"What are the odds? And you better say what I want to hear."

"I can sell you deception if that's what you want to hear; it sells at higher prices."

It was a calm morning, considering the storm that had literally and figuratively hit the city the night before. The sun shone and warmed the large room that had previously been filled with the coldness of lacking emotions and selfish decisions; the large glass wall received the affectionate touch of serene nature and illuminated Taehyung's opaque expressions. It made his face glow with a golden hue that had retrieved from his age a year or two by forcing him, with gentle frustration, to shed his tie and undo a few buttons of his white shirt in an attempt to let the air conditioning relieve his pent-up anger.

The night before, unlike his day in progress, was anything but calm, a raging tornado that he wished the meteorologists had predicted; he felt at a loss, not knowing where to put the buckets to prevent the flood from swamping his house; he thought he would find escape and safe shelter from his father's tyranny in Katarina's welcoming embrace, as it has always done, but he seemed to have forgotten that frequencies are not immortal and people's patience can only take a few cracks.

And Taehyung was well aware that Katarina had reached her limits. Couldn't blame her either; she had all the rights.

It wasn't a first for his father to humiliate the woman, reminding her how much of a low-life she was. It was no secret to anyone who knew Taehyung up close that his father had never intended her to be his daughter-in-law, let alone marry her off to his only heir, he would rather keep his eyes open as they throw dirt on his coffin than give her a chance to share the wealth he had worked so hard for.

Taehyung had been busy wrapping up loose ends; he had attended a meeting to finally close the deal Jungkook had been working on with Congressman Mr. Cha. After a war that had brought the man heavy casualties and some volition-inducing threats, he had finally acceded to Taehyung's demands and signed the agreement that would provide Taehyung with state protection and open many colossal doors.

Taehyung had expected that his father would appreciate his efforts and, why not, praise him for his hard work at least once in his life. But he had forgotten that his father had his ways of finding cracks in Taehyung's castles, had forgotten that he could build a fortress of gold and it would still look like cheap pinchbeck in his father's eyes.

However, and despite the awareness of the abovementioned reality, he had not anticipated that his father would take advantage of his absence to bring Katarina to him and convince her to become his next promotional tool.

Katarina was a Russian North Korean refugee who had sought shelter in Paju; a normal case of a fugitive fleeing unbearable living conditions. It took her several attempts and hours of prayers to a mystical creature whose existence she could not confirm to cross the borders, and even more difficult obstacles to reach Seoul; the woman had survived various kinds of exploitation before she could reach Seoul, and when she did, all life could offer her was a shitty job in an even shittier bar in Gangnam.

She was breathtaking, to say the least. Her exotic features made her the first choice for people who lacked honesty and basic human decency, which led to her becoming a bar hostess in a room salon that received clientele far from being considered customers.

She was barely twenty when old man Kim found her. She had been designated to serve him that evening, and although he didn't fancy amuse-bouche, he let her pour him a drink or two before her coughing grew louder and the blood flowing from her mouth upset his train of thought, forcing him to hurriedly call his driver and take her to one of his hospitals.

That was when Taehyung appeared on the scene, and to tell the truth, it was an extreme coincidence and pure fate. Taehyung was serving his sentence for defying his father's orders when she was urgently admitted to the hospital for her early-stage leukemia. Many would call it love at first sight, considering that the moment he saw her reaching for the vending machine in the hallway outside the VIP ward, he was robbed of words and logical sense, but he would beg to differ; she was the missing piece in his puzzle. His soul mate.

Old man Kim never bragged about his good deeds nor made them weigh on the receiver's shoulders; it wasn't frequent, but for the sake of his late wife, he did things that he knew would make her happy; he never thought much about it, the money was at his disposal and so were the resources, couldn't find a reason to turn a blind eye in such cases, until the moment when the gods decided to show him reasons why he shouldn't interfere with their business; when Katarina decided to put a bite in her mouth much bigger than what she could swallow.

Since then, he had made it a point to remind her daily that she was nothing more than a case of charity, a good deed he had done and for which she should be grateful from sunrise until dusk; he had warned Taehyung several times to end things between them, went so far as to explain how he had met her in the first place, and when Taehyung refused to give up and took her to the family house, old man Kim didn't hesitate to humiliate her in an attempt to break the cursed bond that Taehyung refused to give up.

Nor did she.

