@vioIau: Soojin returned home without f...

Soojin returned home without finishing her fittings. She didn't speak to the driver, and she didn't even answer her assistant's questions.

She walked into the mansion, and found her husband in his study, flipping through a few reports by his desk.

Daehyun didn't look up when she walked in. "You're home early."

Soojin sighed heavily as she stepped in. "I saw him today."

Daehyun looked up then. "Who?"

"Yim Siwan." Soojin said bitterly.

Daehyun's expression twisted. "I didn't think he'd be foolish enough to approach you."

"He wasn't foolish. He was prepared." Soojin said sharply before she crossed the room, heels loud against the floor. "He knows about Taehyung. And..." she gulped. "He knows about us."

Daehyun's features sharpened, but he remained silent.

Soojin looked shaken as she glared at her husband. "He knows enough to bury our entire reputation if he ever speaks to the media."

Daehyun met her eyes calmly. "He's bluffing."

"No, he isn't," Soojin snapped. "He has details—I'm sure he knows a lot."

Daehyun heaved a breath in. "You're panicking."

Soojin scoffed in disbelief. "Because you don't seem to grasp how dangerous this is—"

"You think I don't?" Daehyun cut in.

"I've been handling this man for a while now. Do you think I didn't know he had people watching us?"

Soojin faltered. "Then why didn't you tell me?"

Daehyun let out a sharp sigh. "Because I knew you'd do exactly what you're doing right now. Fall apart."

Soojin’s lips parted, lashes twitching. "Fall apart? You've been waiting for this, haven't you?"

Daehyun said nothing.

Soojin smiled, lips trembling. "We built this entire life on a contract. I kept my part, and I protected our name. So why can't you do the same thing?"

"We were fine," she continued. "As long as the arrangement held. As long as no one looked too closely. But now someone is, and you're telling me to stay calm?"

Daehyun closed his eyes, rubbing his temples.

"I'm telling you it's too late to panic. He doesn't want to destroy us. Not really."

Soojin pulled in a deep breath. "Then what does he want?"

Daehyun's jaw clenched, eyes hardening. "He wants Taehyung."

Soojin stood near the fireplace, arms folded tight. "I'm going to call him tomorrow."

Daehyun's eyes narrowed. "Call who?"

Soojin avoided looking at him. "Taehyung."

Daehyun shut the file in his lap slowly. "Why?"

"To warn him." Soojin swallowed the lump in her throat.

"To tell him it's time to end his contract with Jungkook before it destroys everything we've built."

Daehyun's eyes widened. "You're going to scare him out of the contract?"

Soojin nodded, meeting her husband's eyes. "If I have to."

Daehyun's voice rose. "You're out of your mind!"

Soojin glared. "No—you are if you think I'm going to sit here while that man stalks our family and holds our name hostage!"

Daehyun rose from his seat now, eyes flashing. "So you're going to punish Taehyung for it? You're going to poison him against the one person protecting him right now? Taehyung is a part of this family too!"

Soojin sighed in frustration. "I'm trying to protect all of us—"

Daehyun interrupted. "No, you're only trying to protect your reputation!" He snapped. "Your polished image, your parties, your perfect friends, and your damn social ladder!"

Soojin's lips tightened. "And you're protecting a boy who isn't even—"

"Don't." Daehyun's voice was as sharp as a blade. "Don't you dare finish that sentence."

Soojin flinched, but only slightly. "You know what I mean..."

"I know exactly what you mean." Daehyun took a slow step towards her. "You haven't looked at him the same since you found out you could conceive again. Since Beomgyu was born, and then Iseul—suddenly Taehyung became a footnote. Something borrowed. Something less."

Soojin's eyes grew wider. "That's not true!"

"It is." Daehyun insisted. "Hell—you didn't even say a word the first time he cried himself to sleep after a school recital when you forgot to show up."

Soojin let out another sigh. "I didn't forget—"

Daehyun cut her off. "Cut the bullshit. You didn't care."

