Chapter 5.3

Her husband’s hand reached toward a nearby table. It was a box of painkillers left over from a pharmacy purchase she had seen before. He chuckled after confirming she had taken two pills.

Since she had already claimed to be in pain and played the patient to the fullest, it was too late now to say that medicine had been effective.

“S*x is faster than this kind of thing.”

It sounded like he was saying there was now sufficient reason to have s*x.

“You… planned this from the beginning, didn’t you?”

Waiting three weeks for her answer, or having s*x. She thought those had been his two goals all along. Whatever the case, once he set his sights, he always achieved it, no matter how long it took.

“Your husband is a corporate owner.”

Saying that, her husband stood up from the sofa as if he had no more lingering attachments. She had wondered why he hadn’t taken off his coat, but it seemed he had anticipated his victory from the start.

The negotiation ended in less than an hour. It was her husband’s victory.

What he casually tossed out while heading toward the entrance was even more remarkable.

“The restaurant is out of the question, but the room should be sufficient.”

It sounded as if he had already made reservations at a restaurant and room for her. Both she and her husband had skipped dinner time. Hunger aside, she couldn’t believe her husband had done such a thing.

“Wait—are we at least eating first?”

She grabbed her handbag and headed toward the entrance. Her husband’s shoulders, already standing there wearing his shoes, shook. Finally, a “haha” laugh came from his mouth.

So, he was a man who knew how to laugh out loud like that.

Her husband had at most chuckled or rarely laughed. Now it was clear enough that she, who was putting her feet into her shoes, paused.

“Order room service.”

“I will. …All different kinds of things I want to eat.”

Since the negotiation was her complete defeat, shouldn’t she at least get some petty revenge? She might as well go all out with room service tonight. It seemed like thoroughly using her husband’s card would make her feel better.

“I’m going to thoroughly take advantage of you today. Be prepared.”

After getting in the car, she issued a solemn warning. It was also a resolution directed at herself. At those words, her husband laughed out loud once again.

It was quite unfamiliar, but she had meant what she said. Even hearing it for the second time, the fact that her husband’s laughter sounded pleasant didn’t change.

***

“You shower first.”

Upon entering the room, she suggested that her husband go into the bathroom first. Her husband went in, telling her to order room service.

Only after the bathroom door closed did she let out a sigh. She had followed her husband here, but she wasn’t sure if it was the right decision.

She had no prejudice against hotels, but it was an unfamiliar space.

The image of the couple she had just seen in the elevator lingered in her mind. A man and woman who looked like father and daughter were in each other’s arms.

Since it was someone else’s business anyway, she had tried to refrain from staring.

An affair. She didn’t want to decide that outright, but the thought came anyway. Maybe they really were parent and child, yet the memory still brought her own parents to mind. Her mother, her father, and herself born between them.

Like a thief with guilty feet, she struggled to turn away from the two people, and her husband pulled her toward himself.

Thanks to that, she was able to hide the turmoil within herself.

Going to the window, the night view was visible at a glance. Seeing herself reflected there, she felt an indescribable emotion.

It had been just a few days ago that she had trimmed her waist-length hair to above her shoulders. But now she wanted to cut it even shorter. As if afflicted with some kind of obsession, she brought her hand to her mouth and chewed on her fingernail tips.

Why?

Why did her hair feel bothersome as if she were wearing a wig?

Suddenly, a photo from an entertainment news article she had seen a few days ago flashed through her mind. A few lines about how the wife of an actor couple rumored to be lovebirds had recently changed her style with a bob cut.

Was it actress Hwang Jin-hee?

The husband beside that actress was introduced as a businessman, and the comments were full of praise for his appearance. However, what was more impressive than his appearance was the way he looked at his wife.

So the expression about honey dripping from one’s eyes actually exists.

Those eyes filled with possessiveness and longing within that softness that was felt even through the photograph. She knew it well, having seen it in the mirror every morning for the past three years.

For a moment, she couldn’t express how envious she was of that actress whose name she barely knew.

If she got a bob cut, could she also receive her husband’s gaze like that? She had such a foolish expectation, and it died before it could even swell.

Right now, she was looking for any excuse to cut her hair. Enough to bet on such an absurd hope.

She had spoken of divorce to her husband, but perhaps the desire to become like them still remained.

‘Stop it….’

