POV NABI
The second hand of the wall clock seemed to hammer against my temples in the silence of the room. I hadn't taken off my green dress, I hadn't even removed my makeup. I was sitting on the edge of the bed, the tablet turned off beside me, waiting. Waiting for the sound of a gunshot, of brakes screeching, or worse, the eternal silence that would mean that my family's darkness had finally caught up with me.
When the doorknob turned, my heart skipped a beat.
"It's me, Nabi. Don't worry."
Jaehyun came in. He had taken off his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt to his elbows. He looked tired, but his eyes retained that constant alert spark.
"They're gone," he said, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. "They were just marking their territory. A message from Taehoon to remind us that he's watching. But my men already have orders to shoot if they cross the property line again."
I let out a sigh I didn't know I was holding. I covered my face with my hands, feeling the weight of guilt.
"This is my fault," I whispered. "If I weren't a Kwon, you'd be having dinner in peace."
Jaehyun walked over to me and, after a moment's hesitation, sat down on the armchair opposite the bed.
"Don't be silly. The Moons and the Kwons have always been on the radar of people like Taehoon. The difference is that now he has an ally inside your house. Your stepmother is... a dangerous woman, Nabi."
"I know," I looked up, meeting his gaze. "She killed Suyeon, Jaehyun. I don't have any proof, but I know it. She wanted the way clear for Chaerin, and now that I've taken her place in the engagement, I'm her next target."
He nodded slowly, not with surprise, but with the gravity of someone who already suspected the same thing.
"Tell me, Nabi," he asked, crossing his arms. "Tell me about your family. Not the version that appears in Forbes, but the one that makes you tremble when you mention your father."
I hugged my knees on the bed. For the first time, I felt that the words didn't need to be filtered through Hayami's pseudonym. I could just be Nabi.
"My father doesn't see people, he only sees assets," I began, my voice flat. "He saw Suyeon as the main asset, the perfect face of the company. Me... he sees me as a defective asset that needs to be hidden or repaired. But what he does to my siblings is almost worse, because they still have hope.
"Daejung seems like a solid man," Jaehyun commented. "I was surprised he hasn't left the mansion yet, being the main heir."
"Daejung is the human sacrifice of that house," I said with a lump in my throat. "He is deeply in love with Kang Suhee. She was his secretary, a brilliant, hard-working woman, but without a surname. My father hates her. He treats her like trash, as if she had infected his son with 'poverty'. Mrs. Shin makes a point of humiliating her whenever she can at family dinners.
Jaehyun frowned.
"Then why doesn't Daejung just take her and leave? He's talented enough to start over."
"For Raewon," I replied, and the tears welled up again. My father despises Raewon because he wants to be an idol. He says it's a profession for "clowns and prostitutes." He has forbidden him from rehearsing, cut off his money, and even hit him when he finds him dancing. Daejung stays in that house just to take the beatings for him. He stays so that my father won't send Raewon to a military boarding school abroad. Daejung is ruining his own happiness with Suhee just so that our little brother doesn't lose his dreams.
Jaehyun remained silent, processing the image of that house that looked more like a prison than a home.
"They're human shields for each other," he murmured.
"Exactly. And I was the one in the middle. My father uses my diagnosis to blackmail Daejung. He tells him that if he rebels, he'll send me to an institution for life where no one can see me. That's why I agreed to marry you without hesitation, Jaehyun. It wasn't for the Moons' money or status. It was because my father promised me that if I got married, he would leave Raewon alone for a while and allow Suhee to continue working at the company.
Jaehyun stood up and approached the bed. He sat on the edge, close enough that I could feel the warmth of his body.
"Did you sell yourself to them?" he asked, his voice laden with a mixture of admiration and contained fury.
"I'm the defective daughter, Jaehyun. It was the only useful thing I could do for the people I love."
I felt his hand on mine. His fingers intertwined with mine with a firmness that made me shiver.
