TOMORROW | Changbin

14||Jiyeon 2.0

Changbin's POV

My fist slammed onto the mahogany table, the force of it rattling the crystal glasses. "Marry her? Over my dead body!" I roared, spitting the words at my father like venom. "This company may be your legacy, but it's not a puppet show where you dictate who I walk down the aisle with!"

My father, the man who ruled our lives with an iron fist, sat across from me, his face contorted in a mask of barely contained rage. "You will, Changbin," he snarled, his voice low and dangerous. "This company needs an heir. It's not a choice, it's your goddamn duty! and it won't be some whimsical choice of yours that throws everything away!"

Duty. That word, always that word. Duty to this goddamn company that had sucked the life out of me and everyone I loved.

"Then let me choose who I marry!" I ripped a pink file from its folder and threw it across the table, the cheap paper fluttering to the floor like a dying bird. "This isn't some goddamn medieval arrangement! I get to decide who I spend the rest of my life with!"

The hypocrisy of it all burned a hole in my chest. This man, who spent his life railing against the weakness of love and relationships, now expected me to shackle myself to a woman I didn't know and didn't care about, all for some twisted sense of corporate dominance.

Years ago, I'd thrown everything away – my future, my happiness – for this very company. I'd sacrificed my Jiyeon, the woman I loved, on the worst part of her life all for this ruthless business empire. And now, they wanted more.

His face contorted in a grotesque display of mingled emotions – frustration, fury, a sliver of something that might have been regret. "It's tradition, Changbin," he choked out, his voice strained. "Generations have done it this way."

Tradition? More like a gilded cage, passed down from one greedy generation to the next. "Screw tradition!" I roared, my fist clenching until my nails dug into my palm, drawing blood. "I won't be a pawn in your little game! And I will not destroy Hae's life just to fulfill some archaic ritual! This isn't her fault, she doesn't deserve this!"

"This isn't a game, Son!" My father slammed his hand on the table, his face contorted with a fury that mirrored my own. "This is about securing the future of this company! We'll get more investors, more power, and crush that arrogant Lee into the ground!"

That was it. The final, sickening twist. This marriage wasn't about me, or some fabricated tradition. It was about crushing a rival, another notch on his twisted belt of corporate conquest. The fury within me boiled over, threatening to consume me.

My father loomed over me, his eyes narrowed into slits. "She's just a pawn, Changbin! A means to an end! We need to crush Song, finally break him after all these years!"

His words sparked a white-hot rage within me. "He's your enemy, not mine!" I screamed, my voice hoarse with rage. "And I won't ruin Hae's life for your arrogance!"

My father lunged towards me, his grip tightening on my wrist. "You listen to me, boy! You do what's best for this family, for this company! We gave you everything!"

Everything? They'd given me a gilded cage, a suffocating life built on their twisted values. And what about Jiyeon? The woman I'd loved, the woman I'd thrown away to appease them, was she part of their "everything"? No. I had to freaking leave her alone on her own.

"Your son!" My grandfather, a frail figure propped up in a wingback chair, cackled. "Just like you married his mother on your own terms, eh?"

Crinkly ass man-whore.