TO 7

Chapter 7

In the end, Taehyuk couldn’t recall. The only thing that remained in his memory was the image of Seo-ah’s face looking like she had been stuck in a massive wedding cake.

Even so, her face had been lovely.

Useless thoughts.

Taehyuk reached out and turned off the shower.

The small cracks Seo-ah had created in his life were spreading across his heart. Through those fissures, memories he had stowed away were slowly leaking out, though he had yet to realize it.

“Come and eat.”

Taehyuk walked over to the dining table wearing a bath robe. On one side of the table, the roses he had brought home were arranged in a vase, flanked by candles and wine.

Seo-ah knew full well that Taehyuk enjoyed drinking alone. She had often set up a solo drinking table for him before. But today was different.

Roses and candlelight.

Taehyuk glanced at them as he sat down.

There was another change. The wine glass that had always been alone now had a partner.

“It’s alright if I join you, right?”

Seo-ah asked, taking a seat across from him.

“I don’t mind, but you can’t drink.”

Despite his words, Taehyuk poured wine into Seo-ah’s glass. It was white wine.

“A single glass should be fine.”

At Seo-ah’s words, Taehyuk raised an eyebrow as if telling her to suit herself, then filled his own glass.

“Let’s toast.”

Seo-ah raised her glass. As if resigning himself, Taehyuk tipped his glass against hers. A crisp clink echoed through the room before they both drank.

“It’s not so bad.”

Seo-ah remarked after taking a sip.

“Still, don’t overdo it.”

Taehyuk spoke indifferently, setting his glass down.

Though he enjoyed drinking, he never crossed the line.

“Of course. Since we need to have a baby, I shouldn’t drink too much. You shouldn’t either.”

Taehyuk narrowed his eyes at her words.

Wasn’t she the woman who used to get flustered whenever the word ‘baby’ came up in front of him?

Is she serious? Is she really planning to have a baby and leave?

The Seo-ah he knew wasn’t that kind of woman. She was soft-hearted and incapable of hiding her true feelings. If she ever tried to hide them, it would show all over her face.

“I’m curious—can you really go through with this?”

A streak of arrogance flickered in his downcast gaze.

“Through with what?”

“Everything you said you’d do.”

“Getting pregnant? I’m trying to do that right now, aren’t I?”

“Is this wine part of your effort, too? Why, do you need liquid courage just to see me as a man?”

Taehyuk sneered. Seo-ah’s eyes went wide, her face looking as though her hidden thoughts had been exposed. Yet it was Taehyuk who felt a sting of hurt.

“Is that really it?”

“It’s not entirely wrong. After all, I can only make a baby if I’m not scared of you.”

“You’re scared of me?”

Seo-ah gave a brief nod. This was news to Taehyuk. He admitted that he wasn’t someone who openly revealed his inner thoughts, and that he could be cold. But scared?

And from his own wife, no less.

“It’s not like… terrifying or anything like that. It’s more like…”

Seo-ah pursed her lips, as if searching for the right words. Taehyuk’s gaze remained fixed on her red lips. Swallowing a dry gulp without realizing it, he drained the remaining wine in his glass in one go.

“You feel like a stranger. Yes, ‘unfamiliar’ suits it much better than ‘scared.’”

Seo-ah nodded slightly as if correcting herself. Yet those words offered no comfort to Taehyuk, either.

“A man who has shared a bed with you for two whole years still feels like a stranger to you?”

“That’s why I’m trying like this. Even the kissing…”

Without realizing what she was saying—or how much her words were grating on Taehyuk’s nerves—Seo-ah continued with a bold, brazen face.

“I want the kissing to feel natural, too. I don’t want to tremble every time we kiss.”

Taehyuk’s eyes narrowed further.

So that was why? Why she suddenly changed the greeting to a kiss?

As if sensing Taehyuk’s intense gaze, Seo-ah gulped down the rest of her wine.

Taehyuk refilled her empty glass.

“I don’t understand. Someone who hates me so much she wants a divorce is working this hard to get closer to me?”

His sharp gaze seemed to pry open her innermost thoughts.

“I told you. Because we need to have a child. That’s the only way I can get a divorce…”

“We can have a child without kissing. Without flowers, hugs, or kiss greetings, either.”

“You…”

Seo-ah stared straight at Taehyuk. Small candlelight flickered in her eyes.

“Do you really want to have a child that way? A child is the fruit of love.”

“I suppose that’s why you and I never had a child. Because there was no love. If so, isn’t all this effort in vain? A few silly events aren’t going to magically create love out of nowhere.”

