POV NABI
If the Kwon mansion was an iceberg, the Moon residence was a lit fireplace in the middle of winter. As I descended the stairs for the formal dinner, my lungs felt compressed. I wore a forest green silk dress, buttoned up to the neck to hide any trace of my anxieties, and my hair fell in soft waves, trying to give me an appearance of serenity that I did not possess.
In my mind, Jaehyun's words from the night before kept repeating themselves: "I prefer dark truths." He walked beside me, impeccable in a charcoal gray suit, and for the first time, I didn't feel like I was walking to my execution, but into unknown territory.
As I entered the dining room, I stopped dead in my tracks. There was not the deathly silence I was used to. There was laughter.
"Oh, you're here!" exclaimed a woman of serene elegance, rising immediately. It was Moon Yerim, Jaehyun's mother. "Come here, Nabi. Let me get a good look at you."
I froze when I felt her warm hands on my shoulders. At home, physical contact was always to correct my posture or to shake me during a crisis. Yerim, on the other hand, looked at me with a sweetness that almost made me cry.
"You're beautiful," she whispered. "Much prettier than in the magazine photos. You have your mother's eyes; she was an incredible woman."
"Thank you, Mrs. Moon," I managed to say, my voice a little broken.
"No 'Mrs. Moon,' call me Mom or Yerim," she winked and led me to the table.
Everyone was there. Hyunwoo, the older brother, was pouring wine for his wife, Naeun. They both looked so comfortable with each other that it was hard to believe their marriage had been arranged. Naeun smiled at me with instant complicity.
"Nabi!" Hyunwoo said, standing up to greet me with a respectful bow. "The long-awaited sister-in-law is finally home. Naeun hasn't stopped talking about how she wants to take you shopping to 'rescue' you from the boring Kwon fashion sense."
"Hyunwoo! Don't scare her on her first day," Naeun scolded him with a laugh, coming closer to me. "But it's true, Nabi. We're a little more... loud here. I hope you don't mind."
I sat between Jaehyun and Yuseo. Across from us, the patriarch, Moon Seojin, watched us from behind his reading glasses. He had a reputation for being a ruthless man in the real estate business, but when he put the newspaper down on the table, his gaze toward me was not judgmental, but strangely satisfied.
"At least this one has blood in her veins," Mr. Moon grumbled, though his eyes sparkled with humor. "The other one, Suyeon... she always looked like she was posing for a marble statue. Too perfect! It gave me a headache just looking at her."
"Seojin!" Yerim scolded him. "Don't talk like that about those who are no longer with us."
"I'm just telling the truth," he snorted, pointing at me with his fork. "Nabi, girl, eat more. You're too skinny. If Jaehyun isn't feeding you properly, let me know and I'll disinherit him tomorrow. He's boring, but he seems to have a good eye for women."
Jaehyun let out a short laugh, something I had never seen him do in front of my father.
"Father, he's barely arrived and you're already threatening me," Jaehyun said, but his tone was relaxed.
Dinner began, and for the first time in my life, I didn't feel like every bite was being evaluated. They talked about Yuseo's animation projects, Hyunwoo's new construction company, and harmless high society gossip. It was so... normal. So human.
"Nabi," Yuseo called to me, shifting restlessly in her seat. "I hear you're studying finance, but... do you like literature?"
I almost choked on a piece of salmon. Jaehyun glanced at me sideways, a spark of amusement dancing in his pupils. He knew my secret, or at least, he knew I was hiding something creative.
"I... I like to read, yes," I replied, trying to regain my composure.
"Oh, you have to read Hayami!" Yuseo exclaimed, her eyes shining like stars. "She's a web author, but she writes with a depth that breaks your soul. Yesterday she posted a new chapter about a girl who feels like a pawn on a chessboard... It's so real! Sometimes I feel like Hayami lives in my head."
I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. My heart was beating a mile a minute. There she was, my most loyal reader, praising my work in front of the family that was now mine.
"Sometimes silence is not the absence of voice, but a cry that has learned to hide," Yuseo quoted with a dramatic sigh. "It's my favorite line from your latest book. Don't you think it's brilliant, Nabi?"
Jaehyun leaned forward slightly, resting his elbow on the table, his eyes fixed on my flushed face.
"That's a very powerful phrase," he said, his voice low and velvety. "What do you think, Nabi? Do you think silence can be a scream?"
I swallowed hard. I could feel the weight of his shared secret. He was challenging me, but not to hurt me, rather to invite me out of my shell.
"I think..." I began, searching carefully for the words, "sometimes silence is the only way to stay sane when the outside world is too noisy. If Hayami wrote that, it's probably because she's also trying not to break down."
