Cracks in the Ice
1212 Words
Katriel sat on the edge of the giant bed, her fingers trembling as they gripped the hem of her nightgown. The silk clung to her skin like a second layer of shame. Zayn hadn't touched her not really but his words still echoed like thunder in her chest.
“You don’t need love here. Just obedience.”
Her body was in the room, but her mind… her mind was running. Far. Fast. Back to every moment, she thought she could fight this, back to every silent hope that maybe just maybe he’d change.
He hadn’t.
He wouldn’t.
The chandelier above her sparkled like ice caught in moonlight, mocking her with its elegance. Everything here was beautiful and cold. Just like him.
The door creaked open behind her, but she didn’t turn. She knew that sound. Heavy, deliberate. The weight of Zayn Qin’s presence filled the room before his voice did.
“Why are you sitting like that?” he asked, his tone unreadable.
Katriel swallowed. “Is there a correct way to sit now, too?”
He didn’t answer immediately. She felt him watching her, eyes piercing her back like knives. Then, he moved closer, each step echoing against the marble floors.
“You’re quiet.”
“You like me quiet.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t notice things.”
She stood up abruptly, forcing herself to meet his eyes. “What do you want from me, Zayn? You say I should obey, stay quiet, do my duty but then you act like you care when I do exactly that. What do you want?”
For a moment, the mask cracked. Just a flicker but it was there. Something darker. Something human.
“I want a wife who doesn’t look at me like I’m the villain every time I walk into the room.”
Her breath caught.
“You are the villain,” she whispered. “You married me like I was a business deal. You dragged me out of my life and into yours and then expected me to smile while suffocating.”
His jaw tensed. “You think your life before me was better?”
“I think it was mine,” she snapped. “At least then, I had the illusion of freedom.”
Zayn stepped forward too close. She stumbled backwards until her back hit the glass doors leading to the balcony. His hands pressed into the glass on either side of her face, caging her in.
"You think I don't notice the way you cry when you think I'm not looking? You think I don’t hear the way you talk to yourself when the silence becomes unbearable?”
Katriel froze.
“You don’t care,” she said, her voice trembling.
His eyes bored into hers, ice melting into something dangerous heat.
“I notice everything, Katriel. I just don’t know what to do with it.”
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The tension was thick charged. Every inch of space between them a battlefield. Every heartbeat a war drum.
Then Zayn leaned closer, slow, deliberate. His voice dropped to a whisper.
“If I kiss you now, will you scream?”
Her breath hitched. “Will it change anything?”
“No.”
“Then don’t.”
He stayed there, so close their foreheads nearly touched, but he didn’t kiss her. Instead, he pulled away like he was punishing himself. Or her.
“Get some sleep,” he said, turning away.
As he walked to the door, Katriel’s voice followed him. “Why did you marry me, Zayn?”
He stopped. His back to her. A long pause.
“Because I had no choice.”
And then he was gone.
---
The next morning
Katriel sat at the breakfast table, untouched food in front of her. The staff moved like shadows around her, polite but distant. No one spoke. No one smiled.
Zayn walked in, dressed in a sharp black suit. His presence filled the room like a cold gust of wind.
“You’re not eating,” he said flatly.
“I’m not hungry.”
He poured himself coffee without asking if she wanted any. “You need to keep your strength up.”
“For what?” she asked, forcing a bitter smile. “Another day of being your trophy wife?”
He didn’t react. “You have a schedule. My mother wants to meet you today.”
Her heart clenched. “Why?”
“She wants to know if I’m wasting my time.”
Katriel blinked. “You think I asked to be here?”
“No,” he said, sipping his coffee. “But you’re here. So act like it.”
Something inside her snapped. She stood suddenly, the chair scraping behind her.
“Tell your mother I’m unavailable. Tell her I died in my sleep. Tell her I turned to stone like the rest of this house.”
He didn’t flinch. “Wear something decent.”
And with that, he left.
That afternoon , the encounter with Ellis Qin
Katriel sat stiffly on a velvet couch in the grand sitting room. Across from her sat Ellis Qin,Zayn’s mother. Elegant, poised, and cold.
“So,” Ellis began, inspecting her like a flaw in a diamond, “you’re the girl my son chose to ruin our name with.”
Katriel blinked. “Ruin?”
“You have no status. No lineage. No presence. You are… forgettable.”
Katriel felt her fingers curl into her lap. She wanted to scream. Cry. Run. But she held still.
“I didn’t choose this,” she said quietly.
“That’s the only intelligent thing you’ve said so far.”
Katriel looked up. “Then why agree to the marriage?”
Ellis smiled a bitter thing. “Because unfortunately, my son gets what he wants. Even when it destroys him.”
---
Later that night , Katriel’s breaking point
She stood on the balcony, the night wind cold against her skin. Her thoughts were louder than the wind.
She felt trapped, bound in ice. Not just by Zayn. But by this entire world. The mansion, the people, the silence.
Suddenly, a soft knock.
She turned to see Zayn, no jacket, just a black shirt, hair tousled like he couldn’t sleep either.
“I shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“Then leave.”
He didn’t. Instead, he stepped out into the night air with her.
“I didn’t want this,” Katriel said. “Any of it.”
“I didn’t either,” he replied.
And
for the first time, there was no cruelty in his voice. Just quiet honesty. The kind that hurt more than anger ever could.
“You look like you’re going to break,” he said, his voice low.
“I already did,” she whispered.
He looked at her then, truly looked. And something unspoken passed between them pain recognizing pain.
He reached out slowly, gently brushing a strand of hair from her face. She didn’t flinch.
“If you want me to leave you alone, say it,” he whispered.
But she didn’t.
Not because she forgave him.
Not because she trusted him.
But because for the first time in a long time… she didn’t want to feel alone.
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