Dinners in the Kim family were pretty much a battlefield.

Hunt or get hunted. Trample or get tramped on. If you were smart, you'd be strategic enough to tear down the others present, as well as earn attention from the president, who chose to always attend dinner with the family, purposefully moving around his schedule for the sake of it. Taeyeon knew that for her, as well as every one her siblings in her room, that dinners were a chance to get on their father's good side. 

"The soup is good today," Her father proclaimed, giving a nod to one of the maids. She bowed, giving her quiet thanks, before exiting the room so that it was just the family left, sitting together.

After a few more moments of eating in simple silence, her father set his spoon down, briefly dabbing at his mouth with a napkin. 

"Has Jungmin come back from New York yet?" Her father inquired towards Yunjin, the eldest of the Kim children.

Yunjin shook her head, a plastic smile spreading across her lips. "He'll be back tomorrow evening. The kids are really excited to see him again..."

Her father chuckled. "Of course they are. Kids need their father to grow up well."

Taeyeon ignored the sting of his words, which may have not been intentional, but still hurt, especially with the way her siblings simultaneously eyed her pointedly.

"That reminds me," Her father paused to take a bite out of his steak. "Youngwoon. Are wedding preparations coming along well?"

Youngwoon cleared his throat, clearly caught off guard at being addressed. "Ah, yes! Heejin and I went to check out the venue and we're almost ready to send out the invitations."

Her father nodded, pleased. "Good. I take it that there will be no problems then?"

"O-of course! Father, I've gotten over Yoonji already!"

Taeyeon would've snorted in contempt if the situation were appropriate. Over her, my . He was probably going to end up calling her a million times on the night of his honeymoon.

"Ah, Taeyeon!"

She snapped out her thoughts, looking up from her plate. "Yes, father?"

He croaked out a laugh. "I received very good news from Kwon Electronics today!"

At this, all of her siblings looked up in suspicion and curiosity. Yunjin, in particular, narrowed her eyes.

"Did something good happen to Taeyeon?" Yunjin asked, plastering on a big smile. "I'm curious."

"The CEO of Kwon Electronics personally came to my office today," Her father replied proudly. "He said that his youngest son was interested in meeting you, Taeyeon. Of course, with the premise of marriage in mind."

The room fell silent. It remained that way for a very long time, as far as Taeyeon was concerned, until Seolhyun let out an un-ladylike yelp of disbelief.

"H-he wants to meet her?" Seolhyun gasped in awe, pointing directly at her. "With thoughts of marrying her? But why?"

It was clear that everyone else was thinking the same thought, but they knew to keep silent, as their father fixated a stern glare on the youngest child of the Kim family.

"Watch your tongue, Seolhyun," He barked. "Taeyeon is older than you by seven years. She deserves that much respect."

Seolhyun pouted, clearly upset that she had been scolded and singled out in front of everyone else. "Yes, I'm sorry, unni."

Meanwhile, a million thoughts ran through Taeyeon's mind. Marrying a child from the Kwon family would help her out immensely, especially in regards to advancing in the company. As much as she hated to admit it, the amount of respect she would get would increase dramatically, and it was awfully tempting, especially considering how hard she'd had to work to get to the position she was in now. 

However, she didn't know who this person was. She'd never met him before, never spoken to him. The naive, idealistic part of her screamed that she couldn't do this marriage, not to someone she didn't know. She didn't need someone to love necessarily, but the possibilities as to what kind of person he could be were endless. She'd have to spend her entire life with this person.

"It's a huge honor for us," Her father declared, nodding in pride.

"Indeed," Yunjin commented sharply, staring straight at her. "It's a great honor for you, Taeyeon. We're very proud."

"It's truly admirable that you've managed to get this far," Youngwoon added, an artificial smile attached to his face. 

Taeyeon forced a smile onto her lips. "Thank you. I was surprised at this news myself, especially since I've never met the man before. Do you think there'd be any way I could meet him soon?"

Meet him and get answers. 

