Chapter 5.2

“I don’t understand what you’re thinking by doing this.”

“For 3 weeks, I’ll convince you that I love you. But you have to cooperate with me.”

“…It’s unfair.”

It was truly unfair. She had already confessed her love, already prepared for the end. And now he wanted to persuade her? Her reason screamed that it was impossible.

“I’ve already made my intentions clear to the elders of both families.”

She wanted to say that it couldn’t be undone. That’s why she had hurried to both houses.

Somehow word would get out and that wouldn’t leave her husband idle to take any action. Even if her father opposed it, Madam Shin’s position would be different. That’s what she believed in.

“Let them talk. I don’t care what others say.”

“Your mother isn’t just anyone to you.”

“She’s more of a stranger than you are.”

Her words were completely blocked. She thought he was really making such an unreasonable move. It was almost on par with her asking for a divorce.

However, interpreting her silence somehow, her husband said bluntly,

“So wait. You’ve endured three years—you’re used to it.”

“……”

“If you won’t be swayed by me, fine. But if we’re going to divorce, let’s make it a great one.”

For a moment, her pupils shook violently. Her husband had said the same thing about their wedding.

‘If we’re going to get married anyway, we should do it the great way.’

So they had a wedding that was beyond her station, inappropriately lavish. At that time, she had no idea it would turn out like this, so those words had sounded so happy.

Was that why? At her husband’s words that he would give her the greatest divorce, she could no longer object. Perhaps it was because she had been so presumptuous back then that things had come to this point today.

“I need to use the bathroom.”

She who had gotten out of her husband’s embrace ran to the bathroom. Afraid her husband might follow, she quickly closed the door and locked it. As soon as she turned on the faucet, tears poured down drop by drop. She covered her mouth with her palm, afraid her sobs might leak out.

She didn’t even have the right to cry out loud.

From the beginning, someone like her shouldn’t have coveted that man.

She was being punished for it now.

***

When she came out of the bathroom, her husband was still on the sofa.

It was a 4-person sofa, but with her husband sitting on it, it looked like a single-seater. The way he was leaning back looked comfortable as if it were his own home.

Unlike her whose face was red from crying, her husband looked very relaxed. Still, when he had snapped at her, it had been somewhat satisfying.

Only when he called her name loudly and pressed her did he seem somewhat human.

It felt like confirming that he wasn’t just a husband in name only, but that he too was a person and a man.

But as if it had never happened, her husband had regained his usual pace.

Her husband’s attitude in asking for 3 weeks was so leisurely that resentment naturally arose about how she had ended up with such a man as her husband and even came to love him.

“I’ll wait 3 more weeks. Please leave now.”

If she continued looking at that back of his head, even that excellent rear view, it seemed like only her emptiness would grow. Since they had both said what they needed to say, she wanted to send her husband away and rest a bit now.

“You really want me to go?”

“Yes. I want to be alone.”

“Come with me.”

“They said we have to sleep separately to prepare for divorce.”

“I told you, you have to cooperate with me.”

Without any reward for her blunt retort, her husband was straightforward as always.

It was truly unfair beyond measure. She couldn’t understand why someone asking her to wait had such an arrogant and insolent attitude.

Ah. He had always been that kind of man. She had momentarily forgotten because of her husband’s single statement that he loved her.

“I’m not feeling well. I’m in pain.”

“Where and how does it hurt?”

“My wisdom tooth. I think it’s coming in.”

“The dentist—”

“I’m looking into other places.”

“Stubborn.”

The truth was, she was scared to go to the dentist. She was afraid they would tell her to have it extracted as soon as she went. The reviews she had read to reassure herself hadn’t helped at all. She was planning to endure it with painkillers as much as possible.

“And yet you’re staying in someone else’s house?”

“It’s not someone else, it’s my friend’s.”

“That’s still someone else. Go home. Sleep in a separate room if you want.”

“It won’t matter. Even if we sleep apart, if you open the door and come in…”

She was about to say that going home would make sleeping in separate rooms meaningless, but she closed her mouth. She had never spoken this much in front of her husband before.

At home, she would have said something appropriate and stopped, but perhaps because the environment was different, she had spoken freely without restraint. It wasn’t as if she could defeat her husband by talking more.

“You know well.”

Her husband crossed his legs the other way and gestured with his head for her to sit beside him. When she tried to move to the single-seater sofa, her husband stretched out his long legs to block her path.

“Continue.”

She had no choice but to sit beside her husband. Having once opened his ears, her husband seemed intent on continuing to listen to her words. His attitude of tilting his head toward her and listening attentively gave her courage to speak.

“If you open the door and come in, what can I do? We need to have conversations like this, but before I can say anything, you… start by embracing me.”

“Because I’m a beast?”

“…Yes. Because you’re so good at it, so when that happens, I unconsciously….”

“What exactly is this beast of a husband good at?”

Her husband asked while knowing everything, making her cheeks flush red. Today especially, her husband was being quite mischievous. Since this type of conversation was disadvantageous to her anyway, it was better to end it as quickly as possible.

“You’re good at it. …S*x.”

At her answer, his lips curved up beautifully. Seeing her husband’s satisfied gaze, an impulse arose to thoroughly betray that expectation.

“But… I want to do it with someone who loves me.”

For just a moment, her husband’s gaze became distorted. She no longer felt guilty about using the word love. Her husband’s words about loving her hadn’t only hurt her.

She realized that with just that one word, she too could hurt her husband.

Perhaps her husband, too, deep inside, might empathize with her words. Her husband clearly didn’t know the general kind of love that others spoke of.

“Then we can do it here, with me.”

However, her husband was always one step ahead of her. He reached out to embrace her waist and pulled her toward him.

“N-no. This isn’t even our house, and I’m not in the mood for that right now.”

She stretched out both arms to avoid being pulled in. She protested while pushing against her husband’s chest.

“Exactly. Why come here when we had our house?”

Maybe she had gone too far. If earlier he hadn’t been angry, now he truly was. The sharp, clipped tone came across as cold.

“Please just let it slide for today.”

She decided to stop being defiant. Having s*x with her husband at a friend’s house?

No matter how much of a beast her husband was, she wasn’t. She had come to this place as a sanctuary, not to cater to her husband’s desires.

“Open your mouth.”

She swallowed and opened her mouth.

Her husband tilted her head, peered inside for a moment, then suddenly pressed his lips against hers. The hot breath froze her in place.

While his agile tongue ravaged the inside of her mouth, she could do nothing.

Her husband rarely gave her kisses even when they had s*x. Perhaps because of that, this kiss after so long felt incredibly sweet.

His tongue that penetrated inside her like when they had s*x was rough. Sweeping down inside her mouth and wrapping around her tongue happened simultaneously. And the hand that softly grasped her chest was perfect too.

At that thrilling attack, she was helplessly shaken. She wondered if it could feel this good, but her husband was a beast who was even good at kissing.

“Haa. Haa.”

After a moment, her husband pulled away, and she gasped roughly. She could feel saliva flowing down her lower lip. However, she didn’t have the strength to wipe it away.

“It felt good, didn’t it?”

“Haa. You really….”

“Saliva definitely has a calming effect.”

While staring intently at her who was still busy catching her breath, her husband delivered the final blow. She wanted to say no, but she had already felt the effect. Though brief, while falling into the pleasure he gave her, she had forgotten the faint pain that remained.