[The Boss and His Sly Baby-Mama]

January 28, 20XX.

It was a night when the winter rain beat violently against the window as if trying to shatter the glass.

Pouring down with a ferocity far worse than a midsummer downpour, the rain rattled the windowpanes relentlessly, threatening to swallow the Teheran-ro skyscrapers whole.

A 30th floor penthouse overlooking the panoramic Gangnam skyline. Beyond the glass wall, the city was pure chaos, yet inside, buffered by thick soundproof walls, an eerie silence hung in the air.

Heavy silence mixed with the muffled rain, punctuated only by low, ragged groans and shallow breaths that created a dangerously seductive vibration in the dark.

As a soft ambient light blurred the edge of darkness, the sleek interior, reflecting its masters arrogant taste, revealed itself. And at the epicenter of the room stood Tae-ha, a man whose silhouette looked impossibly sculptured, almost unreal.

He held all the worlds light within his eyes, fixing a terrifyingly deep gaze solely on the woman before him.

"Shin."

His low, raspy baritone brushed against Shins ear before scattering into the air. Lit by the dim glow, Tae-has body, carved with lean, well defined muscle, exuded a dark, polished sheen.

His devastatingly handsome features and overwhelming physicality were deadly weapons in themselves. But right now, those weapons existed for a single purpose: to completely undo her.

"Tae-ha... Ah."

Just a week ago, Shin had sworn to herself that tonight would be the night she put an end to this intoxicating, toxic mess.

She had kept her distance, ignored his calls, and built a wall around her heart. Yet life never went according to plan. Before she knew it, she was attending his birthday party, and ultimately ended up guiding a flushed, drunken Tae-ha into his private bedroom.

His blunt demand for her as his 25th birthday gift had sent the cheap tie pin box in her hands rolling onto the floor long ago.

"Ngh... It hurts."

"Va a ser duro porque es tu primera vez. It is going to be rough since it is your first time."

Tae-ha gripped her narrow waist tightly, as if he might break her. His hot, irregular breath poured over her shoulder as he struggled to restrain his wild instincts. He tried his best to be gentle, but the heat consuming his sanity was impossible to hide.

"Ah... Once tonight passes, we are really over, right?"

Shins voice rang out clear and fragile through the sound of the rain. Her question, laced with a drop of tragedy and quiet resignation, was met by the white noise of rain clattering against the glass.

"No volvere a aparecer mas frente a ti. I will not ever show myself in front of you again. Don't worry."

With that cold promise, Tae-ha detonated his pent-up restraint, thrusting deep inside her. As the relentless, suffocating heat washed over her, Shins thoughts shattered into a blinding white.

"Ah! Wait, slow down a little."

"I don't think I can do that."

As the torrential rain whipped harder against the window, the grip he had on her waist tightened proportionately. Enveloped in the pressure crushing down on her, Shin thought that the raindrops sliding fruitlessly down the glass looked just like their relationship.

For a farewell, it was excessively grand, gloomy as the weather, and wickedly hot.

The childhood spent like siblings in an orphanage had decayed long ago.

When he returned as a flawless, fully grown man after being adopted into Spain, the family love between them evaporated into thin air.

Once the orphanage owners daughter, Shin was now a penniless orphan surviving on his patronage. Yet, at this very moment, she ruled his entire world.

"Ah, ngh... Still, thank you for everything. For all you have given me."

Shin whispered, biting her trembling lip as if offering her final goodbye. Tae-ha buried his face roughly into the crook of her neck, his voice a low growl.

"Lo que te estoy dando no is nada. Disfrutalo. What I am giving you is nothing. Just take it and enjoy it."

"I hate just taking things. I am not built to be Cinderella. It is right for us to end things here."

In an instant, the rooms temperature plummeted. The atmosphere around Tae-ha turned dangerously icy at her declaration of parting.

A wave of goosebumps erupted along her spine everywhere his hands traced. It was the omen of their final split, and the sound of his last bit of sanity burning away.

Instead of answering, Tae-ha devoured her lips. A bruised, ravenous kiss followed, as if trying to claim every last breath remaining in her lungs.

"Ha, ah."

"I don't think I can hold back tonight."

Having crossed his limit, he was like a starved predator. When she used to beg him to take it slow, he had willingly exercised restraint, waiting for her heart to catch up. But if the reward for his patience was a breakup, the only path left for him was absolute rampage.

Shin loved him to the point of madness, too. But to a man climbing the ladder of absolute success, she was nothing more than an obstacle.

A massive inheritance from Spanish parents, a degree from a prestigious music school in the United States, and now acquiring a top Korean entertainment agency. She couldn't drag a penniless orphan label behind his brilliant future. Worn out by the cold stares and invisible pressures surrounding him, Shin was already broken inside.

As Shin twisted her body, attempting to resist, the arm locked around her waist tightened its hold. Desperate, he left his mark across every inch of her skin with hungry kisses.

"Promise me... keep your word."

"Fine. Unless you come to me first, I will never show up in front of you again."

The storm outside raged harder. Embracing his broad back as he claimed her again and again with scorching heat, Shin held onto him just as tightly.

= = =

One month later, February 28, 20XX.

Though the air was still bitingly cold for the eve of spring, a heavy downpour reminiscent of the summer monsoon beat against the window.

The rhythmic, energetic tapping of raindrops on glass sounded almost like an overture announcing the start of a brand new chapter.

A VIP suite in Daehan General Hospital, Seoul. Amidst the stillness, a faint movement broke the silence.

Emerging from under the duvet, a girl with messy brown hair and dazed, glassy eyes sat up. It was none other than Shin.

Out of habit, her hand fumbled along the nightstand, snatching her black horn rimmed glasses and perching them on the bridge of her nose.

As her vision cleared, she blinked, glancing around the room before muttering under her breath.

"Um, a hospital? Wait, what? I am pretty sure I died. Where on earth am I?"