Mrs. & Mrs. Kang | DAERIN

Agreeable Symmetry

Jiwoo calls Dohyun to join them and the two sit together in the kitchen while Haerin paces around them.

"She tried to kill me!"

"Yes, she did," Dohyun nods his head vehemently. "And you know what? Taeyeon tried to kill me," he waves off Haerin's glare. "Not with a car. At least Danielle was a man about it. At least she was upfront about it. But they all try to kill you. Slowly, painfully, cripplingly. And then, wham! They hurt you. You know how hurt I used to be over her? I used to beat myself up. Now I'm great. I got dates all the time. I was just at a thing, I was in my robe."

Jiwoo rolls her eyes, "You live with your dad."

"I choose to! And remind me, Jiwoo. Sooni is where exactly? Downstairs, right? Because you live with her. And why is that, again? Because she's the only woman you've ever trusted. Right? Why? Because women are the worst."

Haerin and Jiwoo both glare at him before Haerin shakes her head and sighs, "It's just unbelievable."

"I know exactly what you're thinking," Dohyun adds after a moment with a scratch of his beard. "If she lied about that, what else has she lied about?"

"He's got a point, Hae. I mean, her job is to spy. To get information from people."

"French Riviera...a yacht...an Iranian prince. She's supposed to get close to him and gain his trust," Dohyun says the last word with a wink, then shakes his head. "It's disgusting."

ᯓ★

"WHAT?" The news leaves Hanni dumbfounded. "Your wife is the 'civilian'? That's impossible!"

Danielle in front of her quickly downs another shot before turning to Hanni with an unimpressed look, "Really?"

ᯓ★

"This was probably planned from the beginning, Operation Stakeout Haerin. A six year stakeout to get information from you. Well, mission accomplished."

"That's probably not helping," Jiwoo smacks the back of Dohyun's head and hands Haerin a beer.

ᯓ★

"Okay," Hanni takes a deep breath. "The upside is...you don't love her."

Danielle downs another shot, "No."

"So, you'll kill her—and nobody's better at that than you are—and then it will be over."

Danielle refills her shot glass, stares at the bottle in her hands, and wonders why the thought of 'over' isn't providing her with any comfort.

ᯓ★

"I'm just saying, it's like the first 150 pages of a book have been written. In the first 150 pages, Haerin's been a clown. Well," Dohyun shrugs, "you can write the last 10 pages. You've been smoked but you can write the last 10, know what I'm saying?" Haerin nods wordlessly and wanders out of the kitchen, "Great talk, Hae. We should do it more often. It was great, I'm proud of you."

Haerin pops back in the room holding a shotgun, "I'm gonna borrow this."

Jiwoo laughs, "I like where your head's at."

"I'll do it in the morning."

"That would probably be best."

ᯓ★

Hanni checks on Danielle once more before leaving, "You okay?"

"Yeah," she mumbles face down on the couch in her office as the bottle of liquor hangs loosely from her fingertips.