Chapter 25

“I think I’ll be very late tonight. There’s a school reunion.”

Swallowing a bite of the omelet prepared by the housekeeper in charge of the detached house, Ijun spoke casually.

In truth, Seoyun already knew.

About half a month ago, when she had been with Ijun, the phone call he received had been about today’s gathering.

She had not meant to overhear, but his friend’s voice had been so loud that she could not help hearing it.

The date and place of the gathering, and the fact that partners were invited as well.

Ijun had not hidden the date or place from Seoyun.

But he had not brought up attending together as a married couple.

Though she felt hurt, Seoyun forced a smile and nodded.

“Don’t drink too much.”

“All right.”

Ijun answered calmly, but she wondered if it had been an unnecessary thing to say.

Ever since the day she had met him at TJ Hotel, she had never once seen him drink excessively.

He seemed the type to drink just the right amount for the mood of the occasion and enjoy it pleasantly.

Seoyun thought that even Cha Ijun’s drinking style was perfect.

There were times when he drank a little more at gatherings where alcohol helped set the atmosphere, but she had never seen him lose his composure.

To the point that what had happened that day at TJ Hotel felt like an exceptionally rare situation.

“If it gets too late, don’t wait up. Go to sleep first.”

“I will. Have fun at the gathering and come back safely.”

As if reluctant to leave, Ijun held tight to Seoyun’s hand when she came out to see him off, kissed her cheek, and then stepped out through the front door.

Every day was the same.

After spending passionate and intense nights together, the mornings were like this, days when he left for work after greeting her with such tenderness and softness.

On weekends, after finishing his exercise, he would come back and take her out somewhere nearby for a little fresh air, and they would have a meal together.

The married life she had begun while inwardly bracing herself for so many things was unexpectedly peaceful, and Ijun was a husband without fault.

And yet, a loneliness she could not quite name grew larger day by day.

When Seoyun went back into the kitchen, Mrs. Ahn, the housekeeper in charge of the kitchen, was clearing the table.

“Has Executive Director Cha left for work?”

“Yes. Um… could I have a cup of tea?”

“Yes, Madam. Please wait just a moment.”

At first, Seoyun had tried to help Mrs. Ahn by clearing the dishes and at least taking care of things like coffee for herself.

But after seeing Mrs. Ahn react with utter alarm and stop her, Seoyun decided to follow the ways of this house, even if it made her somewhat uncomfortable.

Even now, it still felt awkward and uncomfortable whenever she had to ask for something.

Carrying the tea Mrs. Ahn had brewed for her in a pretty teacup, she came out into the garden.

In truth, quietly watching the others do the laundry, clean the house, and wash the dishes was itself something of an ordeal.

So after Ijun left for work, it had become Seoyun’s routine to come out into the garden with a cup of tea and spend time alone.

The deepening autumn had seeped far into the garden of the detached house as well.

The leaves changing color beneath the blue sky, the flowers blooming in keeping with the season.

As she sat on the bench and took a sip of the warm tea, she thought that life was truly strange.

As recently as this past spring, she had spent sleepless days not even able to enjoy the leisure of a single cup of tea, worrying instead that she might be sold off for debt by the very next day.

After the incident that had happened one day like an accident, Seoyun’s life had been swept into a rapid current.

The human heart was so fickle.

How long had it even been since her life had become this comfortable, and already she was sitting here holding this emptiness inside herself.

She did feel grateful to Ijun and his parents.

That was why she wanted to do her best as a wife and as a daughter-in-law.

But it felt as though they did not even give her the chance.

She was inside their boundaries, yet somehow not acknowledged as family, a vague and uncertain sort of existence.

Seoyun looked past the garden toward the main house.

Suddenly, she remembered the day they had returned from the honeymoon.

It was late afternoon when they arrived home in the car driven by Chief Hyeon.

Chief Hyeon and Assistant Manager Ahn made several trips from the trunk, carrying the suitcases and the shopping bags filled with gifts they had bought, and set them in front of the house.

“Then please rest comfortably.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Chief Hyeon, Assistant Manager Ahn, thank you for all your hard work. Please get home safely.”

Feeling grateful to the two who had attended them throughout the trip, Seoyun bade them farewell warmly.

Chief Hyeon and Assistant Manager Ahn bowed and then turned to leave.

