Chapter I

This is how it starts

Before we start I want to say that none of the characters belong to me, only the plot. Any resemblance to reality is just a coincidence.

The chapter follows. Enjoy.

....

"No way" Taeyeon screamed as he slammed the door.

This was the first time he'd ever yelled at his father. But what could he do when his father insisted on committing him to a woman he didn't know, just to satisfy his desire to be the most powerful company of all.

Taeyeon knew that his father was ambitious, but he had no idea that he would be the victim to satisfy his father's desire to dominate the business world. Do not misunderstand, Taeyeon loved his father, but he never agreed with the ways his father handled things until now.

"Son please wait" He heard his mother scream, pretending not to hear her at all.  

"Kim Taeyeon stop right there" Taeyeon stopped but didn't look back, still angry at his father's ridiculous request.

"Son" said Mrs. Kim once she arrived in front of Taeyeon.

"Mom, if you try to persuade me to change my mind, you're wasting your time." Taeyeon responded almost immediately.

"Calm down, son. Let's talk about it at home, okay?"  Mrs. Kim persuaded her angry son.

Taeyeon didn't say anything to his mother and they both started walking out of the company. Once at the exit, Mrs. Kim's car welcomed him along with a group of bodyguards. They both got into the car and did not say a word, Taeyeon because he still felt tired enough to talk and Mrs. Kim was trying to rearrange the ideas inside his head.

Minutes later they arrived at the mansion. Taeyeon was the first to get out, walking to the next door and helping his mother. No matter how angry he was, he would always be a gentleman.

....

Taeyeon was more comfortable and less angry when he came down to the room. He found his mother drinking tea while watching a drama on air. Taeyeon decided to sit next to her and not in front like on other occasions, remaining silent until Mrs. Kim turned off the TV and chose a more comfortable position to talk to her son.

"My Dear Child" Mrs. Kim her son's cheek while Taeyeon allowed herself to be pampered by her mother's touch.

"I know you're upset by your father's sudden decision. Believe me when I tell you that I was just as surprised or even more surprised to learn that your father wants you to marry an unknown woman and worse from a person you do not love." Mrs. Kim sighed and took one of her son's hands and approached him.

"I understand that dad wants to succeed in the business. But to sacrifice his own son's happiness, just to satisfy his ego?" Taeyeon asked incredulously.

"I'm not sure Tae-ah, I can't understand why his father did what he did. Sometimes I find it hard to understand Mr. Kim Jaemin's hard head, too." Taeyeon let out a small laugh at his mother's comment, while Mrs. Kim Taeyeon's shoulder after hearing her son laugh.

"Mom, I don't understand why you married him" Taeyeon complained jokingly.

"Because I love him, my son. Otherwise, you and your sister wouldn't be here." Mrs. Kim smiled and stirred Taeyeon's hair.

"Mom, please don't do that." Taeyeon complained as he was fixing his hair.

"Well honey, the point is that I'll talk to your father and try to persuade him to give up the idea of committing you to marriage." Mrs. Kim reassured him.

"It's okay omma. I don't want to live hating appa for his bad decision" Taeyeon furrowed his eyebrows at the thought of that possibility.

"I don't want that either, son." Mrs. Kim testified.

"Mrs. Kim, lunch is served" Interrupted by a somewhat older woman.  

"Thank you, ajumma, we'll be right over." Mrs. Kim smiled.

The woman bowed as soon as she received the answer and then left the room.

Taeyeon got up from his seat and arranged his slightly wrinkled clothes.

"Son, you're always hungry." Mrs. Kim joked about her son's big appetite.

"That's not true omma" Taeyeon rebutted that statement.

"As you say son" Mrs. Kim came forward before her son spoke.

"Omma I'm home" shouted a woman to be more exact the Kim family's youngest daughter.

"Honey, because you're home early. You didn't run away, did you?" Mrs. Kim asked as she welcomed her daughter with a hug.

"No omma. Professor Choi was sick or something" Yeri didn't care about her mother's accusation, she was too tired to argue.

"Hello Yeri-ah" Taeyeon kissed Yeri's cheek. The woman didn't even say anything because she was used to her brother's affection.

"Oppa what a surprise" Yeri was surprised by her brother's presence. Taeyeon used to come home very late like her father.

"I wanted to see my favorite sister" Taeyeon said and Yeri furrowed both her eyebrows without believing her brother's words. Taeyeon would not be home unless it was an important appointment with the family, and since there was nothing relevant, it seemed very strange to him.

"Oppa... I know you're not home to see me. Did something happen with appa?" Yeri asked, worried that this was the reason her older brother was in the house.

"No Yeri-ah, appa's fine" Taeyeon reassured his grieving sister.

Yeri sighed with relief. If there was one thing Yeri could not bear, it was losing her parents and her brother. Especially the last one, her brother was everything to her. Just as Yeri loved Taeyeon very much, Taeyeon loved his sister very much and would give his life if necessary.  