At Taehyuk’s cynical remark, Seo-ah bit her lip tightly. She let her head drop low between her hunched shoulders.

“I know. I know well enough that you don’t love me.”

Taehyuk knitted his brow as he looked at her slumping shoulders, brought on by his own words. Watching Seo-ah harp on about love made his chest feel suddenly suffocated. If the reason behind all of Seo-ah’s actions was love…

She’s doing all this over a fleeting emotional game that can’t be seen or touched?

He scowled. Taehyuk had lived his life keeping a firm, reasonable line in everything. When emotions or affection became excessive, they turned into nothing more than violence wearing the mask of love. He had seen it in his mother, and he had seen it in Go-eun, who threw away their marriage over her talk of love.

“Still, we could at least like each other, couldn’t we?”

Seo-ah chugged her wine. Emptying the glass in an instant, she glared at the empty vessel before refilling it once more.

Before Taehyuk could stop her, she filled a fresh glass and downed it again.

“Stop it. You can’t even hold your alcohol…”

At Taehyuk’s intervention, Seo-ah shook her head, wiping her lips with the back of her hand.

“If we just think that we like each other—even if it’s just for that moment—who knows? Maybe we’ll take each other a little more seriously.”

“I’m already serious about you.”

“I’m sure you are.”

Seo-ah snorted. Taehyuk’s eyebrow arched sharply. She was a woman who had never spoken to him like that before. In fact, far from giving him such impudent backtalk, she was a woman who couldn’t even meet his eyes properly.

“You’re so serious that even in bed, you’re always so serious and proper from start to finish.”

Seo-ah lifted her chin. Her dark eyes shone with a glossy sheen. Taehyuk’s brow furrowed deep.

“Are you drunk?”

On just two glasses of wine?

Taehyuk’s gaze darted quickly to the empty wine bottle. Come to think of it, he didn’t know Seo-ah’s drinking tolerance. He had simply assumed it was low because she said she couldn’t handle alcohol well.

This was practically the first time they had sat across from each other like this to drink.

Lee Seo-ah, what on earth are you?

Just then, Taehyuk’s phone rang. He stole a glance toward the room where his phone was located.

“Hold on.”

Even as Taehyuk stood up, Seo-ah kept her face turned away, looking sullen.

As Taehyuk entered the room, the ringing stopped. Checking the screen, he saw it was his mother, Seung-hee. Taehyuk didn’t call back. Instead, he collapsed into a chair with his arms crossed.

“Haa.”

A sigh escaped his lips naturally. He was certainly the one who had just ruined the mood. Yet the softer and kinder Seo-ah acted toward him, the angrier he felt. Whenever he thought about how all her changed behavior was aimed at getting a divorce, he couldn’t stand it.

He had never asked her to love or like him.

No, he had never even entertained such a thought. Nor had she ever asked that of him. Though his married life with her hadn’t been filled with bliss, it wasn’t unbearable, either. In the first place, theirs was not a marriage built on passionate romance or sparks. He had never desired such emotions or such a marriage. That was why he had chosen Seo-ah. Pure, serene, and possessing a noble detachment that made her feel almost like a recluse—he was satisfied with what she gave him.

Because she was that kind of woman, she shouldn’t be leaving him like this.

When Taehyuk returned to the table, the wine bottle in front of Seo-ah was completely empty.

“Hey, are you alright?”

Seo-ah’s head wobbled before slumping sideways, then forward.

Taehyuk walked up to her. Her head snapped backward, and she stared straight at Taehyuk.

“Senior, why are you like that?”

“What?”

At the word ‘Senior,’ Taehyuk froze as if ambushed.

“Why do you kiss me like that?”

Taehyuk wore a thoroughly flustered expression.

“Do you have any idea how much you startled me when you kissed me like that, Senior?”

“You’re drunk. Get up. I’ll take you to the room.”

She was drunk, without a doubt. Seo-ah’s tongue was slurring, and her clear, sparkling eyes were blurred like pebbles submerged under water.

Besides… Senior?

Has it been two years? Since he was last called ‘Senior’ by Seo-ah.

‘What kind of wife calls her husband Senior? Senior, indeed.’

Was it after Seung-hee’s scolding back then?

From that day on, Seo-ah had strictly addressed him as ‘husband’ or ‘you.’ Every time Seo-ah called him that, it had felt strangely awkward. But he had simply thought he would get used to it over time.

“Since you’re so good at kissing, why didn’t you ever kiss me like that until now?”