Soojin recoiled slightly.

"He's my son." Daehyun muttered. "And not because I signed some papers or gave him a name. Because he is. As much as Beomgyu. As much as Iseul. He's mine."

"And what if your loyalty gets him hurt?" Soojin hissed, stepping forward. "You don't know what Yim Siwan is capable of—"

"Oh, trust me, I do." Daehyun retorted.

"That's why I want him far away from us. But not like this. Not by tainting Jungkook's life. Not by making Taehyung think he's wrong to trust someone for once in his life."

Soojin bit her lips in exasperation. "He is wrong—"

"No, you're wrong!" Daehyun's voice rose even more.

"You never even tried to understand him! You played the perfect mother for photos, then pulled away when he needed more. And now you're planning to rip away the one safe thing he has left?"

Soojin went still, the words cutting deeper through her because some part of her knew that they're true.

But her pride won't let her fold.

"I'm doing what I have to," Soojin said coldly. "To protect this family."

"You can't be serious," Daehyun shook his head.

"I am." Soojin said, jaw clenched. "I'll call him tomorrow and ask him to end the contract. It's for his sake and ours."

Daehyun's eyes bore into his wife. "Rip it apart, you mean? Destroy the only stable thing in his life and leave him unprotected?"

Soojin sighed sharply. "We don't know that. Jungkook might still be a part of this mess too—"

"Stop—just stop!" Daehyun raised a hand. "Don't even try to spin that!"

Soojin ran her hands over her face. "I'm trying to think about what's best—"

"No, you're thinking about what's cleanest." Daehyun said. "What's safest for your name and your image. You're not thinking about him at all."

Soojin's voice rose. "And what about Beomgyu? What about Iseul? When this whole scandal breaks, what will it do to them? Their friends, their futures—"

"What about Taehyung?" Daehyun growled, losing every bit of patience.

Soojin froze, her heart sinking.

Daehyun stepped closer, eyes blazing. "You didn't even say his name."

Soojin gulped, averting her eyes. "That's not what I meant—"

"It's exactly what you meant." Daehyun's voice dropped, deadly quiet. "You've been rewriting him out of this family for years."

Soojin's face hardened. "That's not true!"

Daehyun scoffed dryly. "You treat him like a shadow. You pulled away when you got pregnant, and you never came back."

Soojin's breathing stuttered. "I had to focus on—"

"You chose not to love him the same." Daehyun continued,

unable to hold himself back. "He was yours. Ours. From the moment we brought him home. But you kept him at arm's length."

"He used to wait by the door for you, you know that? He used to ask me if you were coming home early. Ask why you didn't hug him the way you hugged Beomgyu. Why couldn't you ever see how broken he was because of you?"

Soojin swallowed, her lips wobbling.

Daehyun didn't let her speak. "I've watched you forget him a thousand times. Watched him swallow every word, every hurt, every rejection. You taught him how to shrink while you taught the others how to grow, and now you're about to take the only person he's ever felt safe with."

Soojin's lips still trembled. "I'm doing this to protect our family... including him."

"No, you're only protecting yourself." Daehyun shook his head. "And if you go through with this—if you tell him anything about Siwan or ask him to end this marriage—

you'll lose him forever if he ever finds out about the truth."

Soojin flinched slightly, but Daehyun noticed.

"I will never ask him to leave Jungkook." Daehyun went on. "Because that man is doing what we never could. He's holding him together and he's keeping him safe."

His voice dropped to something broken, close to sadness. "And you want to take that away from him, just to keep your world clean."

Soojin looked away, shaking her head in denial. "I have to think of Beomgyu and—"

"You have three children. Not two." Daehyun cut her off sharply.

Soojin's eyes glistened, but her spine remained stiff.

"If you can't see him as your son now," Daehyun said coldly, "don't pretend you ever did."

And with that, he walked out, leaving her standing alone, thinking about everything she chose to value more than the boy who once considered her everything.