ENEMIES WITH BENEFITS//TAEHYUNG FF//

Decisions!?

The ballroom was suffocating.

Cameras flashing.
Whispers spreading like wildfire.
His parents staring at us like we had just committed a crime.

And Taehyung was still holding my hand.

Waiting.

The decision was mine.

Y/N POV

I looked at him.

Really looked at him.

Not the arrogant university boy.
Not the cold businessman.
Not the reckless heir who just destroyed a billion-dollar alliance.

Just... Taehyung.

"You're insane," I whispered.

A faint, nervous smile touched his lips. "I've been told."

"You embarrassed your family."

"I chose my life."

The room was still watching.

Waiting for me to either save him—

Or finish what he started.

I slowly turned toward the stage.

Toward his parents.

Toward the elite crowd that clearly did not approve of me.

Then I did something no one expected.

I gently removed my hand from his.

Gasps.

His eyes flickered.

But I didn't walk away.

Instead, I stepped forward beside him.

And faced the crowd.

"If you think I'm here because he saved me," I said clearly, my voice steady despite my racing heart, "you're wrong."

The room quieted.

"I didn't ask him to reject this engagement."

His father's expression hardened.

"And I don't need him to choose me publicly to feel valued."

Taehyung looked at me — confused but listening.

I took a breath.

"But," I continued, "if he's choosing me, it's not because I begged. Not because I needed protection. And definitely not because I'm convenient."

I met his father's eyes directly.

"It's because I'm not something you can arrange."

The tension snapped.

His father stepped down from the stage, fury barely contained.

"You think this is bravery?" his father said coldly. "You've humiliated two families."

"No," Taehyung replied calmly. "You tried to trade me like an asset."

"This is bigger than your emotions!" his father thundered.

"And that's exactly the problem."

Murmurs filled the hall.

Miss Han's family looked outraged.

His mother finally spoke, her tone sharp and cutting.

"Do you even understand the consequences of this?" she asked Taehyung.

"Yes."

"Then understand this too."

Her gaze shifted to me.

"If you continue this relationship, you will no longer have access to this company, this house, or this family's resources."

The air went still.

It was a threat.

Not to me.

To him.

His inheritance.

His future.

Everything.

Taehyung didn't hesitate.

"Then I'll build my own."

Shock rippled across the ballroom.

His father's voice dropped dangerously low.

"If you walk out with her tonight, you walk out without the Kim name backing you."

That was the real weapon.

Reputation.

Power.

Legacy.

I turned to Taehyung.

"This is your world," I said quietly. "Don't burn it down for me."

He looked at me with something fierce.

"I'm not burning it down," he said.

"I'm choosing what matters."

Silence.

One step.

Then another.

He walked past his parents.

Past the cameras.

And stopped beside me again.

This time, he didn't grab my hand immediately.

He waited.

Letting me decide again.

My heart was pounding.

This wasn't romance anymore.

This was war.

And if I stepped forward with him—

There was no going back.

I slowly intertwined my fingers with his.

The ballroom erupted.

His father's face turned ice-cold.

"From this moment forward," his father declared sharply, "you are no longer the successor of Kim Industries."

The words hit.

Heavy.

Final.

Taehyung didn't flinch.

But I felt the weight of what he had just lost.

And the weight of what we had just started.

We walked out together.

Not as heir and nobody.

Not as a business deal.

But as two people who just chose each other—

Against everything