"Life is about give and take; you know this better than anyone; the deal is clear, either you take an in, or war it shall be.
"It's indeed give and take, so why do I feel like the only one who gives without receiving anything in return?"
"Because th...
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Secrets are kept for many reasons. They can be kept to craft delightful surprises, to put a smile on the face of a loved one, to confess one's love with actions rather than words, to wrap the people we love in a blanket of affection warm enough to express our gratitude for their presence.
But the twisted reality is that secrets rarely serve to fulfill the above conditions; they serve to cast a shadow over wrong and shameful deeds rather than to provide rosy surprises; secrets serve to maintain some stability behind actions that are far from stable; disturbed, terrible, and just plain inhuman realities that are better kept in the darkness and ignorance of listening ears and attentive eyes.
And Taehyung had a secret that he preferred to keep hidden from his father's knowledge. Everything that happened in the cabin was on him, the result of his decisions, whether they were wrong or right, no longer mattered, because all that mattered was keeping the results only known to the people involved in the scene, and only highlight the positive outcome to his father.
Jung-Woo was not a mobster and definitely, raised no gangster to rule some shitty and fucked up underground; the man was a politician with a great reputation to maintain polished, he worked long, tedious years to have his name lauded by an entire country, gave up his businesses to fulfill the shining dream of making the Blue House his office, and he did it all so he would not have it all screwed up by his son's irrational bad decisions and lack of problem-solving sense.
It was a challenge that Jung-Woo had taken to evaluate his son's abilities. He was aware that it was a difficult task to bring the deputy on board, yet he entrusted him with the mission. He was not sure if Taehyung would deliver the required results, had his doubts proven wrong when the child brought the sealed contract to his office in their house.
But he didn't question the means, and Taehyung was happy that way.
That is, until he saw you.
He had hidden a secret and did everything he could to keep you out of his father's reach. He mobilized a troop to search for you and bring you back under his feet, silenced and tamed to keep your end of the bargain, only to find you standing tall and flourishing, radiating the sort of smile he had never seen on your lips since the two of you met.
The world is truly a small place.
Taehyung was happy, do not get him wrong, he was in fact, delighted that he had finally found you, reckoned that he would never let you out of his sight again and might reinforce the guards around you to prevent any unpleasant occurrences. He was happy all right, just not thrilled that you were his future wife.
Secrets are kept for many reasons, whether it's to keep a relationship from falling apart or to prevent pain from shuddering a loved one's heart. But in your case, the secret you kept was mainly to protect your job and prevent your life from falling apart.
To save yourself from shuddering to pieces or, at worst, thrown into the depths of the Han.
There was no denying that fear overcame you, that your palms grew moist, and for sure, your foundation started creasing; you wondered if your heartbeat was louder than the soft, melodic jazz in the background, but you decided to stop brooding when your eyes began another brooding of their own.