"So?" Yeri insisted again, she wanted to know the real reason why Taeyeon was at home and not at the company like her father.

"Let's eat first. I promise to explain everything to you accordingly." Mrs. Kim intervened before the family atmosphere changed.

"Well" Yeri wasn't totally convinced, but she would insist on answers once lunch was over.

....

"Now you'll tell me what's going on," Yeri said once everyone had gathered in the living room, the appointments she had that afternoon were left behind, because right now her priority was her family.

"Well Yeri-ah is a little hard to explain" Mrs. Kim didn't want to tell her daughter what her father was trying to do with her brother. She didn't want Yeri to change her admiration for the man who called himself a father.

"Mom, I'm old enough to understand things. Please tell me, it doesn't matter if it's bad enough," Yeri said. She was mature enough unlike her friends and classmates who only thought about having fun and enjoying themselves.

"Well, your father..." Mrs. Kim was interrupted by the loud voice of a man.

"I'm home." That was Mr. Kim's loud voice. The man was totally drunk and could barely stand up.

"Appa! Yobo!" shouted Mrs. Kim and Yeri once they saw the man drunk. Taeyeon was surprised to see his father's condition. All his life he had had to witness his father in a state that was not sobriety.

"Honey, please don't fall asleep" Mrs. Kim asked her husband. The man said nothing, raised his head and watched his son. Feeling an anger he had not felt before, he pushed the two women away and began walking directly toward Taeyeon.

"You" said Mr. Kim before striking his hand on Taeyeon's cheek who staggered a little. If he said it didn't hurt, it would be a lie. His father's strength was huge and even more so when he was drunk.

"Oppa!" Yeri was the first to come to Taeyeon in pain.

"Kim Jaemin, what's wrong with you!" Mrs. Kim scolded her husband. She walked quickly to check on her son's condition. She took Taeyeon's face in her hands and could see a green spot begin to form on her son's cheek.

"You selfish bastard, I give you everything and you can't do that simple thing for me." Mr. Kim grunted in annoyance. He wasn't content with physically hurting his son, he would also do it verbally.

"You call me selfish. When the only selfish one here is you," Taeyeon shouted without worrying about the growing pain on his cheek.

"Omma, what is going on?" Yeri asked, confused by the words of her father and brother.

"Your father wishes your brother to marry a stranger."

"Wh-What?!" Yeri exclaimed in surprise. She couldn't believe what her mother had told her.

The older KIM didn't care that the two women were talking and went on with his words.

"But what are you saying? Your little punk" Mr. Kim dragged his body over the wall so he could hit Taeyeon. Mrs. Kim saw that and frustrated her husband's plans.

"KIM JAEMIN IS ENOUGH!" She warned. She did not want to see the men in her life attacking each other like that.

"Yeri, go with your brother. I want to talk to your father alone."

"Y-yes" was the short answer Yeri said before she pulled her brother.

"YAH! Where do you think you're going?"

"Enough!"

And that's all the Kim brothers could hear before they left the house.

....

"Here you go" Yeri gave Taeyeon a small bag of ice so he could put it on his cheek.

"Thank you" Taeyeon said and held the ice pack in his hand. He didn't make a move and Yeri noticed so she grabbed the bag from her brother's hand and placed it on the green spot. Taeyeon felt something cold touch his skin so he overreacted a bit, making the wound hurt.  

"Oppa be more careful" Yeri scolded without losing any contact with the wound.

"What do you think I should do?" Taeyeon suddenly asked. That took Yeri by surprise, since she had been so focused on getting the swelling down, and not on her brother's words. Yeri removed the cold compress, set it aside, and sat up properly to speak.  

"I should accept, so appa..."

"No way" Yeri looked at Taeyeon seriously.

"But what can I do?" Taeyeon asked hesitantly as he rested his head on Yeri's arm.

"Nothing. It's appa's problem if he can't accept it. Besides, our lives don't revolve around him." Yeri sighed. She was hurt by her father's selfish attitude and also added the blow she had given Taeyeon.

"Yeri you.." Taeyeon was surprised by his sister's attitude.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just thought that..."

"You thought I'd support Appa?" Yeri confirmed what Taeyeon couldn't tell him.

Taeyeon nodded his head.

"Oppa, please give me credit" Yeri pretended to be hurt by her brother's words.

"I'm sorry."

"Oppa is fine. I don't understand why Appa can't recognize that you're a good son and brother. You've done everything Appa has asked of you without protest. From studying languages you didn't want to study to working for him. Just let yourself be selfish this once" Yeri said. She didn't want her only brother to have a miserable life if he decided to marry an unknown woman. She wasn't an expert on love, but she knew that if someone married, it was for love and not for anything else. Besides, in the middle of the 21st century,  still performed arranged marriages apart from her father and the father of the unknown girl. No one, right?

"I can't tell you either that I'm not too disappointed to meet this side of Appa. I didn'