Because the trip had also served as their honeymoon, she had heard that the schedule had been more relaxed than Ijun’s usual business trips.

Even so, the days spent in a foreign country while attending to the newlyweds must have been very tiring.

Even the piles of gifts now stacked before the front door were things those two had busily prepared at Ijun’s instruction while he and Seoyun looked around Harrods.

When the front door opened, several household staff came out and took charge of the luggage and gifts.

Ijun stepped inside as though it were nothing at all.

Myeonguk and Miho were sitting in the drawing room, drinking tea.

They did not look like parents who had been waiting for their son and daughter-in-law to return from their honeymoon.

“We’re back.”

“Yes. Sit down. Mrs. Kang, please bring more tea.”

Miho spoke without emotion.

Myeonguk, too, showed no sign of welcome.

Seoyun quietly sat down beside Ijun.

“So. How was it?”

“The response to the AI feature integration was definitely good. There also seems to be a lot of anticipation for the next model. I think it will be important to upgrade it with more detailed interactive functions. And it also seems we’ll need to improve the operating system so users can access a wider range of features more easily….”

Seoyun lowered her eyes quietly.

Myeonguk’s question was not about their honeymoon.

She had heard that this business trip was, in part, to review Daejeong Electronics’ reclaiming the number one market share in Europe for smartphones.

Myeonguk seemed interested only in that work.

There was no mention at all of the two of them getting married, or of the newlywed life they would be sharing in the house from now on.

Tea was brought in next, and because it felt far too awkward to simply sit there, Seoyun kept drinking tea whose taste she could not even feel.

Miho said little as well.

She only looked at Seoyun now and then with dry eyes.

She had been like that the whole time, from their first greeting to the wedding.

A feeling as though she did not like it, as though it choked her inside, but had emptied herself and accepted Seoyun with resignation because nothing could be done.

But more than Miho’s attitude, it was Myeonguk, who treated Seoyun as though she were outside his sight altogether, who was harder for her to bear.

It was as though he saw her, yet deliberately looked away as if pretending not to.

As if she were something that should not be visible, and yet was.

Seoyun felt like some foreign substance he could not remove and had therefore left in place.

Myeonguk and Miho showed no interest in the gifts, let alone opening them.

Once the talk about the business trip had more or less ended, the mood was one of wrapping things up.

“Then you must be tired, so go across and rest.”

“Yes, Father.”

Seoyun was a little shocked.

There might not have been elders in her own home, but she still knew basic propriety.

After returning from a honeymoon, was it not normal to at least formally greet the elders of the household, even if not with a full formal bow, and to share an evening meal together?

And they had never even openly opposed the marriage to the point of refusing to set one table for her.

If only they had spoken a few harsh words before the wedding, then at least she would have prepared herself for this much.

And then there was even Ijun, accepting Myeonguk’s words without objection.

The thought that this was truly too much left her feeling hurt as well.

“And let me say this in advance.”

Just as Ijun was about to stand, Miho opened her mouth.

“Yes, Mother.”

“It’s for your wife.”

It was the first time Miho had spoken to Seoyun directly.

Not new bride, not eldest daughter-in-law, but your wife.

Not knowing where to rest her trembling gaze, Seoyun bit her lip.

“Just because the houses are close does not mean you need to feel any unnecessary burden or sense of obligation. They are only close in distance. Do not think of it as one household simply because they are connected. Do not concern yourself with affairs in the main house. What we eat, where we sleep, the various circumstances of the family, think of them all as separate households, and let each live on their own.”

“… Yes, Mother.”

“Think of us as living far away, somewhere out of sight.”

Could such a thing even make sense?

In a family of this stature, were they truly saying that while living with their new daughter-in-law on the same estate, they would each pretend not to see one another and live separately?

She could not remember in what state of mind she had greeted them and crossed the garden back.

Ijun looked utterly unaffected.

“You’re tired, aren’t you? Shall we wash up and have dinner? They’ve probably already prepared the meal for us.”

“… I thought I would be eating with Father and Mother.”

She answered with a smile that looked as if she might cry.

For Seoyun, it was the strongest expression of disappointment she could manage.

Ijun smiled faintly, as if he understood everything she meant.

For some reason, it was the kind of smile that made all the air go out of her.