Chapter Text
She’d always been an outcast. Never fit in, always the odd one out, the weird one. It has always been like that, until she started working as a mercenary. Traveling around the world solo to execute contracts was more her thing. It didn’t require her to have social skills, just to be the best. And she was the best at what she did. And that’s how she found herself working for some Korean boss of an underground fighting ring. He was known in the whole world, at least for those who knew where to look. The dark web was the only place to find the IKFC, and he had his own hacker traveling with him, making it hard for anyone to track them. She liked Allen, he was always nice to her even if at the start he seemed a bit tense around her.
She liked that new job, it was a new kind of contract. She just had to stay by Baek-jeong’s side and do the dirty work he didn’t want to do sometimes. She was constantly around him and Alan and Tae-Geom, making it hard not to befriend them. Each had their own personality and she liked to hang out with them three, even if it was often work-related, they sometimes found themselves around a drink late at night to decompress. To her it was good company, and she wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. She knew her contract would come to an end at some point, and she didn’t know if it would be renewed or not.
Baek-jeong had first found it a bit hard to trust a newcomer, let alone a woman, on his team. But she eventually proved him that he could trust her, that she had what it took to live this kind of life– away from everyone, no social life, no family, no friends. She showed him she was loyal and would always do whatever he assigned her to, as long as he payed her and her contract wasn’t terminated but that part of course she kept to herself. He was hard to read, never showing his emotions except anger and violence. A lot of violence.
Sometimes he liked to put on a show to remind her that he was the boss, pinning her against the wall and staring at her with those murderous eyes of his. A wicked grin would stretch his lips and he would look down at her mouth, his breathing fanning over her face. One time he was so close to her that she thought he was going to kiss her, force himself on her. But his phone rang and he looked down at the screen displaying Taegeon’s name. Baek-jeong was so dedicated he didn’t realise he’d missed an opportunity. He didn’t realise he’d put his work– or rather his angry determination, before his own feelings. He could’ve had her, she wouldn’t have said no if she was still single, but now was different.
And that’s when she noticed the difference with Tae-Geom. The way he wouldn’t even have heard the phone ringing because he would’ve been too focused on her, his body so close to hers, their breaths entangling between them, the silence that screamed yearning louder than any words. He always seemed enthralled by her presence, and the closer he got, the harder to resist it became. His fingers itched to touch her, to feel the soft skin of her own hands. He always wondered how she could be so soft when her job was so rough. He admired her for being so strong every day, on every single job, in every situation even though he never told her. He’d been distant with her at first, and slowly working together and spending so much time together helped building trust, and other feelings.
When it’s just the two of them, in a hotel room from a different hotel from where their boss stayed, it was like the world around them didn’t exist. It was rare moments they could share together away from everyone and everything, as they were always busy running around for their boss. But Taegeon always made sure that he didn’t have any unfinished business before seeing her, so he wouldn’t be disrupted by unwanted phone calls from Baek-jeong asking him where he was and to come to him right away. Baek-jeong was a loose cannon and Taegeon feared the moment his boss would discover his relationship with her. He was so afraid of what he would do that it made every secret rendez-vous even more important to him. He poured his whole heart and soul into it, making sure she knew he loved her more than his own life.
As soon as she opened the door of the hotel room he was on her, hands at her face, thumb stroking her cheek, sliding on her lips, his eyes devouring her as passionately as his lips on her mouth. Pushing her backward against the door, cradling the back of her head and slowly sliding his hand to the back of her neck. She loved his quiet dominance, not brutal but absolute and certain. There was no space for doubt here, in their own bubble, he made sure of it. Switching to the front of her neck, holding her steady while they kissed, heavy breathing echoing against the walls like unholy sounds. He knew she liked that, the hand on her neck, not too tight but still holding her in place, putting him in charge. It gave her a chance to relax, to not be harsh and merciless in the face of the world, the opportunity to slip back into a normal person, a more soft version of herself, and let her body be consumed by the feeling of his fingers on her skin.
