Pardon the grammatical errors.

Enjoy :)

TAEYEON’S STORY

HATRED

“And if I don’t agree to your suggestions?”

I met Jiyong’s hard-edged glare evenly. “I’ll walk out of here and go to the first abortion clinic I can find.” I heard a sharp intake of breath from Madam Kwon’s direction but I didn’t flinch. I must fake it to make it.

“You would do that?” Jiyong asked me.

“In a heartbeat.” I promised, fully aware that I’d only sworn to go to the clinic, but not to have an abortion. I could never kill Seungri’s child, but it was important for me to make Jiyong believe that I would do that regardless of anything.

And apparently, Jiyong bought the bluff fully. “You don’t have to go that far, Taeyeon. Why don’t you spill your suggestions and we can talk about them in a far more civilized manner than this.” He proposed. “Perhaps then we can reach a compromise that won’t provoke you to do anything drastic.”

I tried not to look relieved by the temporary victory given by Jiyong. I consulted my notes. “Agree. We’ll start simple. I’ll agree to the education clause if you’ll exclude prep schools or other institutions that require the child to board away from home.”

“Fair enough.” Jiyong made a note on his copy of contract. “Score one for Miss Kim, I think.” He looked at me with interest. “What’s next?”

“The length of marriage clause. Five years after the baby’s birth is just unacceptable. I’ll agree to three months, nothing more than that.”

Jiyong shook his head. “3 years.”

“Need I remind you that this isn’t an auction, Mr. Kwon.”

“Well, you don’t have to, Miss Kim. It’s not an auction. It’s a negotiation. You give a little and get a little, remember? I won’t agree to look like a total bastard for divorcing my wife and a three month old baby.”

I paused momentarily, letting Jiyong to think that I was reconsidering, when actually I had known that he would object and already had my own counteroffer planned beforehand.

“How about this…?” I began thoughtfully. “I’ll stay married to you and stayed at the Kwon Mansion for six months after the birth and then move out. I won’t file for a divorce yet as the terms of legal separation will begin only after two years or until you decide to end it yourself, whichever comes first. If appearances are so important to you, this will give you the chance to tell the public that we’re trying to mend the broken bridges between us.”

Jiyong was mummed and completely unreadable for a long moment, then he nodded his head. “Fine. Six months.”

Score! My first real victory. This might work out after all. But nevertheless I tried not to let my excitement show.

“As to custody…. First and foremost, everything has to be reciprocal. If I can’t take the baby overseas without your consent, the same has to apply to you.”

Jiyong nodded. “That’s fair.” He made another note.

“I bet you would change your mind after this. For the first three years, I have the sole custody.” I said, sending the blow that was going to make or break the negotiations. “I don’t want my child bouncing around from one person to another.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Madam Kwon finally interjected herself into the conversation. “You can’t deny Jiyong access to the child for that length of time. Studies show that the first three years of a child’s life are the most formative.”

“Is that so?” I diverted my attention away from Jiyong for the first time. “May I ask how much did you see of your son for the first three years of his life?”

The blunt counter caught Madam Kwon completely by surprise. “That’s not the issue now, Miss Kim.” She said conceitedly.

“From what Seungri had told me, he and Jiyong were raised almost solely by servants and a number of nannies, following the tradition you established with their father.” I explained. “So why should I let a nanny takes care of my child for six months out of a year when I can do it myself?”

Jiyong intervened. “I have no intention in forfeiting my parental influence to servants, Taeyeon. You should fathom about this clearly. I plan to be more than a father in name only to this child.”

I swung back on him. “Then, that’s an even better reason to oppose the terms of the custody agreement.”

Madam Kwon gasped. “Miss Kim!”

“Grandma… Don’t.”Jiyong calmed her down, his voice quiet and soothing. “It’s not Taeyeon’s fault for having a low opinion about me. I wasn’t very kind or fair to her at our first meeting in Bangkok and I didn’t give her any reason to see me in a different light yesterday either.”

“Still… Considering your generous offers…”

“There’s nothing generous about them at all, Madam Kwon.” I argued. I wasn’t about to let anyone cast me in the role of a beggar accepting the generosity from the great and noble Kwon family. “You’re not giving me anything. If you could find a cheap, scandal free way to take this baby away from me and pretend that I’ve never existed, you’d do it in a heartbeat. Let’s at least agree about that.”

Madam Kwon looked blankly passed me, and then focused on her grandson as she slowly rose. “I think I should leave these negotiations to you, Jiyong. You seem to be able to deal with Miss Kim without evoking emotional outbursts. I do hope you’ll keep me updated if you come to an agreement.”

“Of course, grandma.” Jiyong rose as well and escorted his grandmother to the door. I watched them go, feeling that I should apologize for my manner but not knowing how. I was in the middle of a game, where the stakes were higher than anything I could have ever imagined and despite knowing all of Madam Kwon pretentiousness, the arrogant old dowager wasn’t really a part of the game.

The game was only between me and the almighty Kwon Jiyong.

I let her go without comment and waited until Jiyong had closed the door behind her. “Just to make sure, I just made an enemy, didn’t I?”

Jiyong shrugged as he returned to his desk. “Perhaps. Though I would love to think rather than making an enemy, my grandma may come to respect for standing up to her. Not many people have the guts to do so, you know.”

“I know… But I can’t worry about that now…” I said, letting go of my concern about Madam Kwon. “And I do want to apologize, though. What I said about your desire to be a real parent, I shouldn’t have said that. It was cruel.”

Jiyong sat and leaned his back on the chair. “For what it’s worth, Taeyeon, I never blame you for speaking your mind. For me, honesty over hypocrisy hands down, anytime.”

Hey, I actually believed Jiyong’s words were true. An unwanted feeling of warmth for Jiyong began to blossom within me. “Then, let me be honest with you.” I told him. “If you genuinely want to be a father to this child, to provide him with love and emotional support, I won’t do anything to jeopardize that.”

Jiyong tilted his head to one side, studying me closely. “You really mean that?” He asked me.

I nodded, amazed to find that I did. “Seungri loved you. He used to tell me that when you weren’t being an arrogant son of a , you were the best man he knew. If you want to show that side of your personality to this child, I’d be glad for you to do that.”

“Considering how much you obviously despised me, that’s very kind of you.”

“I don’t want to hate you, Jiyong. I never want to frankly.” I said quietly. “Maybe someday when I’ve worked through the grief and anger…”

I let the thought trail off, but Jiyong seemed to understand it.

“You’ll be able to forgive me for causing Seungri’s death?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

Jiyong looked down at his leather folder and flipped to a new page. “Well, when you figure out how to do that, Taeyeon, please let me know.” He said, distancing himself from me and his own emotion I guessed. “I’ll be more than a little curious in learning the technique. Now, shall we get back to business and discuss about the custody? Three years without a joint custody is unacceptable.” He informed me, bringing the conversation back to formal war zone. He looked at me. “I hope you have a backup plan for this.”

I collected my thoughts and emotion, but it wasn’t easy. Jiyong’s admission of guilt had taken me by surprise as did the distance he had just placed between them. “We’re not going to pass this baby back and forth like a football.” I said flatly. “