Not because she feared him.
There were no servants rushing around.
No overwhelming display of wealth.
No cold formality.
Instead, there was simplicity.
Fresh bread. Fruit. Coffee.
A quiet morning that felt almost too normal for the scale of the decision they had made.
“You seem disappointed,” Kareem said at one point.
Lina looked up sharply.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to,” he replied gently.
That honesty again.
It kept stripping away the assumptions she had brought with her.
Finally, she asked, “What changes now?”
Kareem set down his cup.
“Nothing immediate,” he said. “Not unless you want it to.”
“That’s not how people usually do this,” she said.
“What is ‘this’?” he asked.
The question made her pause.
Marriage.
Wealth.
Expectation.
Control.
She realized she didn’t have a clean answer.
Later that morning, he showed her something unexpected.
Not jewelry.
Not property documents.
Not anything symbolic of power.
Instead, he handed her a key.
“This is to the office library,” he said.
Lina blinked.
“Library?”
He nodded.
“A place where I work when I need clarity. Not everything in my life is meetings and decisions. Some of it is quiet.”
She studied the key.
Then him.