"Oh, no need to worry about that," Her father replied. "Tomorrow, at the Park Hyatt Hotel, he'll be meeting you at 8 PM. Dress well and don't be late."

She nodded silently. Rather than excitement, there was more apprehension and anxiety filling her up.

A wealthy man had destroyed her mother. He'd made her into a fool that only knew how to hate herself and fill up her flaws with more men. 

She wouldn't let herself follow in those footsteps.

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It was 8:45 PM at Park Hyatt Hotel when Taeyeon realized just what Kwon Jiyong wanted out of this 'marriage.'

He was late. At 8:30, a waiter had walked over to her table and informed her nervously that her partner would arrive shortly. She didn't quite believe it, but she nodded with a polite smile.

Sipping at her tea quietly, she slowly began to put the pieces together. After all, wealthy men were all simply wealthy men. They could pretend to be different, but at the core, they were the same.

This guy just wanted to piss off his very wealthy parents.

It surprised her that she hadn't come to this conclusion faster. She didn't need to see the guy to hear any answers; she knew. She was an illegitimite child and no family of high ranking would ever want her to step inside their family, regardless of how much she had progressed from her poor roots. Kwon Jiyong had also never seen her before, so there was no way that this was about attraction or emotions. 

Strangely enough, it didn't anger her as much as she thought it would. In fact, it almost relieved her.

This was the kind of behavior she expected from these kinds of people. 

It was 9:00 PM, an hour after their intended meeting time, when Kwon Jiyong sat in front of her.

He strolled in with the nonchalance and casuality of someone he wasn't late, grinning as he took a seat in front of her. His butler - or driver of some sort - trailed right behind him, standing by his side rigidly. Instead of looking disgusted like she really felt on the inside, she smiled.

"Hello, Jiyong-ssi," She said. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Kim Taeyeon."

He eyed her, his grin widening. "Ah, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sure you've heard already about why I wanted to see you."

"Yes. You would like for us to get married," She said, seeing that his driver was still there. "I was quite surprised."

He nodded. "I expected that sort of reaction. After all, you must've wondered why I wanted to marry you when we've never met before."

She smiled. "I don't mean to interrupt our discussion, but would it be rude if I asked for us to speak privately?"

He raised an eyebrow, picking up on what she meant. Turning around, he ushered for his driver to go back and wait in the car, and she smiled gratefully at the man as he rushed past her.

"Is there something said here that needs to be kept from my driver?" He remarks.

She exhaled deeply.

"Yes."

"And that is?"

She looked up, staring directly at him. "You want to marry me, precisely because I'm an illegimite child. I'm technically from an affluent family, so your parents cannot say no, I suppose, but at the same time, I'm completely below their standards and an easy way for you to piss them off."

He looked slightly taken aback, but that expression quickly transformed to something of amusement.

"You're smart," He said with a nod. "And? Your thoughts on it?" 

She tilted her head to the side. "You value my thoughts in this matter?"

He smirked. "I'm a bastard, but not one that's big enough to force you into doing this marriage if you don't want it. Besides, if you went into this without wanting it, I'd only suffer the consequences later anyway if you backed out."

"I'm surprised," She said, arching an eyebrow. "I thought you might come here and try to convince me to take this marriage."

He leaned back. "Well, if you want any reasons, there are plenty. People won't be able to treat you as carelessly before, and the money that you will receive - "

"I already have enough money," She interrupted. "What I want is authority, like you said. The kind of authority that cannot come from just having lots of money." 

"So you have ambitions," Jiyong said with a thoughtful nod. "That's good. I didn't want a pretty doll as a wife anyway." 

"I plan to accept this marriage," She declared firmly. "Of course, we will be a married couple in name only. We won't interfere in the other person's personal life, unless it directly proposes a threat to the marriage."

"So, I can't meet other women?" 

She looked at him blankly.

"Just keep it well-hidden." 

Jiyong crossed his arms with a grin. "Perfect."

He held his hand to her, nodding at with his chin. 

