Tailored shirt. Tailored jacket. Tailored pants. Name brand shoes.

    Sohee was decked in what she was sure was the most expensive outfit her fiance had ever dressed her in. Strangely, he was nowhere to be found as his young wife-to-be admired herself in the mirror of their bedroom; something she was rarely allowed to do. The majority of the time, the mirror was riddled with cracks and smears and small blood spots that had never been cleaned off, but it was around Christmas and Mr. Kim decided it was time for a new one. A nice one at that.

    Sohee brushed her hair nervously to the side. It was getting very long and unruly. ‘I need to cut it soon.’ She thought to herself. Mr. Kim didn’t enjoy her hair being past the middle of her back. Once it reached the small of her back, Mr. Kim would look upon her appearance with much disdain. It reminded him too much of his mother.

    Knock! Knock!

    Sohee rushed to the door of the bedroom, hating to drag herself away from the mirror. When she opened the door, Mr. Kim was standing in front of her, a smile plastered on his face. His eyes lit up when they landed on Sohee and the young woman felt uncomfort growing in her stomach. Mr. Kim stared at her for at least a minute before he spoke. At this point, Sohee was moving her feet side to side, trying to distract herself with a sensation that wasn’t her fiance’s eyes boring into her.

    “You look stunning, my little songbird.” He whispered. Sohee felt a sickness wash over her, but her smile remained.

    “Thank you, dear.” Mr. Kim pushed past Sohee with a nod and began sifting through drawers in the bedroom. “Oh, darling! I’m so happy you bought this outfit for me! I love it!” It was the partial truth. Sohee knew that when Mr. Kim bought her things, she’d have to repay the favor. Mr. Kim turned and smiled.

    “Anything for you, my pet.” The young lady suppressed her anger at the words. ‘I’m not your pet.’ She wanted to badly to say the words aloud, but she knew they would only anger Mr. Kim and that wasn’t what she wanted to deal with right before a job interview. Sohee snuck a few glances at herself in the mirror and couldn’t help but smile. She’d never felt so good about her appearance.

    As she stole passing looks at herself, she didn’t notice Mr. Kim come up behind her. She jumped at his presence and trembled at his touch. He draped a gorgeous diamond necklace around her neck, brushing the remaining strands of her hair to the side to clasp the expensive piece of jewelry. It would’ve joyed most females for their significant other to get them such stunning accessories, but Sohee wasn’t stupid; the piece of jewelry was undoubtedly from another female.

“Darling,” Sohee whispered, bringing her hand to the necklace. “It’s so gorgeous! How could you afford to spend so lavishly on me? I’m so sorry I’m such an expensive girl!” She turned and hugged her fiance, making a sick face that only she would know about.

“It’s fine, dear. I know how expensive you things can be, I knew that when I signed up for one of you.” Thoughts of breaking a heel over Mr. Kim’s head flashed quickly through Sohee’s mind. Things. She was a thing to him. Not a fiance, not a soon-to-be-wife, a thing. Sohee had never imagined, in all of her 21 years, she’d be marrying a money laundering, cheating, misogynistic , especially not at the tender age she was.  

Mr. Kim broke away from his wife and took one last look around the room before running his hands through his hair with a sigh. Sohee glanced up at her fiance and her eyebrows knitted together. When Mr. Kim saw her expression he smiled, a wry smile. He took her chin between his fingers and lightly pressed his lips to her cheek. Sohee felt the contents of her stomach pressing for their release.

“Don’t worry about me, dear. I’m just missing a paper is all.” He assured Sohee. She nodded with a dull smile and stood aside as Mr. Kim exited the room. “Come on, it’s time to go.” Sohee looked at the clock and sighed. ‘As much as I hate him, I can’t mess this interview up. Otherwise, I’ll hate myself even more.’

Sohee waited nervously outside of the huge office of the bossman she’d heard so much about. Mr. Kim made it a point to come home and complain nearly each and everyday about the “little prick”. Sohee was sure that even if her fiance didn’t work directly under Oh Sehun, she’d have heard plenty about him.

He was the youngest CEO in the country and had made international news when had made himself a spot on the Forbes Richest list. It wasn’t much, but it was so much at the same time. It said a lot about the way he ran SM & Co. after it had been passed down to him by his grandfather.

Sohee felt she has some sort of connection with the man through Mr. Kim. As soon as he entered their home he would curse the young CEO and complain about the pay he was receiving. At one point, Mr. Kim had lashed out at Sohee over a work-related issue. It was the night before Sohee’s birthday and she didn’t feel like hearing Mr. Kim running his mouth about work.

“That makes so much money, yet he gives so little to his workers. I can’t stand him. He thinks because he’s that one percent that he can treat the other ninety-nine percent like trash.” Mr. Kim had said.

“Why does it matter?” Sohee has sighed, for once letting her dumb and fluttery act fall. “You launder money from the company anyways.” That was the first time Mr. Kim had ever raised a hand to Sohee's face and used full force on her. She remembered the slap as if it had happened only a moment ago. The force of the blow was enough to knock her to the floor, but the pain didn’t hit her until a moment later. It started off as a sting, but quickly turned into a raging burn only to relax into a pounding soreness. She couldn’t even hear the entirety of Mr. Kim’s screaming.

“...ever talk to me like that again! I work in this apartment! You don’t do anything but sit here and look pretty, as you should! It isn’t your place to talk to the man of the house like that and it’ll never happen again! Do you hear me? Are you even listening to me?!” He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and brought her out of her daze. Sohee nodded quickly, eyes as wide as a deer in headlights.

“Y-Y-Yes, honey! I-I’m so sorry, dear! I don’t know what came over me! You work in the apartment a-and I should be grateful for that! Please forgive me, oh, I’m so sorry!” It wasn’t the first time she’d groveled at Mr. Kim’s feet, but it was the first time he realized he held full control over her.

That was also the moment Sohee realized just how much disdain she held for the man she was to call her husband, It wasn’t a marriage out of love, it was a marriage of money. Something which Sohee realized much too late, Mr. Kim didn’t have. At least, he didn’t earn. Nonetheless, she had a roof over her head, a bed to sleep in, and food to eat (the majority of the time).

Sohee listened to