But what Taehyung could not imagine was that his father would go so far as to force her to be part of his election campaign. He had gone to her house after his father had raised the issue of marriage for the umpteenth time, knocked on the door at such a volume that the neighbors certainly heard, and when there was no answer, Chul, his personal driver, took pity on him and told him about his father's proposal.

She was forced to appear on the nightly political show "The Opposite Perspectives," a political show that highlighted the sunny side of candidates and gave the population reasons to choose their bias; a clever move, he'd admit; his father knew how to use everyone around him to his advantage. If she talked about how Kim Jung-Woo had given her a second chance in this life by saving her with his help, he would surely win half of the population's votes.

At the price of her pride, of course.

"Don't act smart with me, Yoongi," Taehyung warned, propping his chin with his hand while his elbow rested on the handrest of his chair. "I need to know what my chances of survival are and what are the risks."

"I have for you elaborated studies about the gains; are you interested?" Asked Yoongi.

"I need a blueprint to find the window through which to escape this marriage unscathed, Yoongi; for the profits, my father must have already done the algebra," said Taehyung sarcastically, "a safe way out when the time comes, of course."

It had rained the night before when Taehyung had driven carelessly without paying attention to the road ethics to reach his father's house. The thunder grumbled without taking the name of God among the rumbling; the fact that Katarina was about to sign her contract of slavery made him regret the second he had refused his father's marriage proposal, and with each stroke of the gas pedal, he wished the roads could bend into several folds so he could reach his destination faster.

But life has never been fair, neither for Taehyung nor for the many out there suffering the injustice of a vicious fate. So by the time he reached the large metal gate of the home that housed childhood memories and the voice of a warm and understanding mother, Katarina had already laid her throat, and the executioner was already spitting alcohol mixed with saliva onto the sword.

The deal then took a different course. Instead of persuading Taehyung to accept with a mere percentage of profit, which had failed miserably in previous bargains, old man Kim used the signature Katarina had placed on the document containing her agreement to disclose how she had overcome her illness and the means and gave Taehyung the choice of causing his lover a lifetime of humiliation or accepting his father's offer with sealed lips and fewer tantrums.

"Listen, Taehyung, if you want to save your little infatuation or love's face water, or whatever you want to call it, go with the flow," Yoongi offered as he traded his standing place with the comfortable sofa in Taehyung's office, sipping the iced coffee he ordered before continuing, "this is a good deal for your father; her in-laws have a strong political influence that will help him in the election campaign. So I suggest you continue to nod your head as the good child you're supposed to be and pray that she despises your ass and eventually divorces you."

Revealing Katarina's past in front of the whole nation to score a few points for his father in his campaign was not something Taehyung felt like doing. Therefore, he had bowed to his father's demands in front of the woman who loved him unconditionally and, against all odds, had made her shed tears that he hated to an extent that was difficult to measure and describe.

When she ran out of the mansion, Taehyung took it upon himself to share a portion of his wrath with his father and follow her directly, but as expected, his words left no scratch on his father's cold shell, and so he found himself drying his mouth, consuming the saliva that was desperately needed to moisten his throat as he tried to convince his broken lover to forgive his lack of options.

"Draft a contract, a pre-dated divorce; make sure it seems reasonable and fair to both parties; can't afford war from the start."

"A suicide note, you mean," Yoongi's eyes widened in shock as his words were laced with derision, "Taehyung, I don't know if you are aware of this, but the first meeting with the bride and her distinguished family is in two days; I don't have time to draft a contract and pass it along for her to read."

Taehyung had accepted the deal his father had proposed, but he had never made peace with his fate; he couldn't accept it or allow it to control him, something his father saw coming and for which he made arrangements, moving forward with the settlement of the contract and signing with the in-laws, using his authority and the power of attorney he had on Taehyung.

To say that Taehyung was angry would be a vast understatement; he was raging, which drove him to raid Yoongi's house at an hour not entirely appropriate for visitors; Yoongi was the head of the legal team, handling both personal and business matters when necessary; when the old legal representative resigned due to age and health issues, Taehyung thought he would take a breather, thinking he would do well with the refreshing addition of young spirit, only to be assaulted by Yoongi's enthusiasm and hunger for success.

Taehyung never considered Yoongi malign, not at all, but he saw in him the image of what his father's dog might look like; he was so obedient, loved to kiss ass more than Taehyung would have appreciated; but he grew fond of him when he realized there was not much choice on the menu when you are the only pillar protecting the family from famine and bitter cold.

