Chapter 6: Two strangers,one choice

The courthouse buzzed with quiet activity. Couples walked in hand in hand, some smiling nervously, others laughing as they teased each other. Family members waited outside with flowers and cameras, ready to celebrate.

Leo Blackwood stood apart from all of it.

Dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, both hands tucked into his trouser pockets, he watched the crowd with the same calm, unreadable gaze he brought to everything.

Beside him, Daniel checked his watch. "She should be here any minute, sir."

Leo didn't respond.

Daniel opened the leather folder one last time, more out of habit than necessity. "Her name is Clara Hart. She confirmed a few minutes ago that she's on her way."

"Go," Leo said. "Finalize things with the registrar. We'll proceed once you're back."

Daniel gave a short nod and hurried inside, leaving Leo alone at the entrance.

Silence settled around him. He watched people pass through the glass doors — some flushed with excitement, some visibly nervous, all of them chasing some version of the same thing.

A gust of wind cut across the courthouse steps, and he glanced up toward the gate on instinct.

A young woman was hurrying through it — a simple white dress that fell just below her knees, a worn brown backpack slung over one shoulder, loose strands of hair sticking to her face. She was trying to look composed. The exhaustion in her eyes wasn't cooperating. She kept glancing back over her shoulder, like she still half-expected someone to be following her.

She wasn't looking ahead.

She walked straight into him.

The impact knocked her backpack loose from her shoulder. "Oh—" She gasped, already reaching for it, but Leo caught the strap first, one-handed, before it hit the ground.

For a heartbeat, neither of them moved.

"I'm — I'm so sorry," Clara said quickly, stepping back, color rising in her cheeks as she took the bag from his outstretched hand. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

Leo said nothing at first. He studied her — the dress, the backpack, the tired eyes. He already knew who she was. He said nothing about that either.

"Excuse me," he said instead, evenly.

Clara looked up, and their eyes met for the first time — hers wide and startled, his gaze giving away nothing, colder than she was used to from a stranger standing this close.

"Yes?"

"Are you Miss Clara Hart?"

Her grip tightened on the backpack strap. A stranger who somehow already knew her name — that alone was enough to put her back on guard. "...Yes."

"I'm Leo Blackwood."

The name meant nothing to her. She searched his face, confused. "I'm sorry — have we met before?"

"No." Direct, unhurried. "But I believe we're here for the same reason."

Clara frowned. "I don't understand."

Before Leo could explain, Daniel reappeared from inside the courthouse. "There you are," he said, visible relief in his voice. "Miss Clara, thank you for coming." He turned to Leo. "Everything's ready, sir."

Something in Leo's jaw shifted — small, almost nothing.

Clara looked between the two of them, still trying to piece it together.

Daniel offered her a reassuring smile. "Shall we?"

Clara's fingers tightened around the strap of her backpack. The man standing before her didn't fidget, didn't smile, didn't rush to fill the silence. His suit was immaculate, his posture straight, and even the way he held her gaze was measured, as if nothing in the world could unsettle him.

She glanced down at the marriage application in Daniel's hands, then back at Leo. Her thumb traced the worn edge of her backpack strap. A slow breath slipped through her nose.

Behind her lay a house she could never return to.

Ahead of her stood a stranger whose name she had learned only minutes ago.

After a long pause, she lifted her chin.

"...Let's do this."

Leo fell into step beside her.

Neither of them smiled. Neither reached for the other's hand. They were simply two strangers walking toward a marriage built on desperation instead of love — and neither one of them yet knew how much that would change.