Chapter 20

Jun-hyeok spat the words out as if he were chewing them to pieces.

“You could just not give me anything to apologize for in the first place. Isn’t that right?”

It was so plainly meant for her ears that Seo-ha exercised her right to remain silent.

“Fine. To sum up, you’re saying that from here on it’s all right whatever the hell I go around doing.”
“That’s right.”
“And you take it completely for granted that the one out there is my lover.”

Treating her like a child apparently wasn’t enough; did he take her for a fool as well? Seo-ha’s expression hardened at his brazen tone. Anyone would have thought the same.

“You wouldn’t mind if I brought another woman into the house we live in together?”

Of course not. That was not what she had meant at all. She had only meant that she did not care what he did in a place she could neither see nor hear. Even Seo-ha could hardly welcome running into her husband’s mistress.

The picture that unfolded unbidden in that instant made her frown faintly. What upset her more than anything was how her heart, light enough to take flight right up until she arrived here, had caved in all at once.

Holding down the urge to burst into tears, Seo-ha spoke clearly, one word at a time.

“No. I’d hate that.”
“You said none of it mattered. So why are you talking out of both sides of one mouth.”

In the end Seo-ha swallowed the resentment boiling up inside her and snapped back with trembling lips.

“If you’re going to do it, do it behind my back, not in front of me. What I meant was that it’s fine whatever Han Jun-hyeok-ssi does somewhere I can’t see.”
“In front or behind, it’s all the same when you can’t see anyway — so what is that supposed to mean, coming from you?”

Stung by his heartless words, Seo-ha drew in a small breath. This was plainly a jab at the fact that she could not see. Han Jun-hyeok had a real talent for driving Yun Seo-ha, who cared about nothing but staying alive, to her limit.

“Why is the voice of someone who’s fine shaking like this? If you’re going to put on an act, do it properly.”

Jun-hyeok murmured, rubbing his thumb across the palm of the hand he held. The damp that had seeped into it caught on the tip of his thumb and gave her away.

“You said it didn’t matter? Then why is your hand clammy, like someone wound tight with nerves?”

The words locked inside her circled at the back of Seo-ha’s throat and never made it out. She could not even tell whether she ought to get angry or hold it in.

“Hey, you in there! It’s too noisy! It’s the middle of the night, keep it down! Keep that up and I’m calling the police!”

A neighbor’s shout came mixed in with the sobbing of the woman outside the door.

His brows knitting over a face already weary, Jun-hyeok led Seo-ha to the sofa and sat her down. He swept a loose strand of hair back behind her ear and spoke slowly.

“And it’s strange too, how the eyes of someone who’s perfectly fine are shaking so much. Are you jealous, by any chance?”

Jun-hyeok tossed the words off, light as a feather, and moved away from her. The instant his grip let go, the spaces between her fingers went empty, and Seo-ha, relieved, promptly wiped her hand on her clothes.

Her pulse was racing so hard it rang in her ears, all because of that man, who bent every situation to his will.

Jealous…? Why on earth would I be!

Too late, Seo-ha kicked herself for not firing those words straight back at him. Her feelings, calm as still water until now, lurched like a roller coaster around Jun-hyeok and no one else, and it was maddening.

Not long after came the sound of the front door opening. Jun-hyeok must have let the shouting woman into the house, because the noise all around went quiet in an instant. When nothing was left but intermittent sniffling, he asked icily.

“Does Do-hee know you’re here too?”
“No! Oppa, Do-hee-unnie really doesn’t know! Don’t drag her into this for no reason.”

Every nerve in Seo-ha’s body turned toward the two of them. Did Do-hee mean Kim Do-hee, the one in charge of her protection? A name she knew, brought up out of nowhere, set her heart beating fast; it had already been quietly unsettling her all day.

“If you’ve got an excuse, go on and make it.”

Perhaps sensing her chance, the woman rushed in on the heels of Jun-hyeok’s words.

“I came because I was homesick. I missed Korea so much, that’s all. I just slipped in to rest a little and then go back, honestly. I know perfectly well you hardly ever use this place — I never dreamed you’d come barging in out of nowhere like today.”

Jun-hyeok let out a cold, hollow breath that echoed through the living room, and sneered with open derision.

“So what you’re telling me is that the problem isn’t the person squatting here without permission, it’s the owner of the house who barged in out of nowhere. You’ve been in and out of this place before, haven’t you.”
“Huh? No, really, I haven’t!”

