"I, Kim Yena?" she said, standing in her expansive bedroom, staring at Seoul spread beneath her through the large floor-to-ceiling windows.
"When my mother told me to take a husband, I knew Kim Taejoon was a demon." She took a slow, deliberate drag from her vape pen, the faint vapor curling around her fingers.
On the bed behind her lay her little pet, Kang Jihoon, wrapped in the luxurious sheets.
It was no secret: she and Taejoon did not love each other. Their marriage was a transactional arrangement, and her inability to bear a child had only widened the chasm between them, pushing them to the brink of enmity.
Now, they crossed paths only when absolutely necessary. And in her mind, it was never necessary to see her husband's face—not when she could see younger, more adoring faces every day.
"If you hate your husband so much, why don't you just divorce him?"
She turned at the sound of his voice, her Victoria's Secret luxury nightdress catching the dim light as she leaned back against the glass wall. With a languid gesture, she beckoned him with her finger.
"Come here."
Jihoon, wrapped in nothing but the sheets, obeyed.
"Kneel."
His hesitation was brief before he sank to his knees before her.
She rested her leg on his shoulder, her eyes cold and commanding. "When did I say my pets could give or have opinions? What was your name again?"
"K-Kang J-Jihoon," he stammered, trembling under her gaze.
She pressed the tip of her hot vape pen against his shoulder, and he hissed as it seared his skin.
"Jihoon-ssi," she said coolly, her voice a silky blade, "your modeling career exists because of me. You're the most sought-after face in the industry."
Her words were no empty boast. A towering billboard outside the window displayed his image, his sharp features illuminated against the city's skyline.
She grabbed his face, her nails digging into his cheek as she tilted his head to meet her eyes. "Be a good boy, shut up, and please me. Do that, and you might just walk the Dior Fashion Week runway this weekend."
His eyes widened in understanding, and without hesitation, he pressed a kiss to her thigh.
"Of course, madam."