✔Her Only Hope [Taennie Adaption]

41

Though Jennie could scarcely believe it, the next day things launched from bad to worse. A friend texted her the headlines: Heiress Ice Queen. An article followed full of drama and misinformation, quoting a lengthy conversation Kai  had had with a one-hit-wonder pop star also residing in the Celebrity House, in which he'd cried his heart out about his unfeeling ex-wife, relaying minute details of their marriage, as well as many, many points of fiction. She read it with a strange sense that she was choking.

'Good morn...' The greeting died on Taehyung's lips when he saw her face. 'Jennie?'

She nodded, numb, unable to speak, then pulled her phone from her pocket, flicked it to life, and handed it to him, the offending article on the screen. 'It's never going to stop, is it?'

She watched him at first, but after a moment the look on his face was too much to bear. She turned her back, bracing her palms on the counter, staring out at his stunning infinity pool and, beyond it, Athens.

'This guy is a pig,' Taehyung muttered with cold derision.

Jennie  flinched. 'Yes, but he's a pig that's going to keep squealing for the rest of my life,' she said softly, the reality of that driving any brightness from her mind. 'I made a mistake when I married him, I know that, but I am going to have to keep paying for that mistake for a very long time.'

Behind her, Taehyung stiffened. Not if he could help it. This had gone on long enough. From the brief details he'd gathered from Jennie, their marriage had been borderline abusive. Oh, Kai  might not have hit her, but he was coercive and a bully, and had undermined her at every opportunity. Emotional abuse was still a torment, and he was continuing to chip away at her. To see beautiful, intelligent, funny Jennie cowered by her ex-husband's indiscretion made him want to punch something. It sure as hell made him want to wrap her in cotton wool.But hadn't she had enough of that?

Hell. He dragged a hand through his hair, two sides of Taehyung at war within him. His first instinct was to protect her, to make her feel safe and happy, and he could think of one surefire way to do that. But his second instinct was to give her the space to work this out for herself, because he knew that was important to her, and her independence would be more meaningful if she found her way there on her own. She'd been protected all her life—over-protected—and she'd hated it. Wouldn't she come to resent him if he tried to coddle her? Wouldn't she hate it, and possibly him, if he got involved?