She tried to shake off her useless thoughts by turning around, sitting on the sofa, and picking up the room service booklet. She was flipping through to see what was available when suddenly the bathroom door burst open.

“Go Ah-jin!”

It was her husband. She jumped up at the sound of him calling her name.

When she went to the front of the bathroom, her husband had his upper body completely exposed. Like someone who had stopped mid-way through undressing, his pants zipper was half undone.

“What’s wrong?”

When she also rushed to the door in surprise and asked, what her husband said was somewhat unexpected.

“Don’t run away. I’m warning you.”

Saying that, he looked into her eyes as if making a resolution and spoke as if crushing her.

“Don’t worry. I won’t run away.”

She did have a history of attempting to leave home when her husband went to work.

But could he really be acting like this because he was worried, she might suddenly disappear even after coming this far?

If that were the case, she wouldn’t have followed him here in the first place.

“Really. So please shower and come out.”

With the feeling of comforting a young child, she grasped her husband’s arm. It felt like she needed to hold onto it.

The firm, smooth skin with a brownish tint wrapped around her touch. She was thinking she wanted to keep holding on, but her husband took her hand and removed it.

“Don’t go anywhere.”

Before the door closed, her husband’s voice was heard.

Her husband’s eyes, full of suspicion, looked truly like a young child this time. This was her husband with a much larger and firmer build than hers.

With the attitude that he would chase after her immediately in that very state if she said she was going anywhere, she recited like an oath that she wouldn’t go anywhere.

Only then did the sound of water resume from beyond the bathroom door.

Returning to her seat, she felt her heart beating for no reason. She had seen her husband’s face as he tried to confirm her presence as if some great disaster had occurred.

That felt like a tremendous reward given for following him this far.

An indescribable elation swelled proudly from deep in her chest.

What would it have been like if Madam Shin had also seen her husband’s face just now? If it were possible, she wanted to show that face to her just as it was.

‘You’ve really gone crazy, Go Ah-jin.’

What should she do?

Even though it was just words telling her not to go anywhere, she couldn’t bear the joy.

She forgot the anxiety and depression of the past few days, and even the pain from her wisdom tooth.

She had long known that she couldn’t be in her right mind when it came to her husband, but for now she decided to stop self-criticism. She decided to purely savor this joy.

She ordered room service with a face much brighter than before. She asked them to bring only the best-selling menu items.

The clerk taking the order seemed puzzled by her obviously excited voice that anyone could hear, but she didn’t care.

“And, um, skip the alcohol.”

To the male clerk who asked if they should prepare drinks, she spoke firmly. She hung up after hearing that they would bring it right away.

Just then, her husband came out of the bathroom. Unusually, moisture remained on his upper body. Just looking made her feel dizzy, so she pretended not to see, but her husband came right up to her.

Drip. Drip.

Right at her eye level was her husband’s firm abs. The time it took for two drops to trace his skin and fall to the floor felt endless. Saliva naturally pooled in her mouth.

“You really didn’t leave.”

“…Because you told me not to.”

She felt regretful because of the words that flowed out instinctively without going through her brain.

But it was already too late. She had already revealed that she was losing her reason just from seeing her husband’s upper body.

“Should I give you a reward?”

A soft laugh fell from above her head.

If she stayed like this, she would end up being embraced by her husband without even washing. Having experienced it once, she couldn’t do it a second time.

“I already ordered room service. I’ll quickly wash and come back too.”

In reality, her husband hadn’t moved a finger, but she hurried toward the bathroom.

In the mirror, her n*ked self-met her gaze once again.

Looking at her long hair reminded her of her mother’s face just before she stopped breathing. Her mother, who looked younger than her age, had long hair that suited her quite well.

She used to nag her, who had maintained a bob cut since her student days, to grow her hair out.

What kind of stubborn contrary nature it was, she had started growing her hair after marriage, after her mother died.

She wanted to appear as a woman to her husband somehow. She wanted to look pretty.

Only then did she understand her mother’s heart.

Her mother must have always wanted to be a woman to her father.

The hair she grew that way had become quite long over three years. It created the pure and delicate feeling she had wanted. But now she didn’t want to be trapped in that feeling.

Indeed, it would be better to cut this hair short.

While washing away the last bubbles with lukewarm water, she kept repeating only that thought.

Only after watching until the end as the bubbles that remained on her toes like lingering attachments dissolved in the water and were sucked into the bathtub drain did she wrap her body in a towel.