside him simply by existing naturally.<\/p>\n
A week later, the palace hosted a massive charity gala.<\/p>\n
Sophia descended the staircase wearing a dark emerald gown that left the entire ballroom staring.<\/p>\n
Not because she looked provocative.<\/p>\n
Because she looked impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n
Elegant.<\/p>\n
Calm.<\/p>\n
Alive.<\/p>\n
Fahad watched men turn toward her all night.<\/p>\n
Watched women approach her.<\/p>\n
Watched his business partners suddenly speak to her like she mattered.<\/p>\n
And for the first time in years, jealousy hit him so hard it felt almost humiliating.<\/p>\n
One investor smiled too long while kissing Sophia\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n
Fahad crossed the room before he even realized he was moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s my wife,\u201d he said coldly.<\/p>\n
The man laughed awkwardly and backed away.<\/p>\n
Sophia stared at Fahad in surprise once they were alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou remembered?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat I\u2019m your wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
He opened his mouth.<\/p>\n
Closed it.<\/p>\n
Then Sophia smiled softly and walked away before he could answer.<\/p>\n
That night changed everything.<\/p>\n
Because Fahad finally understood the problem.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t struggling to tolerate Sophia.<\/p>\n
He was struggling not to want her.<\/p>\n
And that terrified him far more than marriage ever had.<\/p>\n
Three nights later, he knocked on her bedroom door himself.<\/p>\n
Sophia opened it wearing a simple cream-colored sweater, her hair loose around her shoulders.<\/p>\n
For a moment, neither of them spoke.<\/p>\n
Then Fahad said quietly:<\/p>\n
\u201cI was wrong the first night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophia looked at him carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
He swallowed once.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time since they met, the coldness between them finally cracked.<\/p>\n
Not dramatically.<\/p>\n
Not perfectly.<\/p>\n
Just enough for something real to finally breathe between them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sophia was lying unconscious on the marble floor. For one terrifying second, Fahad couldn\u2019t move. The balcony doors were still open, letting cold early-morning air sweep through the room. One of the curtains fluttered wildly beside her. \u201cSophia.\u201d No response. He crossed the room immediately and dropped to his knees beside her. Her skin felt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5994,"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993\/revisions\/5994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappyli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}