He let himself go entirely, head empty of anything that wasn’t her. A few more desperate and intense sloppy kisses before he pulled away just a few inches for air. She tried to move her head forward, to reach for his lips to capture him in another kiss, but he softly dodge by pulling away a little more just as her lips grazed his. Her eyes finally lifted from his mouth to his own, they both had heavy lidded stares lost in another world. A spark bloomed in her insides as if this little cat and mouse game just woke her up from a slumber. He smiled softly at the face she made, her small smile tugging at her lips. She tried again but this time he used the hand around her neck to stop her, squeezing a little, and coming close to her again his body flush against hers, he looked at her from above like she was unreal.
She never told him she liked that little height difference and the way he just used it to his advantage in these situations. She hadn’t told him about the neck thing or the kiss-chase either but he was so tuned in to her that he noticed every little reaction. He noticed how her pupils reacted to his actions, he heard her breathing skip a beat and watched her chest rise and fall heavily when his other hand squeezed her waist and his nose nudged hers, his voice already repeating her name like a prayer, in a low raw tone, almost broken voice.
And in a beat they were back to it, her hands that had been fisted in his flannel now tugged at it down his arms, mumbling something about too much clothes in between them and needing him. They didn’t break the kiss as he walked them backward toward the bed, shaking their shoes off, she fumbled a bit with his belt and him with hers. He took his t-shirt and jeans off before his back could hit the mattress, slowly bringing her down with him as she did the same. He kept his hands tightly around her as she climbed on to straddle him. The sounds escaping them were already full of the heat of the moment, outright filthy, gasping in each other’s embrace, mouth devouring each others.
Tae-Geom liked when he could look at her while she was on top of him, he liked to see her face, her reactions, and how her body moved. The way her eyes progressively got more screwed shut as the pleasure consumed her, head thrown back and her mouth slightly open, sounds worthy of the greatest porno leaving her. If she was an actress and awards existed for these movies she’d get them all, he thought. He would give them all to her even without watching these kinds of movies. He didn’t need to when she was right here in his arms, when she was all he ever wanted, all he could ever dream of. She was perfect to him, even when she didn’t see it in herself, and he wanted to remind her of it everyday. He needed to make sure she never forgot how perfect she is. How much he loved her.
When he couldn’t take the distance anymore, when his body craved her skin, he finally sat up to meet her, encircling her waist with his strong arms, their bodies flush against each other, no distance possible. Sometimes they’d do it like that, hugging each other, soft and tender and peaceful in the way only skin to skin could bring to you. Other times he would turn them around, laying her down underneath him, their body never detaching from one another, his mouth trailing kisses from her stomach to her breasts and then neck where he buried his face. One arm under her shoulder holding her, the other down her side, kneading at the flesh, grabbing her thigh, he really couldn’t help it– he needed to have his hands on her, to feel her.
He revelled in how she encircled his shoulders with her arms, nails digging in his back, the better he made her feel, the deeper the nails dug, making deep groans leave his throat. He didn’t care about the aftermath of it, the red marks trailing his skin, the stinging sensation when he moved and his clothes irritated it the next day. To him it was just a reminder of what they’d done, how good they’d both felt. When he started neebling on the soft skin on her neck, his head buried between her hair and the pillows, she instinctively moved one hand to the back of his head, as if trying to anchor him there, softly moaning in a way that made him see stars, his head so light and a soft fluttering sensation filling his stomach.
The only time they’d part was to shower afterward and clean up before coming back to bed and sleep the reminder of the night in each other’s embrace. Even in his sleep he would hold her close to him, too scared something could happen to her when he slept. He got that gut wrenching feeling during the day too, when she’d go on her own without backup to do something reckless for their boss again. He always worried about her but could never show it directly and he had to conceal his emotions everyday for risks of Baek-jeong finding out.
That night, after they showered together and went back to bed to sleep before another day of work, he promised himself one thing as he caressed her shoulder– he promised that no matter what, he’d get out of this life and take her with him and his daughter. He’d give her the life she deserved and everything she ever wanted.