Yuseo let out a sigh of amazement.
"See! I knew you'd understand. You have that same melancholic vibe as her. Dad, Nabi is a thousand times better than Suyeon!" the young woman exclaimed to her father.
Mr. Moon nodded vigorously, stuffing a piece of meat into his mouth.
"Much better!" he exclaimed with his mouth half full, earning another disapproving look from his wife. "The other one was like a programmed machine. This girl has soul. Jaehyun, if you make her cry, you'll have me to deal with. And don't look at me like that! I know you have a devilish temper."
"I don't plan on making her cry, Father," Jaehyun replied, and under the table, I felt his hand brush my knee for a second. It was a fleeting touch, but it gave me a rush of confidence I had never felt before.
Dinner continued amid laughter. Naeun told me how Hyunwoo was a disaster in the kitchen and how Yerim was really the boss in the house despite Mr. Moon's shouting. For a moment, I forgot about the pills in my drawer, the scars on my legs, and my stepmother's threat.
However, reality always finds a crack to seep through.
"By the way," Hyunwoo said, turning to his father, "I heard that the Kwon family has hired a new security team. They say there are rumors that some underworld gangs are prowling their properties. Do you know anything about that, Seojin?"
The atmosphere tensed slightly. Jaehyun set down his wine glass with a sharp movement.
"It's because of the scandal surrounding Suyeon's accident," Mr. Moon replied, his tone turning serious for the first time. "There are many unanswered questions. And I've heard that Mrs. Shin has been seeing people of questionable reputation. Kim Taehoon, I think the guy's name is."
Hearing that name, the air became heavy in my lungs. Kim Taehoon. The gangster Daejung had warned me about.
"We won't let anyone near Nabi," Jaehyun said with a firmness that silenced everyone at the table. His gaze was like steel. "She is a Moon now. Whatever the Kwons have brought to your door, it stops here."
"Exactly!" exclaimed Mr. Moon, slamming his fist on the table so hard that the cutlery jumped. "No one touches my daughter-in-law! If that Taehoon sets foot on my property, he'll find out why the Moons own half the city. Nabi, eat your dessert and don't worry about those criminals!"
I smiled, this time genuinely. It was strange. My own blood despised and sold me out, while these "strangers" were willing to build iron walls around me.
"Thank you," I whispered, looking at each of them. "Thank you for welcoming me like this."
"You don't have to thank us, sweetie," said Yerim, taking my hand. "You're part of us now."
After dinner, Jaehyun and I walked back to our wing of the mansion. The hallway was dimly lit, illuminated only by a few faint wall lamps.
"Did you feel comfortable?" he asked as we stopped in front of my door.
"Yes," I admitted, looking down at my feet. "Your family is... amazing. Your father is very funny."
"He's a grumpy old man, but he has a good heart," Jaehyun took a step toward me, closing the distance between us. "And he's right about one thing, Nabi. You're much better than Suyeon. Yuseo is right too... there's something about you that's much deeper than what you let people see."
He looked at me intently, and for a moment I thought he was going to ask me if I was Hayami. My breathing quickened. The secret burned on my tongue.
"Jaehyun, I..." I began, but the sound of a message arriving on his phone interrupted him.
He took it out and his expression darkened instantly.
"It's my security team," he said, his voice turning icy. "They've spotted a suspicious car loitering at the entrance to the mansion. A black sedan. It's registered to one of Kim Taehoon's front companies."
Fear settled in my chest again. The bubble of happiness from dinner burst.
"He's coming for me," I whispered.
Jaehyun put away his phone and placed his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him.
"He won't touch you, Nabi. I promise. Go into your room, lock the door, and don't come out for anything. I'll take care of this."
He gave me a quick, firm kiss on the forehead before turning around and walking toward the exit with a determined stride. I stood there, trembling, listening to his footsteps fade away.
I went into my room and closed the door. I went straight to my suitcase and took out my tablet. My fingers flew across the screen. I needed to write. I needed Hayami to shout what Nabi couldn't.
"The golden cage is safer than the iron one, but the wolves still howl outside the door," I wrote.
As I was writing, a notification popped up on my screen. A private message from Ami_Studio20 (Yuseo): "Hayami, today I met someone who looks like your characters. She has a sad but beautiful light about her. Please don't stop writing, you give hope to those of us who feel trapped."
I cried silently as I wrote the next chapter, realizing that, for the first time, I was not alone in my battle. I had my siblings, I had the Moons, and I had a husband who preferred my dark truth to any shiny lie.
But the danger was real. Chaerin and Taehoon wouldn't stop. And I knew that sooner or later, my past and my present would collide in an explosion that only love, or my own "madness," could survive.