From Reluctance to Desire: A Mafia Story [JJK]

✨THE QUIET STORM✨

The silence in my room was suffocating. My fingers curled into fists as I stared at my reflection in the window. The woman looking back at me wasn't broken. She wasn't weak. She was angry. And anger could be a powerful thing—if used wisely.

A soft knock on the door broke my thoughts. I didn't bother turning around when it opened.

"Y/N."

Julia.

I exhaled sharply but said nothing. I heard the door click shut behind her as she stepped inside.

"I know you're angry," she said after a moment.

I let out a bitter laugh. "Angry? Julia, I was locked up like a prisoner. I had to beg just to get out of that damn room."

I turned to face her, waiting for the excuses—the same ones I had told myself too many times before.

But she didn't defend him.

She just sat down in the chair across from me, her gaze steady. "I don't agree with what he did."

My arms tightened around myself. "Then why does it feel like you're about to justify it?"

Julia sighed. "I'm not here to justify anything. I just need you to understand."

I scoffed. "Understand what, exactly? That Jungkook sees me as a liability? That he values his business more than me?"

Julia met my gaze without flinching. "Jungkook has built an empire where trust barely exists. He's used to control. To power. And when something threatens that control, he reacts—sometimes in ways he shouldn't."

I let out a hollow laugh. "You mean like punishing his wife instead of the man who actually deserved it?"

Her silence said enough.

I shook my head. "Julia, I stood there, waiting for him to say something, to do something. But all he cared about was his deal. He didn't even ask why I pushed that man."

Julia leaned forward. "Because he didn't see it, Y/N. You know how he is—he only believes what's in front of him. If you want him to open his eyes, you can't do it with rage. That's not how you win."

I narrowed my eyes. "Win?"

She nodded. "You want revenge, don't you?"

I clenched my jaw. I didn't answer. But I didn't need to.

Julia leaned in, her voice quieter, but firm. "Revenge is easy. But power? That takes patience."

Something in my chest tightened. I had been so focused on my anger, on the need to make Jungkook regret everything, that I hadn't stopped to think.

Julia studied me, as if waiting for me to argue. But I didn't.

Because she was right. I exhaled slowly, the fire inside me settling into something colder. More calculated.

"Alright," I said, my voice steady.

In the days that followed, I played my role with precision.

On the surface, I was compliant. I nodded at Jungkook's words, kept my voice even, and didn't argue when he made his usual demands. To him, it must have seemed like I had finally accepted my place, that his so-called lesson had tamed me.