"This is kind of like a business arrangement, isn't it? We should shake on it, to be professional and ."

With a deep breath, Taeyeon accepted his hand. 

Perhaps things would be working out better for her than she thought.

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"Personally, I would definitely marry Kwon Jiyong if I had the chance."

Jessica slurped at her noodles, glaring at the girl sitting across from her in annoyance. The said girl, Tiffany, stuck her tongue out childishly at her expression, hugging a pillow to her chest.

"What? Unfortunately, I can't sleep in a bed of dollar bills like you, Jessi!" 

Jessica swallowed, before rolling her eyes. "I definitely should've crashed at a motel or something." 

Tiffany pouted. "Yeah, well because of you, I had to cancel with my boyfriend."

"Wow, you have a boyfriend and you'd still marry Kwon Jiyong," Jessica remarked dryly. "How amazing and upright of you." 

"It's just hypothetical!" Tiffany reminded her. "Since it'd never happen in real life, you know. He's too rich for me."

Tiffany was a girl that Jessica had met while studying overseas in America. The girl, albeit coming from an average income family, was very intelligent and had instantly warmed up to Jessica with her positive, bubbly attitude.

Even if she could be annoying - like right now, for instance.

"He's too rich for me, so we wouldn't be happy, but he's at the exact same wealth level as you. What's the problem?"

Jessica scoffed.

"I don't want to marry someone that my parents have decided on without my consent." 

"Even if he's hot?"

"God dammit, Tiffany." 

"Okay, okay, fine! But, if you don't marry Kwon Jiyong, what's your dad going to do?" 

Jessica shrugged, shoveling more of the ramen noodles into .

"Jessi! This is serious!" 

Jessica groaned. "Are we really doing this right now?"

"Yes! As your best friend, I need to know!"

"Well, first off, hopefully he'll take my name off of the family register," Jessica replied after a moment. "Whatever ends up happening, I need to find some way to get my designs sold."

Tiffany nodded thoughtfully. "That's true...your father's been interfering with all of your design work up until now." 

"Exactly," Jessica sighed. "He's been blocking all of the major department stores from working with me and he's canceled any kind of meetings I've had with different brands." 

"Hey..." Tiffany paused, looking up at the other girl with round, curious eyes. "Then...how about you just start out small?"

Jessica raised an eyebrow.

"See, maybe you just started too high from the start," Tiffany began to explain. "I mean, not to say that your designs are bad! They're good, really good. But if you keep trying to contact big brand-names and huge department stories directly, there's no way for you to get past your father blocking you from succeeding."

"Then...what do you suggest?"

"You know how I work part-time at one of Lotte's department stores, right?" Tiffany asked.

Jessica nodded slowly.

"Well, I saw a flyer saying that they were having a design contest for a women's bathing suit to add to their summer collection for a limited amount of time," Tiffany explained. "If you win that, then your design would actually get made and put out on department stores to be sold."

Jessica's eyes widened, leaning in closer. "R-really?" 

Tiffany nodded quickly. "And, you know what else? This is just a rumor, but I've heard that if the swimsuit you designed sells well, then the higher-ups at Lotte might consider officially hiring you to help with designs." 

Jessica was silent for a moment, before her face split into a uncharacteristically huge grin. She tackled Tiffany to the floor, enveloping her in a bear hug.

"I was right to come here and not go to a motel!" She yelled. 

"Okay, quiet down, Jessi! My neighbors are going to kill you!" 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seunghyun realized that Bom had went off and told her father just what had happened between the two of them, when he returned home to find his father waiting for him.

"You're home early," He remarked with a bow.

His father nodded, a stern look in his eyes. "Indeed. Take a seat, Seunghyun. I want to talk to you."

He inhaled deeply, before walking over the couch where his father was and taking a seat across from him. 

"I got a call from Aekyung's CEO today. I'm sure you are aware of the reason why?"

Ah, as expected.

