Chapter Text
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there is nothing but silence and the jagged pieces of your broken heart scattered in the room like broken glass. you wonder how it came to this, before reprimanding yourself and instead asking why you hadn’t seen this coming.
you’re sitting opposite from the man who is, was, and always will be the love of your life, watching as he picks up a fountain pen and signs on the dotted line slowly, easily, as if it isn’t hurting him as much as it’s hurting you. you look away, and hear the sound of the papers being flipped before the unfamiliar man beside seokjin slides the document across the table.
your lawyer accepts the papers and hands you a pen. when you don’t take it from her outstretched hand, she places it on the tabletop.
“we talked about this, mrs. kim.” she says gently, bending down slightly to look at you. you glare at her for the address, watching her shrink under your ice stare and as your soon-to-be ex-husband’s lawyer wince, and pick up the stationary.
you eyes run over the printed words. dissolution of marriage, irreconcilable differences, and the words that drive an arrow to your already bleeding heart- no minor children.
“can i have a minute with my husband, please?” you finally say after silently clearing your throat.
“mrs. kim, i don’t think-“
“it’ll be ms. y/l/n after this meeting, actually. for someone my family keeps on retainer, you sure are dull.” you cut her off primly, crossing your arms over your chest, rustling the deep blue dress you were wearing. an anniversary present from jin. you watch as the woman begins to fidget, and fight back a satisfactory grin. “leave.”
your lawyer and your husband’s shuffle out of the room at a pace of a snail’s, and once the door is shut, you drop the act. the untouchable heiress of a fortune 500 corporation responsible for the largest business merger in the history of both the kim corporation and y/l/n inc. act, and for the first time in a while, you allow your gaze to wander over to your husband, who’s watching you with careful eyes.
“y/n, i-“
“where did we go wrong?” you ask, refusing to listen to what jin had to say. “how did we become this?”
“we were always going to end up like this, and you know it.” he responded, running a long, slender-fingered hand through his jet black hair, wrinkling the dress shirt he was wearing. you fight the urge to cross the distance between you two to straighten it.
“we weren’t.” you disagreed, folding your hands on your lap and crossing your ankles. “we were going to be fine.”
“y/n, come on.” jin scoffed, tugging at his cufflinks. “we were going to end up unhappy together.”
“like our parents, their parents before them and every other couple forced into our predicament?”
“i care about you too much to let us end up like them.”
“and so you would rather tarnish both our family names with divorce?” you raise an impeccably drawn eyebrow.
he hesitates. “yes.”
“you’d put hundreds of employees of our merger into unemployment because you don’t want to produce an heir?” you ask, and anger rises from the pit of your stomach when jin doesn’t respond. “answer the question, seokjin!” you exclaim, banging your hand on the hardwood table. your husband remained silent, instead choosing to let his gaze wander to the features of your delicate face. in another world, you thought bitterly, jin could’ve loved you out of his own will instead of because of obligation. in another world, he wouldn’t be the heir of a multimillion dollar company and you wouldn’t be an heiress to the same and you two might have had a shot at something beyond familial duty. and yet you fell for a man that wasn’t yours to keep. you fell for him to the bewilderment of your parents, who were so convinced you would despise your love match, but it was clear he didn’t feel the same. a lone, crystal tear dripped down from your eye.
“you’re twenty-three, y/n.” jin’s shaky voice awakened you from your reverie. “you don’t deserve to be tied down to me.”
“what if i want to be?”
“in ten years or so, you’ll despise me, and you know it. i don’t want to put a child through that, not through what we’ve been through.”
“but don’t you love me?” one day, you’ll look back at this and curse yourself for being so pathetic, for allowing your facade to crack.
“i,” he clears his throat, and you feel any trace of hope bleed through your fingertips. “no.”
“alright then.” you say after a moment. you take a minute to compose yourself before the shield your parents had so meticulously trained you to adopt is raised once again. you pray to the deity that you don’t believe in that you never cross paths with kim seokjin ever again, or you will destroy him. you’ve done worse for less. you press the intercom button. “in the room, now.”
not a minute later, the lawyers trickle into the room, and you wordlessly sign your name on the dotted line before tossing it towards them.
“thank you, mr. kim, ms. y/l/n.” your now ex-husband’s lawyer shuffles through the documents. “i’ll be in contact about the possessions.”
“let him keep them.” you say clearly, pristine voice meant to cut, and looking at jin’s reaction, it does.
“i don’t want them.” he grits out once he regains him composure.
“then place a very hefty donation under y/l/n inc. and the kim corporation’s names. a post-divorce gift.” you smile, all teeth. the lawyers nod in disbelief. they’ve seen your joint possessions, not to mention the expensive townhouse and numerous plots of land under both your names.
“if that’s all.” jin stands up, shrugging his suit jacket back on and fixing his cufflinks. you roll your eyes at the crookedness of his tie before getting up as well and crossing over the table towards him. he eyes you warily as your experienced fingers straighten it.
“it is all.” and your words have so much weight in them that you almost left your voice falter before you harden it. never again.
your ex-husband nods to you, and hesitates slightly before leaning down to kiss you on the cheek. before his lips land, you flinch, leaving the atmosphere tenser that it already was. he straightens up, and after a quick acknowledgement to the lawyers, turns on his heel and walks out of the room and your life.
“we’ll be off, then. thank you for your time, ms. y/l/n.” jin’s lawyer bows, and yours follows suit. before they leave, however, your words stop them in place.
“ms. wang,” your lawyer freezes and turns around slowly to face you. “your contract has been terminated, effective immediately. i’d hope your firm sends someone more competent the next time a member of my family requires representation.” you pull out your phone, dismissing them, and her sniffle makes the horrid day slightly better. nothing like someone else’s suffering to make someone of the y/l/n family happier.
you open up your call log, and mercilessly delete seokjin’s number from your speed dial before dialling for your secretary. the call is accepted almost immediately. “taehyung.” you say into the smartphone.
“yes, mrs. y/l/n?” your secretary responds.
“i’m going to need you to call the jet. tell the pilot we’re heading to japan. inform my parents as well that i’m going to be otherwise occupied and they are not, under any circumstance, allowed to contact me.”
“for how long, ma’am?” he sounds bewildered.
“let’s say,” your hand falls to your stomach, where a spark of life grows within you. “nine months.”