Six Months Ago

“We’re not coming home tonight. Has Yedo left yet?”

“He said he had a company dinner.”

“And you – what on earth are you wearing?”

“Ah… I worked before I came out.”

Soo-min, who had just finished tending the flower garden, instinctively tried to hide her messy clothes and dirty hands. Her mother-in-law gave her a cold look.

“Try to take better care of your appearance. No wonder Yedo always looks elsewhere. What’s the point of being a florist? Instead of just working with flowers, why don’t you try to take care of yourself?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Tsk, tsk. There’s nothing I like about you.”

Her mother-in-law clicked her tongue in disapproval. Soo-min felt a twist in her stomach, a heavy unease settling in. After saying goodbye to her mother-in-law, she quietly stepped back into the house.

In the reflection of the glass pantry, she saw herself. She was wearing an old T-shirt that she had intended to throw away, but now she realised how loose it had become – it looked like she was wearing a man’s shirt. Had she lost more weight than she thought?

She hadn’t noticed before, but there were smudges of dirt on her face, making her look even more unkempt. Whenever she became absorbed in her work, she often lost sight of everything else. She must have touched her face with her dirty hands without realising it.

“Han Soo-min, how did you end up looking so miserable? Even I can see that you’ve lost all your charm as a woman. Sigh…”

She was only twenty-nine – still young with a bright future ahead of her – but she felt like a withered flower.

Soo-min sighed deeply before returning to the garden to tend to the flowers.

How long had she been working? Only when she saw the deep colours of the sunset beyond the window did she straighten her back.

Night had fallen.

Her stomach rumbled, so she went into the kitchen and hastily put together a meal.

She sat on the sofa and flicked through the channels, but nothing seemed interesting. Her husband was always too busy to spend any time at home, and with her in-laws also away, the house felt completely empty.

After a while, the sound of the front door opening caught her attention. Her husband appeared, accompanied by his driver. He was completely drunk.

“Ye-Yedo, how much did you drink…?”

“Get away from me.”

She reached out to steady him, but he slapped her hand away roughly.

“Ah… Yedo…”

“Don’t touch me.”

Her husband drank almost every other day, drowning himself in alcohol to the point where she wondered if he was an alcoholic. Even though he was her husband, she couldn’t help but find him utterly pathetic.

“If you’ve been drinking, just go to bed quietly.”

“I haven’t finished drinking. A friend is coming. Set a table for us.”

“It’s already midnight.”

“Is there a law that says you can’t drink at midnight? If the housekeeper isn’t here, you should.”

“How many people are coming?”

“Just one.”

Arguing would only make things more difficult, so she decided to back down.

“I’ll prepare it.”

When Soo-min saw Yedo take a bottle of wine out of the cellar, she started to prepare appetizers to go with it. She couldn’t help but wonder who the guest was who would bring out such a precious bottle of wine.

Soo-min carefully arranged the appetizers on elegant plates and placed them on the table. Yedo placed two wine glasses next to them.

At the sound of the doorbell, Yedo immediately got up and went to open the door. When the guest entered, Soo-min’s eyes widened in shock.

A woman in a tight red dress entered the living room.

As their eyes met, the woman’s expression registered surprise for a moment before quickly changing to a sharp, contemptuous stare.

“Oh dear, I didn’t know that woman was at home. What a shame! Yedo, you really are a terrible husband.”

What does it matter? After five years, whatever spark there was is long gone. Don’t worry about her.”

As Yedo ran his hand along the woman’s waist, she let out a high-pitched, tinkling laugh.

“Hehehe. Don’t be like this. Doing this in the living room is even more inappropriate.”

“Shall we go into the bedroom then?”

“Would that really be OK?”

“There are plenty of rooms.”

The woman’s overpowering perfume made Soo-min feel suffocated. As if fascinated by the villa, the woman began to look around with interest.

“Oh, I can’t believe I’m drinking at the Daeseong Group chairman’s house. It feels unreal.”

“It’s not just drinking, is it?”

“Of course, there’s more to do, isn’t there? Pfft.”

Even with his wife right in front of him, Yedo and the woman shamelessly flaunted their affection.

But Soo-min couldn’t care less.

My husband and I were nothing more than a show-window couple—no more, no less. Since there was no love between us, I ignored whatever he did outside.

But while she could take anything else, bringing a woman home when his parents weren’t there was something that pushed her limits.

She locked herself in her room and shut the door, and she didn’t care if they had s*x in the living room for all the world to see. But no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, she couldn’t shake the unease simmering inside her.

“Oh dear, what are you doing? This is the living room.”

“The drinks are in the living room, aren’t they? You like this, so don’t pretend otherwise.”

“Ah… ahh… if you touch me there…”

“Let’s do it here. Yeah… ugh…”

Soo-min covered her ears.

The obscene sounds echoing through the spacious living room seeped into her room, refusing to be ignored. The wet, rhythmic slaps of flesh against flesh rang out vividly.

A wave of nausea surged through her.

As the sound of Yedo thrusting roughly into the woman, stirring her insides, filled the air, Soo-min clenched her fists tightly.

‘That bastard…’

She wanted to curse herself for marrying a notorious womaniser, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

With no other choice, she was forced to accept her arranged marriage to the Daeseong Group.

“Uhh…! Ahhh! Ahhh…!”

“Ugh….”

The obscene, sticky sounds stung her ears and made her stomach churn. Unable to stand it any longer, Soo-min turned the music up to full volume.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Fate, began to play.

Her heart was pounding.

But even as the dramatic notes filled the room, she feared the sounds of their lovemaking would break through the music – so she turned up the volume.

Like the music that filled the room, Soo-min’s marriage was a tragedy in itself.

***

Moscow, a summer at 34.7°C.

It was the hottest summer of the last century.

While Russians, unaccustomed to such extreme heat, drank ice-cold water and relied on air conditioning to stay cool, one man sat upright, calm and unaffected – without even a fan.

A fleeting glance – gradually the eyes of the women in the area shifted to him. They couldn’t take their eyes off him, some even bumping into others as they walked, unable to hide their admiration.

His secretary arrived and carefully placed a glass of iced coffee in front of him. The man, however, remained indifferent, absorbed in reviewing documents on his tablet.

“Hmm.”

The secretary cleared his throat before speaking to the man.

“The final bankruptcy report of the Daeseong Group will be published soon.”

The man’s eyes glowed coldly.

“In the meantime, they’ve gobbled up more than their fair share. If their wealth was built by bleeding small businesses dry, they’d better hold on to it.”

“They were too greedy. Especially the eldest son – he has no talent for business at all.”

“They lacked discernment. That’s why they got caught in the net I set up, isn’t it?”

Only then did the man finally look at his secretary.

“Daeseong Group will go down on its own, but do you really think the Jaewon Group will just sit back and watch? The two families are in-laws, so when things get desperate, money will flow between them with no strings attached.

“I know the chairman of Jaewon Group very well. If anything, he’d rather cut ties than pour money into a sinking ship.

“In the end, their marriage will fall apart.”

“It will.”

The man let out a small chuckle. With a light tap, he put down his tablet, revealing a wedding photo of Byeon Yedo.

“When do you plan to return to Korea?”

“Soon.”

“I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”

Only then did the man finally take a sip of his iced coffee, which had long since melted. Though the diluted drink had probably lost its flavour, he looked as if he were enjoying honey water.