Yoongi had no choice, neither did Katarina, but Taehyung believed he had a shot even if the list was limited to only a few possibilities.

The reason he forced a two-hour meeting on Yoongi and exploited him to limits far from ethical, even if it was acceptable given the hourly wage he charged. Taehyung's wishes were not many; in fact, there was only one: to include a pre-dated divorce without loss of shares in the marriage contract, but to his dismay, that was much easier said than done.

The contract had already been signed, and the delay in sending another draft wasn't enough, not to mention that it would seem very rude and downright insulting.

He had promised that to Katarina before she closed the door behind him; told him to leave before he plunged her into even worse situations as if that were even possible; the whole nation would see her as a charity case, which in itself was not very important to her or to Taehyung, but the pity she would receive by revealing her unfortunate past would remove her completely from Taehyung's life; his family, his partners, and everyone around him would point fingers at her and ridicule him to the point an eventual future wouldn't withstand.

So he promised her to catch the birds that were sitting in the branch instead of killing them with a stone that he didn't own; a promise, that much he needed to give her, at least.

"Which is why I've been trapped in this office with you since early this morning," Taehyung began as he leaned back against the chair after removing the vest of his suit, "and you better come up with a solution to the shit you caused; I'm getting impatient with the clock ticking, and I don't feel very generous to keep paying for your time while you are only increasing my need for nicotine."

"Look, Taehyung, there are reasons why I'm a lawyer, and you are a businessman. You want what you want at any cost while I take my time to find a logical approach."

"And? Go on; enlighten me."

"Listen," Yoongi propped his elbows on his spread thighs, trying as best he could to dispel the boredom visible in Taehyung's eyes, "if a cow is stubborn and will not follow, the cowboy has to follow her until he succeeds in coaxing her, he has to keep an eye on her; after all, we do not want her to get lost or, God forbid, stolen or eaten by the wolves."

"What am I supposed to gain from this 'how to pet a cow in five days' tutorial, cowboy?"

"That patience is the name of the game when it comes to persuasion, Kim," Yoongi offered as he reached for his coffee and savored the bitter taste before continuing, "You need to keep an eye on things that are out of your hands; so, here's the only solution available to us at the moment; I'll call her lawyer, he's an old acquaintance and was happy to see me again after all these years; will check the heartbeat over there to see how it's going, and depending on how many words he'll lose, we'll decide how to introduce the new condition."

"You want to use her lawyer to spy on her?"

"I want to get to know her," Yoongi replied firmly to end the speculation, "no spying; this ain't no 007; for all we know, she could have the biggest crush on you and already be mad because she has to marry the love of her life under a contract."

"Yoongi, my fist is aching, so fuck off before I rub it in your jaw."

Yoongi laughed at the empty threat and stood, intending to leave to tend to the pile of cases waiting for his supervision.

Taehyung took Yoongi's departure as an opportunity to call Katarina. He wished a simple call would miraculously clear the stagnant air between them, but then reality caught up with him as the call went to voicemail after the first ring.

The weather was splendid, beauty that fed the eye adorned the sky; topaz kissed by soft white cotton mocked the plight of a man in a losing war; Taehyung always wondered why God was so against him, eager to downplay his feelings, to the point where the weather never matched his feelings; it would always rain when he was in a good mood, and would insist on being the contrast to his feelings when his mood hit the ground.

Self-centered, Katarina would tell him, and he laughed at the thought.

So immersed in different kinds of thoughts, Taehyung didn't hear the door of his office being opened as he stood facing the glass wall, his back facing Jungkook, who rushed inside with a sense of urgency with each step he took.

"Tae," Jungkook called out, coming to a halt only when he reached Taehyung's desk and propped his knuckles on the wooden surface.

"'Sup, Jk?"

Tahyung took less time to walk to his desk than to eye his friend. Jungkook seemed to be imbued with various emotions, of which worry was the most obvious; his hair was disheveled, and his tie loosely tied around his neck; beads of sweat glistened on his face, giving Taehyung clues to the sprint his friend must have been on; it was the first time he had seen Jungkook in such a state; the man liked to walk around like freshly folded laundry, neat and spotless; Taehyung would dare say he looked worse than he had that night in the cabine.

"It's so fucked up, Tae," Jungkook groaned out, breathing heavily and clenching his jaw as his hand stroked his midnight curls, "she's gone; the doctor went off the radar; she's fucking gone."