Chapter 2
After gulping down a few more swigs with a beer can pressed to his lips, Seongjin asked him,
“Do you have any idea who Go Dohoon cheated with?”
“That’s the one, huh? The reason you’re so pissed.”
As expected, Seongjin read her heart just from her trembling gaze and the subtle crease on her brow.
Just as he predicted—this was the reason she was deeply pissed off.
Her fiancé’s affair partner was absurd and pathetic.
Five hours earlier.
She was heading toward the apartment that would become their newlywed home while talking on the phone with her mother, Mrs. Shin.
“The dishwasher’s coming tomorrow. Since I’m not there, I’m going to go today and explain things to Dohoon. He probably doesn’t even know where it is, right? I also need to warn him not to mess with the gas stove hose in the back. Oh, and I should organize my clothes in the dressing room too.”
[Are you just trying to see your future husband’s face one more time? Why not just move in and live there already? Dohoon moved in a month ago anyway.]
“We’ll live together properly after the wedding. Until then, I want to stick close to Mom. Once I get married, I won’t be able to eat Mom’s food anymore.”
If she got married, her mother would be alone. Her father had passed away early, and she was an only child.
The mother and daughter had long relied on each other. They had survived over ten years together in a small 24-pyeong (about 79m²) apartment.
If she suddenly disappeared from that home overnight, her mother would feel an emptiness, like a hollow void. She wanted to give her mother some grace period—until the wedding day.
[But Dohoon isn’t very thorough, is he? You have to explain every little thing about the appliances. Isn’t Seongji the one who handled all the specs for the household goods? She’s so busy these days, she probably doesn’t have time to look up every single thing.]
Seongjin, whom her mother especially adored.
It wasn’t just the mother and daughter. The mother’s lifelong friend Aunt Yein and her son Seongjin also acted as family.
They visited each other’s homes frequently; her mother treated Seongjin like a son, and Aunt Yein treated her like a daughter.
“Seongjin’s always liked that kind of stuff. Looking up specs, comparing things, and being persistent about it.”
[He’s so sharp. It’s such a shame you two are just friends.]
She smirked as she entered the apartment entrance.
“Too bad you’re friends?”
[There’s no such thing as just friends between men and women. I believed that and waited, hoping you two would get together someday. How could you be so close and still not have feelings for each other? It’s weird, you two.]
“Haha. Still that story? Mom, look at Seongjin’s face. Seeing someone so ridiculously good-looking in the mirror every day, wouldn’t it take meeting a woman even more beautiful to get excited? There’s a reason why handsome men and beautiful women date.”
[Our daughter’s basically a goddess, what’s the problem? But what about you? Don’t you get any feelings when you see Seongjin?]
How could she not? She’d nearly lost her breath a few times just looking at his face. Sometimes when the mind and body are exhausted, immunity drops a little.
But immunity always returns to normal eventually.
Besides, the position Seongjin currently holds in South Korea was like a skyscraper to her.
After a long and short career as a model and supporting actor, Seongjin recently gained attention for two works. He was the hottest and most praised actor.
They were undoubtedly best friends, but their worlds overlapped less and less. Except when working, of course.
“I guess I have an allergy to handsome men. Too good-looking guys don’t even look like men to me. Like a circuit cutting off power when overloaded, it’s like my rational feeling shuts down. Just pretty eye candy. Pretty rice cakes you don’t want to eat. Something like that?”
[Hahaha. You can say anything to me. What’s with the ‘pretty rice cakes you don’t want to eat’ about our Seongjin?]
Well, it’s like a cake so perfectly crafted by the gods that eating it feels like a sin.
Of course, there was a time when that cake looked tempting. Long ago, when puberty caused physical development and Seongjin started to smell like a man. She was entranced by that smooth face. And sometimes still drawn to his strong physique.
A naive, immature girl could be captivated by such dazzling appearances.
Though you get used to the view after a while.
“Anyway, your daughter is good at self-objectification. My man is Go Dohoon. Mother-in-law, get a grip.”
She corrected her hold on the phone as she punched in the code at the apartment entrance.
[But you said Dohoon’s not answering his phone?]
“He said there’s a work dinner today. He probably put his phone down to pass around the drinks. I’ll go in first. I need to organize the dressing room.”
She got on the elevator and pressed the 12th floor button. The cramped space was sticky and warm against her skin. It seemed the rainy season had started today. She had chosen the wrong wedding date.
[You don’t have to come home today. Have a quiet preview of married life.]
“That’s what you think. Haha. Okay, bye.”
Ding. The elevator reached the 12th floor, and she walked briskly to the front door. She quickly punched in the door code set for the wedding day and entered.
Huh?
Among Dohoon’s shoes at the entrance, a small sneaker caught her eye. A size that anyone would recognize as a woman’s shoe.
A sharp chill like ice water hit the back of her head—cold and stinging. Her senses reacted faster than she expected.
No way. It couldn’t be.
A female friend? An acquaintance? Someone related to the house? There were many possibilities. She tried to calm herself and stepped inside the living room.
It was quiet.
On the living room sofa were a short-sleeve t-shirt she assumed belonged to Go Dohoon and a large bag she guessed belonged to a woman.
A familiar bag she seemed to have seen somewhere before.
Slowly, she approached the bedroom door beside the sofa.
Not even the sound of an ant crawling could be heard. The extreme silence made her even more suspicious.
Without making a sound, she gently pushed the slightly ajar bedroom door. It opened wide. Inside was fully visible.
The bedding was in a disheveled state. Like a passionate act had taken place, but the place was hurriedly vacated.
She could feel the held breath in the air. Ah, the air conditioner was running. It was installed only two weeks ago. The air conditioner running with no one around.
Cold.
Her hands began to tremble. It was dizzying as if all the blood in her body had rushed to her head.
If she didn’t move forward here, she’d probably walk the wedding aisle as a virgin.
While burying the truth.
But it would be a betrayal to her life.
She stepped inside the bedroom, looking around for where someone might be.
The small dressing room attached to the bedroom felt suffocating, as if carbon dioxide were blowing out.
She put one foot into the dressing room and turned the corner.
“Hah.”
There stood Go Dohoon. Wearing only boxer briefs, holding clothes in his hands. Among those clothes was a woman’s bra.
Behind the rather burly Dohoon, she could faintly make out the slender silhouette of a woman. More precisely, a white arm of a woman was peeking out.
Grasping her trembling heart, she spoke in a frozen voice.
“Go Dohoon, move.”
Dohoon sighed deeply and shook his head, brushing his hair with his hand. Sweating profusely in this cold air-conditioned room.
“Jeong-ah.”
“Go Dohoon, I said move.”
“I understand why you’re pissed… but please, just give me a moment.”
“A moment for what?”
