Chapter 19

“Eek! Who’s there?!”

For a moment Seo-ha couldn’t answer, as if her brain had ground to a halt. All sorts of thoughts flared up and vanished again in that short instant.

“What is this, can’t you hear me? I asked who you are.”

Only then did Seo-ha open her mouth, her voice flustered and her chest still pounding.

“Isn’t this Han Jun-hyeok-ssi’s home?”
“It is, yes.”

Of course it was. Jun-hyeok had unlocked the door himself.

The woman facing her must have found it exasperating that Seo-ha kept starting to speak and then stopping, because she snapped at her.

“Excuse me, are you ignoring me right now? Look at a person when you talk to… Wait, can you not see me?”

She felt a hand wave back and forth in front of her eyes. Unable to come up with any suitable explanation, Seo-ha finally introduced herself to the rude woman outright.

“I’m Han Jun-hyeok-ssi’s wife.”

The woman snorted at the introduction and grumbled as though the whole thing were absurd.

“She must be out of her mind. Han Jun-hyeok, of all men, married? If you’re going to lie, at least have the decency to lie properly….”
“Excuse me.”
“No, isn’t it obvious? What’s Han Jun-hyeok lacking, that he’d marry a disabled woman? You’re not a stalker, are you?”

Every time the woman raised her voice, a faint smell of alcohol drifted over. Her face twisting at such endless rudeness, Seo-ha asked coldly.

“And are you close enough to Han Jun-hyeok-ssi to be this discourteous to me?”
“I’m the one standing here in his house. What more needs saying? We eat together, sleep together, live together. Doesn’t that settle it?”

Jun-hyeok was the rope Seo-ha had to cling to, true enough. But she hadn’t grabbed hold of it expecting anything as unpleasant as this, and so the first thing to surge up in her was resentment toward him.

The woman must have seen Seo-ha’s face go white, then ashen, because she lowered her voice and offered some advice.

“If you know the door-lock code, I can guess how it is. Fine. You’re both adults, so it happens. But cosplaying as the wife? Isn’t that a bit pathetic? Han Jun-hyeok is absolutely not an easy man, you know. I’m only saying this so you don’t get hurt for nothing.”

Meeting one of her husband’s other lovers was absurd enough. Worse, everything Jun-hyeok had said and done to her came flooding back, and her stomach churned beyond bearing.

This sort of thing had to be routine for him. That was surely why he had brought up living together so easily on the very first day they met, and the thought left a bitter taste in her mouth. Perhaps it had been nothing more than a well-worn line.

Enough. We’re each only taking what we need from this anyway. There’s no reason to be shaken.

Seo-ha could hardly be immune to something like this, and she struggled to steady her heart. Yet however many times she repeated the words in her head, there was nothing she could do about her body, stiff as a log.

Then the front door opened with a sound that seemed to cut the room in two.

For the first time, the woman’s voice, so triumphant and full of itself until now, trembled thinly.

“Oh, J-Jun-hyeok-oppa…?!”

Her tone had lost the confidence she’d interrogated Seo-ha with, and fear clung to it instead.

“O-Oppa, why are you here….”

Jun-hyeok didn’t even let her finish, cutting her off in a voice as cold as a sheet of ice.

“Is me walking into my own house the problem here?”
“No…. That’s not it, I, I didn’t mean—”
“So you being in my house isn’t the problem?”

Under the accusation in his tone, the woman stammered and rambled in sounds that were hard to make out. Only then did Seo-ha realize that the woman who’d been picking at her was completely drunk, and she finally understood where the smell of alcohol in the air had come from.

“Hah. You really….”

Before the curse could leave his mouth, the woman hurriedly cut in, changed her tone all at once and pleaded.

“Oppa, I’m sorry, I was wrong. So please let it go, just this once. Hm?”

There was a soft flop, as if the woman had dropped to the floor.

Her manner now bore no resemblance to the words she’d aimed at Seo-ha, and Seo-ha was left bewildered as to what on earth was going on. She could suspect only one thing.

Is she someone he’s seeing, or someone he’s already broken up with?

Since this was an arranged marriage, she had certainly considered that he might have a lover. But she had never imagined coming face to face with that woman like this. Even picturing it felt improper. And surely he wouldn’t want the woman he loved meeting the partner in a meaningless arranged marriage, either.

Besides, going by the contract he’d put in front of her today, there had been no sign of anyone on the side. That, it turned out, had been her own misreading.

