Entering her third trimester Winter insisted that Karina should just stay home and let her take care of her company too. Winter thinks that after this, it all will become normal again, right?
"you need anything? I'll meetup with Ryujin. You can invite anyone here if you want." Winter looks at herself in the mirror, preparing to go.
"can you just stay with me? is that Ryujin more important than me?" Karina whines.
"I need to go out, Karina. I can't just live my life this way. This is one of the reasons I don't wanna have kids." Winter sighs.
"gosh! You're so fucking selfish!" Karina throws a pillow at her.
"I'll be home as fast as I can." Winter picks up the pillow and put it back beside Karina.
"you haven't even told me about her. what is she anyway? Your side chick?" Karina scoffs and folds her arms.
"what? She's my friend. My only friend. Now please, I gotta go. Text me if you need anything." Winter rubs Karina's head but she slaps it away.
Winter just sighs and leave.
-
Just after Winter steps into the casino, Ryujin greets her.
"lucky you came. I need to show you something." Ryujin leads her to one of the tables there.
"Soobin?"
"oh, so you know him. great. He might replace you to be the unbeatable." Ryujin shrugs.
"I'm starting to hate that title." Winter sits down on one of the chairs with Ryujin beside her.
"you played with him once. You won of course. Since then I've been noticing him going here often." Ryujin pauses. "he starts to get noticed when you're not around."
"really? You know what game he plays?"
"I heard that he only plays with luck. So, I guess playing with him means that you need a lot of luck to win." Ryujin pats her back and looks at her.
"what?"
"oh, you're not challenged? Where's that spirit?" Ryujin raises her eyebrow.
"I'm not into that anymore. I can't. I'll have a kid and I don't want them to think of me as a gambler." Winter sighs. As much as she enjoys playing, she thinks it's time to fix herself.
"damn. Must be boring. You're boring."
Oh, how the table have turned, Winter thought.
"you! play with me." Soobin points at Winter.
"me?" Winter points at herself. "no, thank you."
"oh c'mon. is that who you guys used to call 'the unbeatable'? please... join me." Soobin smirks.
"just go, Winter. I can only pray for you." Ryujin shows her an awkward smile.
Winter then walks towards his table and sits in front of her. Ryujin joins in, a few seats from them.
"I'll make it easy for you. we're just gonna play slapjack. I'm sure you know the rules. Let's start." Soobin then cues the dealer.
"tails." Winter chose the side of a coin that he holds.
Then, he flips the coin.
"head. Mr. Choi can draw first. We'll go five rounds. Whoever runs out of cards, they lose a point. Vice versa." The dealer explained briefly. "any bets?"
"of course." Soobin smirks. "I'll place my company... and you'll place Karina."
"whoa... I can't do that! are you crazy?" Winter exclaimed.
"if you sure you're gonna win, you don't have to be scared, right?" he challenged again.
"then I won't play." Winter said sternly.
"look who chickened out, guys! what a shame." Soobin starts to provoke them.
Winter can't stand being booed by people. Her pride is at stake but she can't just bet on Karina.
"I never bet on girls, Soobin! You're a fucking psycho." Winter gets a little frustrated.
"alright. I'll count this as my win. You can go and be a loser." Soobin chuckles, mocking Winter.
At that moment, Winter thinks that if she walks out right now, everyone will look down on her and shame her. she used to accept anyone that wants to play. She can't bear the shame. If she wants to do this, she has to win no matter what.
"I'm in." Winter looks at Soobin. "you win, you can be with her."
"that's it."
And so, the game starts. Winter and Soobin alternately drawing the cards. Once she sees the Jack, she slaps it. The first round, it's going well for her. but, Soobin always slaps the card after her so her hand is in pain. Seems like he purposely hits her to reduce her speed.
"alright, Mrs. Kim one point. Let's begin the second game." Once again he flips the coin. This time Winter draws first.
Winter changes to her left hand. Just like before, Soobin slaps her hand harder than ever. Both of her hands are trembling by now.
"Mr. Choi one point." The dealer announced. He then shuffles the card.
"how's your hand?" Soobin asks sarcastically.
"shut up."
The third game, Winter managed to win again. Regardless, she doesn't know how long she can keep her speed with her hands like this. if it weren't for Karina, she won't be risking herself for her.
"ready to continue, ma'am?" the dealer asks. Winter just nods.
Her hands gets weaker since Soobin still managed to hit her with the heel of his hand. It feels like her bones are cracked. In result, Soobin wins this fourth game. Winter clasps and unclasps her hands to make it steady. If she loses this last round, she'll lose everything.
"are you okay, ma'am?"
"dammit, can you stop asking?"
The dealer starts the game again. This time, it doesn't look good for Winter since she keeps missing the Jack. She still managed to land a hit in some turns but she starts to lose her pile. She needs to work harder and ignore her pain. She's committed.
Winter sees the Jack. It's her last opportunity to turn the table since Soobin's pile starts to lessen. She immediately slaps the card. Thankfully, her hand lands first. Soobin's hand follows, again, with the heel of his hand. Hisses in pain, Winter looks at him. he looks a little frustrated since he starts to lose his cards. Winter's pile is higher than his. Winter sighs, satisfied with herself.
As the game continues, they're tie. Nobody wants to lose this. everyone is waiting too. Some of them bets on Winter and the rest on Soobin. Winter draws the last card. She sees that Soobin doesn't have any cards left. If this is a Jack, she hopes that she's the one that slaps it first. She takes a deep breath and draws the card.
SLAP
Winter feels a slap on top of her hand. She's 100% sure that she saw a Jack.
"alright. Mrs. Kim gets one point. Mrs. Kim wins the game."
Everyone that roots for Winter cheers. The sounds of glasses clinking can be heard by Winter. she sighs in relief. Despite winning, she still feels a lot of pain on her hands. She looks at it and it doesn't look good. It starts to turns a little blueish.
"you good?" Ryujin runs towards her. "holy shit. Your hands okay?"
Having a conversation, they didn't notice that Soobin is currently raging, destroying the table.
"let's go. I'll drive." Ryujin then walks outside followed by Winter.
YOU ARE READING
BEYOND THE COVERS (WINRINA AU)
Fanfiction"you think marriage is not that bad? Dude, look at my parents. All romantic for the show. I don't wanna be like them. I'd rather sleep with bunch of girls than stick to one." -Winter "you will know one day. why I stay." -Karina TW: BDSM, KINKS, G...
