[ 🧷 ]! ぃ ⸻ we'll never get free ch1
synopsis. duty is the one thing KIms are ready to do anything for, for duty to their family they are willing to do everything and anything, even if it meant that she had to marry someone she'd rather see dead, though the marriage might seem like chaos, it was the calm before that storm.
pairing. lee taeyong (ty) x imaginary! female lead
genre. fluff, comfort angst, plain angst, age gap (6 years), enemies to probable lovers, arranged marriage, unexpected and impossible love, mafia!taeyong somewhat strangers to lovers?, (happy) open ending :)
warnings. DARK THEMES: guns, mention of drugs, drinking, cursing, insomnia, nightmares, murder, more will be added
inspired by. the song blood//water by grandson.
marriage is the best contract
Duty. A strong sense of duty was something every Kim had. Always. Somehow duty was always above everything, above themselves, above life, above love. They did it all for duty, the sacrifices, the wars, the deaths, the tears, the murders. It all was done because duty called, duty called them to serve the family, to serve the name, to serve the empire, to serve the legacy.
This undeniable call for duty is exactly what bought Eris here, seating in front of the man she desperately wanted to punch to death, if it weren’t for her father seating in front of her, Lee Taeyong would’ve probably been on the floor, with blood covering that suit of his.
It was as though the meeting room was filled with anything but oxygen. She knew exactly what was about to happen and so did he and all that could be done was to accept the fate, ‘You both know why you have been bought here’ a thick Korean accent broke the silence in the room that was almost deafening.
It was the oldest rule in the book, the best alliance had always been marriage. The union of two families in front of God where the ones saying i do are mere pawns. Two pieces on a chessboard that was to be controlled by the wishes of the higher power, more specifically the head of the families.
‘Eris, you are to marry Taeyong. You guys are acquaintances from the past, so I reckon there won’t be a need for waste of time', said Lee Dong-hyun before getting up. ‘The ceremony will be within a month or two, we will make a press release today, but before the ceremony, I and Dong-hyun have to go to Budapest for a meeting,' added the other Kim in the room.
‘I will be taking my leave then father, it was nice seeing you Mr. Lee’ Eris said before grabbing her coat, without saying her goodbyes to the other Lee present in the room, she walked out of the room
Staying in the same room with Lee Taeyong for 2 minutes was enough torture it self, but staying in a room with her father and Lee Dong-hyun, Taeyong was another breed of torture.
‘R, I need intel on Lee Taeyong, now’ Eris spoke or rather demanded to her phone before walking to the parking lot from the elevator. There was always a certain feeling of clarity when she walked out of meetings affiliated with the Lees.
Standing momentarily on the parking lot, Eris tried to process everything but truthfully speaking it would take her years to do that. The viable explanation she gave her was that in a month or so she was going to sell her soul to the devil for her family, and also had to call the devil her husband.
She was jolted out of her thoughts by a ring from her phone, which made her immediately open the device, she was met with what could be called an auto-biography of Lee Taeyong. Whatever was stated in the document was everything and anything Eris was already aware of.
A sudden breath on her neck made her immediately turn her back to the direction, closing her phone. And there he was, ‘Kim if you wanted to know something about me you could’ve just asked, with a smug smirk on his face that was far too familiar to her.
‘Does my beloved fiancé have a problem with his wife-to-be wanting to know him a little better?’ Eris said as she advanced towards him, as though the space between them wasn't already reduced to a few centimeters.
The close proximity opened up opportunities, it opened a golden opportunity and Eris was never the one to decline such opportunities, before another word could escape his mouth, her heel had already stomped his left foot enough for him to wince at the sensation.
‘You fucking bit-’ ‘Language Mr.Lee, I have quite a fragile heart’ Eris stated with a pout that would fool others but not Taeyong, definitely not Taeyong. Before she could make her escape she was stopped by a yank at her arm which pulled her closer to exactly the person she was avoiding.
Whilst the previous close proximity sparked new opportunities, this sparked nervousness in Eris particularly because the same could not be said about Taeyong, he was trying his hardest to not smile.
‘Let go’ Eris demanded firmly, but words like such weren’t the one to budge Taeyong, he wanted to say something, something his mind definitely was against while the fist-like thing in his heart defended it and before he knew it he let her go.
‘Press release will be today, so official outing as an éngaged couple will be tomorrow, dress code is-’ before he could finish ‘red. Dress code is red.’ she said. ‘Whatever you wish your Highness’ he said as he courtesied to her making her attempt another stomp, but this time on the right foot.
But this time it was Taeyong with the upper hand, before she could advance his hand had already stopped her, ‘Don't try again’, those were the last words they had spoken before parting ways for the day.
The fact that the next two months were going to be an internal war between the logical and hateful side of Eris was something she already knew, one would ask her to stab him to death and another would ask her to be civil, she was definitely going to give into the temptation of doing what her hateful side told her.
Soon the news of Lee Taeyong and Kim Eris’s engagement became the talk of the town, to everyone outside of their world, it was a fairytale that came true straight from the books of romance novelists.
But everyone and anyone inside the underworld was aware of the fact that this was a scheme to strengthen both the families and broaden the empire, to add fuel to the fire that was the Lees, the wealth of the Kims, and the power of the Lees was the best alliance possible to bring down anyone.
And the reaction of the public was enough to paint a picture of how the 20 or so years were going to look like, the two families having complete dominance over the underworld which would add more fire to the cold war that was already going on between the Kims and a house that was well known for being the only house with enough guts to take a stance against Kim Hyun- woo.
The couple dressed in red, hand in hand whilst smiling and laughing was enough to fool the world and sugarcoat the fact that they were just weapons specially built by their fathers to use, specially designed to be lethal to their enemies.
The news channels being filled with a beautifully scripted love story of the lovers and the rise in stock was enough to show that the history book on the shelf is always repeating itself, the same thing that had happened after the news of the union of Kim Hyun- woo and the late Kim Chae-won had the same feedback, the only thing that could be hoped is that Eris’s fate wouldn't end up the way her mother's had.
That was something highly unlikely, her father had built her into something that was anything but her mother, something her mother would’ve despised to be more specific. Something her mother wouldn't recognize as her daughter, and something she herself does not recognize.
‘You can stop smiling now’ Taeyong said to Eris releasing her from his arm, a sigh of relief escaped her mouth as her face finally came to the signature frown he was familiar with, ‘Do you know when is the wedding?’ she asked as she got herself some water.
‘Why are you excited to be Mrs.Lee?’ he asked her with that god-forbidden smirk of his, 'Shut the fuck up, I have shit to attend to unless like you Tae’, she said or rather shouted. ‘Already making nicknames aren’t we?’
In her life of 23 years, she had seen men, men with their egos so far up their asses that she couldn’t have the patience and wait before putting them in their place, but she thought she had seen pride until she met Lee Taeyong, but this man was the embodiment of the word pride and also one of the many things that would look beautiful six feet under.
‘Why do I even try to have one civil conversation with someone like you?’ she said before walking out of the room, her standing-Taeyong-tolerance ran out for the day but let’s be honest it was never there.