Not being able to see is maddening.

She had borne it and endured it well until now, but at this moment the fact that her eyes didn’t work infuriated her.

Jun-hyeok’s voice turned harsh.

“Are you going home this instant or not?”
“Oppa, I’ll explain everything. I was going to tell you all of it right now anyway.”
“I said get lost. Or do I drag you out?”
“…Why are you so cold-hearted only with me?! Would it break your leg to cut me even a little slack? Would your neck snap or something?”
“Hah, the stink of booze…. Putting on the whole spectacle all by yourself.”

His voice, honed to an edge, sank low and cold. At that the woman seemed to switch tactics, moaning like someone on her deathbed. Out came ‘I was wrong’ and ‘spare me’ on top of it, and Seo-ha’s heart dropped.

She had never once imagined being dragged into somebody else’s lovers’ quarrel, even if that somebody was her own husband.

Perhaps believing her plan of freedom and escape was going smoothly had been a foolish dream. All at once, unease spread through her like wildfire.

Jun-hyeok spoke firmly, his words aimed at Seo-ha.

“You go wait in the inner room.”
“One moment…. Am I really the one who should be here, and not her?”

Feigning ignorance wouldn’t settle the matter, so Seo-ha asked quietly. Even as she told herself there was no reason for it, something strange began to bubble inside her, little by little, until it boiled.

Instead of answering, Jun-hyeok dragged the woman bodily out of the house. Her shrieks grew distant, and when the door slammed shut without warning, Seo-ha’s shoulders flinched.

She had no idea when Jun-hyeok had come close, but he suddenly caught her hand and yanked her forward. He held on as if it were the most natural thing, and she tried hard to shake him off, but it was no use. He laced his fingers through hers so she couldn’t escape and whispered slowly.

“Of course you’re allowed to be here.”
“….”
“The ink on the marriage registration can’t even be dry yet, and you’ve already forgotten, it seems. That you’re my wife.”

Dazed, she felt sweat gather, thick and clinging, between their joined palms.

“Ah, Oppa. Hey! Han Jun-hyeok! Don’t be like this, just open the door. Hm? Pleeease!”

The woman’s noisy voice carried from far off. Apparently Jun-hyeok really had left her outside and shut the door. Faced with how cold-bloodedly he’d handled it, Seo-ha couldn’t tell whether she ought to laugh or cry.

In the end she was the first to speak, opening lips she’d kept pressed shut.

“Is she your lover, Han Jun-hyeok-ssi…?”

The moment she finished speaking, Jun-hyeok pulled her hand in close and spoke, sounding displeased.

“Lover?”

Seo-ha staggered and came up flush against him, but pressed on.

“Lover or ex-lover. The situation says as much, doesn’t it.”
“Whether she’s my lover or not, why are you the one who’s gone so stiff?”

Trying not to breathe in the citrus scent that kept scattering her composure, Seo-ha opened her eyes and faced him squarely.

“Because contract or not, I just met my husband’s lover. I’d ask for at least basic courtesy. And if my reaction bothered you, I’m sorry.”

Something welled up from deep in her chest. Whether it came from Han Jun-hyeok, who kept driving her into situations she wanted to avoid, or from herself, shaken by his words, Seo-ha couldn’t tell.

“Say she is my lover. What will you do about it, then?”

At those brazen words, Seo-ha barely managed to shake off her stray thoughts and answered with as much composure as she could fake.

“Never mind. Now that I think about it, whether you have a lover or not has nothing to do with me.”
“Here I was looking forward to whatever you’d say, and that’s all you’ve got?”
“It’s only a meaningless arranged marriage, and I overstepped. Let’s not waste our strength on something like this for nothing.”

Seo-ha was relieved that she had managed to speak fairly firmly in a situation this far from normal. Even as the one being dragged along, she had to be able to speak her mind at least this much. She couldn’t let the spark of hope she’d caught with such difficulty be snuffed out by something this small. What mattered now wasn’t her relationship with him but putting into action the plan she had prepared for so long.

“Well now. I could just die of gratitude.”

She was the one who ought to be in a bad mood, yet he looked more hurt than she was, which left her dumbfounded.

Outside, the woman was still banging on the door and making a racket. Jun-hyeok muttered bleakly at the noise.

“Why is everyone going around saying they were wrong lately? F—k, it’s infuriating.”

The coarse curse spilled out of his mouth.

Seo-ha started to say a few more words, then swallowed them straight back down.