𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗

Burning

Hello y'all! First of all I'm so sorry for taking so long to update haha, I really thought I already updated this fic and then realized it was all on my head haha😭🙏
Anyways, I'm forever grateful for your patience<3

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Chaeyoung's eyes scanned the house. Very huge. And very tasteful.

This Yulian guy might be a creep of the highest order but she could admit to him being a tasteful creep. Unless it had been an interior decorator and the man had no taste at all. The foyer was done in deep beige and cream, with two doormen dressed in royal blue uniforms welcoming the many guests inside the house with a flourish. Showmanship, huh. Chaeyoung held onto Jungkook's waist and walked in confidently, her eyes taking everything around her. The foyer finished and opened up into a huge hall, ornately decorated in the same beige but with black and cream. A set of tall windows were to one side, a French balcony on the other. A huge chandelier dangled from the center of the ceiling. So much money. Blood money. Like the one she had been brought up on.

Feeling the same discomfort she felt every time she thought of it, she shook it off and saw the horde of women welcoming the guests, especially the male guests, into the area, dressed in blood red same dresses. Seeing a few women eye Jungkook, Chaeyoung pressed herself closer to him, feeling his arm tighten on her waist, and smiled sweetly at the women. They backed off. Good.
Walking in, she saw the champagne flowing freely on the trays and she marveled at the fact that she didn't even know what the party was for. And it was a party. Men in expensive suits and women in expensive jewellery buzzed around the place, some familiar from over years of parties, some complete strangers. The further they walked the more she could feel Jungkook's body tense beside her. Knowing how adamantly against the idea he had been since the beginning, she quietly rubbed his side soothingly, reassuring him while keeping a smile pasted on her face.

Chaeyoung saw two men, dressed in high end suits with high end women on their arms, head towards them, mainly towards Jungkook. They came and looked her up an down before addressing Jungkook, discussing some business matter or the other, and Chaeyoung tuned them out, looking around the hall, mentally mapping out the likely place the office would be, only Jungkook's thumb rubbing her hip in circles keeping her from shuffling like she wanted to.

The men left, after exchanging polite smiles with her once they knew she was the wife (and not the mistress like the men in this world usually kept). And that reminded her of something that she had been wanting to ask him for a long time, but never had gotten the chance to.

"Jungkook?" she said quietly.

He gazed down at her, with those black big eyes and that look which made her feel warm and cocooned. She tilted her head. "You once told me that your men knew better than to look at me in a certain way, that you had ensured it."

He raised an eyebrow, silently saying a loud 'So?'

She rolled her eyes. "So, what did you do to ensure that?"

His expression became wary and her antennas stood on alert. "What did you do, Jungkook?"

He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Anatoly coming to their side, and she saw Jungkook don back his hard mask, the one he always wore with most people. 

Anatoly accompanied his beautiful wife, Tania, who had been a surrogate mother to her growing up, just like Anatoly had been another father, much better than her own she realized ruefully. They had loved her like their child and she smiled seeing them, missing them so much. Tania hugged her tightly, keeping her at arms length to scrutinize her with her warm brown eyes, in her lovely grey dress.