"Nabi, look at me," he urged gently. When my eyes met his, I saw an intensity that took my breath away. "Your father made a fatal miscalculation. He thought he was getting rid of you by giving you to me. He thought he was giving me a burden to keep me busy while he did business with the Moons.
"And isn't that the case?" I whispered.
"No. He gave me the most powerful weapon in his arsenal. He gave me the only person who can burn his empire to the ground if he dares touch you again."
My heart skipped a beat. It wasn't a conventional declaration of love; it was a declaration of war. And coming from a man like Jaehyun, it was terrifying and exciting at the same time.
"You don't have to take on my brothers too, Jaehyun. It's too much."
"Your brothers are your allies, and therefore, they are mine," he said matter-of-factly. "We'll bring Suhee and Daejung here if necessary. And that boy, Raewon... Yuseo has connections in the entertainment industry. If he wants to be an idol, he will be under the protection of the Moons, not under the yoke of the Kwons."
I was speechless. No one had ever extended such a generous hand to my family. In my world, every favor was repaid with blood or action.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. "You barely know me. You know I take pills to keep from losing my mind, you know I have scars that embarrass me... Why be so good to me?"
Jaehyun leaned forward. For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me, but he just rested his forehead against mine. I could smell his perfume, feel his breath mingling with mine.
"Because you're the first person in this social circle who tells me the truth, even when that truth hurts you," he whispered. "Because you reminded me what it's like to want to protect someone above yourself. And because..." He paused and looked at me with a sad smile. "I like how your truth looks in the moonlight. It's much more beautiful than any of Suyeon's lies under the sun."
At that moment, the barrier I had built around my heart for years began to crack. It wasn't love yet, it was something deeper: it was pure gratitude, it was the feeling of being rescued from a shipwreck I thought was inevitable.
"Jaehyun," I said, squeezing his hand, "you need to know something. There's another reason my father hates me. It's not just the bipolar disorder. It's because I know where he keeps the records of the payments he made to Taehoon last year."
Jaehyun tensed. His eyes sharpened like blades.
"Do you have proof of the connection between your father and the mafia?"
"They're on a private server. I... I used to log in when he forced me to do his financial audits. He thinks I'm stupid, that I just look at numbers without understanding. But I'm Hayami, Jaehyun. My job is to connect the dots, to see the stories behind the data. I know he's laundering money for Taehoon through my late mother's clothing brand."
Jaehyun let out a grim laugh and caressed my cheek with his thumb.
"You're incredible, Nabi Kwon. A secret writer, a finance expert, and a spy, all in one woman who claims to be 'broken.
"I guess broken pieces are better at getting into tight places," I joked weakly.
He smiled, a real smile that lit up his face in a way that made me forget, for a second, that there was a killer out there looking for us.
"Tomorrow we'll start moving the pieces," he said, standing up but not letting go of my hand. "But for now, I need you to sleep. Tomorrow we have to go to the company for a 'happy couple' photo shoot. Chaerin will be there, and I'm sure she'll try something."
"I know," I nodded, feeling strangely strong. "Let me try. I'm not afraid anymore that you'll find out I'm not perfect. You already know, and that's all that matters to me."
Jaehyun looked at me for a long time, as if memorizing my face. Then he leaned down and kissed my knuckles with a chivalry that made me feel like the queen of his own dark world.
"Good night, Nabi."
"Good night, Jaehyun."
When he left the room, I got into bed. I didn't take the quetiapine that night. I didn't need it. For the first time in years, the silence in my mind wasn't a hidden scream, but a sigh of hope.
However, at the Kwon mansion, Mrs. Shin hung up the phone with a triumphant expression.
"Tomorrow at the photo shoot," she said to the person on the other end. "Make sure the paparazzi get a clear shot of the scars on her legs when her dress 'accidentally' rips. Let's see if the perfect Moon Jaehyun still loves his wife when the whole country is calling her 'the deformed lunatic.
The chess game was at its most critical point, but what Mrs. Shin didn't know was that the pawn she despised was no longer alone. The king was willing to fall to protect her.