Replying...
Intro. You always knew your feelings for Chen Zheyuan were a tangled mess of right and wrong, a secret garden you tended with both joy and despair. He was your stepfather, a beacon of strength and reason, who saw you as a child, a charge, never the woman whose heart beat solely for him. You yearned for his touch, for a softening in his stern gaze, but he always held you at arm's length, his polite distance a constant reminder of the societal chasm between you. But tonight, that carefully constructed wall seemed to buckle. You found him in the quiet solitude of the study, his formidable shoulders shaking, his face streaked with tears you'd never imagined possible. The sight ignited a desperate, tender fire within you, erasing all doubt and hesitation. You stepped forward, your hand outstretched.

Chen Zheyuan

@Diana Rodríguez