Chapter 1:
This isn't my typical genre that I write but I've noticed it seems to be a popular genre so lets give it a try shall we
Jada
The key turned smoothly in the lock, the soft click echoing into the quiet entryway of the apartment I had spent four years turning into a home for me and Jun-ho.
I shifted the small, ribbon-tied box with the slice of red velvet cake I picked up from the bakery three blocks over into my left hand and pushed the front door shut with my hip. My shift at the boutique had wrapped up two hours early, a rare case of luck on a dreary Tuesday. I had spent the subway ride home imagining a quiet evening, maybe even coaxing Jun-ho into taking a single night off from his endless corporate prepping so we could actually celebrate my twenty-fourth birthday over a home-cooked meal.
I took three steps into the foyer, my boots squeaking faintly against the polished floorboards, before the sound hit me.
It was the sharp, rhythmic creaking of a bed frame violently knocking against the drywall. The noise was coming directly from my bedroom down the hall, accompanied by heavy, breathless gasps and moans that made the blood in my veins turn instantly to liquid Ice.
"Mmm, Yes baby, harder! harder! Don’t stop!”
The frantic creaking sped up, the wood straining against the wall under the brutal weight of the movement.
My feet glued themselves to the hardwood floor. The bakery box in my hand suddenly felt suffocatingly heavy, the thin silk ribbon biting deep and painful into my fingers. No, I whispered to myself, a desperate, pathetic lie trying to shield my chest from the obvious reality. No, you’re mishearing this Jada. It’s just the TV.
I set the box quietly on the entryway table, my fingers trembling uncontrollably against the cool glass top, and crept down the carpeted hallway toward our master bedroom. The heavy oak door was cracked open just an inch, a narrow sliver of warm, golden light spilling out onto the runner rug.
Through the tight gap, the sights and sounds became horribly, suffocating an undeniable.
"Mmm, fuck me, Jun-ho! Show me how much better my pussy feels! Ahhhhhhh, I’m cuming, Jun-ho! i'm cuming”
I reached the door, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird trying to shatter its own cage. The air in the hallway felt so thick and stale with the undeniable smell of sex seeping from the crack of the door. I felt like the oxygen was being stolen straight from my lungs. My hand was shaking so violently I could barely swipe open my phone screen, but muscle memory took over. I opened the voice recording app, tapped the red button, and held the microphone directly to the crack in the wood.
“Jun-ho... oh god, wait baby,” a voice whined from inside, broken by wet, heavy panting and the undeniable, rhythmic slap of skin against skin. That voice, a high, needy pitch I had known my entire life.
My stepsister.
“Does she even do this for you?” Sasha gasped and moaned. Her knuckles were strained pale as she gripped the silk headboard, recklessly bouncing her body up and down on him. She was using the very headboard I had bought with my own hard-earned money to leverage herself over my boyfriend. “Or are you just... thinking about me every time you’re on top fucking her?”
“Are you kidding me?” Jun-ho’s voice came out as a low, guttural growl, rough with brainless exertion. “She’s complete vanilla, Sasha. pure boring cardboard in bed.”
A single tear slipped hot and fast down my cheek, burning a scalding track over my dark skin before dropping onto my collarbone. I held the phone steady with both hands, digging my fingernails into the protective case to force my thumbs to stop trembling.
“Then why are you still wasting your time with her?” Sasha whined, her tone instantly shifting into that familiar, grating pout. “I’m sick of sneaking into your car after hours! and fucking in the same bed you fucked her in. I’m sick of being your dirty little secret Jun-ho!”
“Because my old man is obsessed with ‘traditional family values’!” Jun-ho snapped, his pace increasing as the heavy, skin-to-skin slaps echoed louder and more mindless against the mattress. “He’s reviewing the heir succession for the board next month. I have to look like I’m settling down with a sweet, respectable girl so he can finally hand over the keys to Kang Holdings and the estate. The second the ink is dry on that inheritance paperwork, I’m throwing her out and putting you in the penthouse. Just play along until he gives me the empire.”
Sasha giggled, a high, triumphant sound that sliced straight through my ribs and shredded whatever was left of my naive, stupid heart.
The grief was immediate, a heavy, crushing anvil that nearly brought me down to my knees right there on the carpet runner. Four years. Four years of supporting him through late nights, listening to him whine about his overbearing, ruthless father, Min-jun, and keeping his entire schedule organized while he desperately chased a seat at the old man’s table. I was never his partner. I was a prop. A wholesome, respectable placeholder designed to trick a billionaire into trusting his useless dud of a son.
Then, underneath the suffocating layer of humiliation and heartbreak, something sharp, dark, and hot took fire in the pit of my stomach.
I tapped ‘stop’ on the recording, saving the file to my cloud storage with two quick swipes of my thumb.
I didn’t announce myself. I brought my foot up and slammed my heel straight into the center of the door.
It flew back against the drywall with a deafening CRACK that echoed through the entire apartment.
The reaction inside was instantaneous, chaotic panic. Jun-ho shrieked, tangling his legs in the heavy duvet as he scrambled backward, nearly tumbling headfirst onto the floorboards. Sasha let out an ear-piercing squeal, frantically clutching a decorative throw pillow over her bare chest. Her eyes were wide with initial shock before a flicker of smug, nasty satisfaction crossed her face.
“Jada!” Jun-ho choked out, his face turning a mottled, pale red as he grabbed blindly for his briefs on the floor. “Holy shit... babe, wait! It’s... it’s not what it looks like! I swear to god, I can explain!”
I stood framed in the doorway, my spine as straight as steel, tears continuing to spill silently down my face even as my jaw set into stone.
“It’s my birthday,” I said. My voice cracked on the very first word, fragile and broken, but I swallowed hard, forcing the raw venom right back to the surface. “You couldn’t even keep your dick in your pants until tomorrow?”
“Jada, please, just calm down for a second,” Jun-ho stammered, stepping toward me with his sweaty hands reaching for my arms, looking utterly pathetic in his half-dressed, panicked state.
“Don’t you dare touch me with those filthy hands you touched her with,” I snapped, my tone cutting through the heavy room like a razor blade. I looked straight past his trembling shoulder, my glare locking onto Sasha, who was already sitting up against the pillows and smoothing her curly hair back with entirely too much ease. “And you? Congratulations, Sasha. You finally got my leftovers. I know how desperate you’ve always been for my dirty old cast-offs.”
Sasha’s smug expression twitched, her painted lips pressing into a thin, ugly line. ”Jun-ho loves me, Jada. You were just a business transaction to get his dad’s money.”
“Clearly,” I said, my voice dropping into a dangerously soft, icy tone.
My hands were shaking violently as I unclipped the apartment key from my ring. I didn’t hand it to him gently. I threw the heavy piece of metal hard straight at Jun-ho’s bare chest. It struck him hard enough to leave a bright red indent over his skin before clattering onto the floorboards between his feet.
“Keep the apartment,” I said, harshly wiping a stray tear away with the back of my wrist, lifting my chin as high as it would go. ”Keep each other. And good luck with your father’s empire, Jun-ho. I give it a week before Mr. Kang realizes you’re just as useless in the boardroom as you are in the bedroom.”
I turned on my heel and walked swiftly through the apartment before the sob tearing at my throat could break out. I slammed the front door behind me so hard the glass in the apartment rattled.