Startled, the woman scrambled for excuses.

“You haven’t, and yet you know your way around? How long has it been since I gave you the code to this place?”

The question came back icy, and the woman’s voice shrank to a mumble, far smaller than before.

“Oppa, couldn’t you just let me stay here a little while? I won’t cause you the slightest trouble, I swear. If you’d only pretend not to know….”
“And why should I do that.”

At his chilly bark the sniffling grew louder and louder.

But something was odd. The words going back and forth sounded nothing like a conversation between lovers. The woman’s voice rose too, as though resentment at Jun-hyeok’s one-sided blame was welling up in her.

“You’re awful too, Oppa. Though of course the worst one is Mom. Why am I the only one who has to drift around abroad! I don’t want to go to Canada, I want to live in Korea too!”

Then three syllables slid slowly out of Jun-hyeok’s mouth, a name that tied Seo-ha’s thoughts in knots.

“Han Jun-hee.”

Han Jun-hyeok and Han Jun-hee.

Surely not…. Was she his younger sister?

She had heard plenty of rumors that Chairman Han Dong-pyo of H Bio had two sons, but she’d had no idea at all that there was a daughter. Only then did the pieces of what the two of them were saying fit together.

Is it because she lives so far away that I never heard anything about a younger sister?

She tried hard to believe that, but the situation was plainly abnormal however she looked at it. Whatever the circumstances, here was an older brother treating his younger sister worse than a stranger. She had no idea what lay between them, and none of it made any sense to Seo-ha.

“Stay here and some shitty business could happen to you again, without a soul knowing it.”
“Whether that bastard plays with me or I die at my second oppa’s hands¹, it comes out the same either way. So I’d rather take it easy for a few days and then die.”

The moment she finished, the woman broke into hiccups, the drink perhaps catching up with her.

Pressing someone who pleaded that desperately would settle nothing. The exchange was so extreme that Seo-ha could not begin to guess what was going on between the two of them. Unable to watch any longer, she cut in.

“Excuse me.”

That finally silenced the sniffling woman, if only for a moment. Soon, though, Han Jun-hee was needling her brother in a voice gone prickly. Crying and begging had gotten her nowhere, so she seemed to have resolved to show her true colors.

“Do Mom and Dad know you’ve set up house here?”
“Shut your mouth and be quiet.”
“Or are you playing house? Doesn’t suit you at all.”
“F—, you….”

Since pleading had failed her anyway, Jun-hee went completely off the rails.

“That handsome face of yours — I always wondered why you let it go to waste, and all along you were saving it to flaunt like this? If that’s what it was for, you could have given it to me.”

In that instant Jun-hyeok did something, whatever it was, and Jun-hee shrieked in a frightened voice.

“What, what, did I say something wrong? Did I say something wrong!”

Seo-ha, who couldn’t tell what was happening and had done nothing but sigh heavily, quietly spoke up. Knowing the woman was his sister and not his lover had eased her heart almost laughably, and she wanted the heated quarrel to end there.

“I’m late with my greeting, Han Jun-hee-ssi. Since it seems you don’t know, let me tell you: our marriage has the blessing of both sets of parents. And even if Jun-hyeok-ssi does throw his face around, unfortunately I can’t see, so it wouldn’t be much help.”

At that, Jun-hee, who had been firing back at every turn, went as quiet as a mouth stopped with honey.

Seo-ha decided to chalk up all the rudeness so far to a sister’s feelings for her brother.

Then Jun-hyeok asked, his voice displeased.

“This kid said she was my lover?”
“No, she didn’t say that. She said the two of you were the kind of pair who eat and sleep together.”
“F—k, she pulls every damn stunt there is.”

Irritation was smeared all through Jun-hyeok’s tone, but Seo-ha’s own had, if anything, grown far lighter.

“I didn’t know you had a younger sister.”
“You could have gone your whole life not knowing.”

True enough. With the girl living abroad, they might well have stayed strangers, never once crossing paths over the course of a short marriage. Would she at least have been able to meet her at the wedding? But with the mood like this…

Seo-ha caught her breath and went on, since the three of them couldn’t stay locked in this standoff forever.

“Um, first of all I’d like to see to Dodam’s food and water.”

Honestly, that really was the urgent matter. Dodam, who always ate on a regular schedule, was very late for his meal today.