"Yes. I ended my relationship with Bom," Seunghyun replied honestly. "I know that you would be unhappy with it, but I realized that Bom and I could not keep going in this kind of relationship."

"You found someone else?"

"No. I simply didn't find it right to date her any longer."

His father nodded slowly, seeming to take the information in.

"Bom wanted us to date for a bit longer, but I thought it was necessary that I got married soon," Seunghyun remarked, the lie rolling of his tongue smoothly. 

At this, his father's demeanor quickly transformed.

"Bom wasn't interested?" 

"She wasn't and it appears that her parents were not pushing her towards it in the first place," Seunghyun replied. "For the sake of my future, I only thought it'd be right to get married as quickly as possible."

His father hummed in approval.

"Well, if she wasn't willing to go through marriage, she wasn't worth it," His father said thoughtfully. "Losing Aekyung is somewhat disappointing for us, but we can always find another family's daughter for you to marry. Are you fine with being set up with another girl so quickly?"

He smiled artificially.

"It will be a bit difficult, but I'm willing to make the sacrifice for the company."

His father smiled back, pleased with the response.

"Well, then I'll set up arrangements with the daughters of some of my business contacts soon. Let me know if you have any specific preferences." 

Who it was didn't matter to Seunghyun, so he simply nodded. He cared more about the family name that came with her and the benefits that would come from wedding with her. 

Was he being morally upright? No.

But what businessman in this day and age was? 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

With her family name and line of work, Kwon Boa had come to expect the unexpected. Hardly anything surprised her. 

Of course, the one exception to that was her younger brother, Kwon Jiyong.

The man himself was currently sitting her office, sprawled across one of the couches, and waiting for her to finish up with signing off a few documents. She was hardly thrilled to be hearing what he had to say to her, especially considering that this was their first time meeting after Jiyong had announced his decision to marry an illegitimite child from the Kim family.

"Are you almost done?" Jiyong called out.

She shot an annoyed look at him.

"You can't barge into my office and complain about me being busy. It'll take a few more minutes, so pipe down." 

"Alright, alright."

When she finally finished signing off the last document, she walked over to where Jiyong was seated, her lips pressed into a thin line. 

"You look upset, sis."

She rubbed at her temples, already somehow exhausted. Taking a seat on the couch in front of him, she carefully folded her hands in her lap, waiting for him to talk.

"I met Kim Taeyeon yesterday."

She nodded slowly. "And? How was she?"

His face broke out into a grin, and it almost surprised her. 

"She was interesting. Way more interesting than I thought she would be."

She blinked. "In what ways?" 

"I thought she would cry or throw water in my face or something, you know," He said nonchalantly. "I mean, most girls would do that if they found out I wanted to marry them to piss off my parents."

"Wait..." Boa paused in disbelief. "You told her that you were marrying her for that reason?"

Jiyong suddenly leaned forward, amusement in his voice. "See, that's the funny part. I didn't tell her. She just knew."

Boa furrowed her eyebrows in concern. That was quite unusual. 

"The reason why I came here to talk to you is because I wanted you to come with mom when she goes to meet her."

"Mom's meeting her already?"

Jiyong shrugged. "Not yet, but she probably will soon. If you're there, you can mediate the situation and see Kim Taeyeon for yourself anyway."

Boa nodded. What he was saying wasn't wrong. It was a good opportunity to evaluate the girl for herself and calm down her own mother, whom she presumed would be furious about the fact that an illegitimate child was about to come into their family as her daughter-in-law.

"Jiyong, but you're sure that you won't regret this?" 

Jiyong simply grinned.

"Not a chance."

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A/N: This story isn't completely dead! Surprise! 

Yeah, I have no excuses. I completely lost inspiration and kind of lost my motivation to update (or even write at all tbh). 

Hopefully, this chapter makes up for something. Jiyong and Taeyeon interact for the first time, and they're on their way to marriage (next chapter will probably feature more TopSica, with maybe a meeting between Taeyeon and Jiyong's mother) 

Thank you so much for reading! (if anyone still is lol)