Chapter 35
Sua was startled and hurriedly took out her phone from her bag.
“No one ever calls me.”
The screen displayed the word .
A call from her brother, Jiheon.
Sua and Jiheon were not affectionate siblings. Their relationship was closer to bad. To be precise, Jiheon ignored Sua, and Sua was afraid of him.
It was rare for her brother to call, and seeing that he called without sending a text message made her have a bad feeling.
She didn’t want to answer. She didn’t want to ruin the time with Hyun-oh for no reason. But as she hesitated for a moment, Hyun-oh looked at Sua’s phone.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, just my brother.”
“Jiheon? Because of me? You can answer.”
As if it were okay, he raised his eyebrows while sipping the water brought by the staff earlier. Thinking it wouldn’t be a big deal, she calmed herself and pressed the call button. As soon as she put the phone to her ear.
– Hey, why did you pick up the phone so late?
As soon as she answered the call, Jiheon’s words popped out, causing Sua’s shoulders to slump. His rough voice was filled with annoyance.
“Sorry. I’m outside right now, so I’m late.”
” Why is a housewife outside? Well, what else can you do besides idling around? You should know better than me. Shouldn’t you answer when your working brother calls?”
Their father was authoritarian. Everything in the house revolved around men, around adults. It wasn’t his father’s fault. It had been like that since their grandfather, the founder of Handong Group.
A tightly closed household atmosphere.
Their father’s words were absolute, and women always had to be behind men.
Their only son, Jiheon, grew up boldly in such an atmosphere. After becoming the head of the family when his father passed away, he became even more arrogant. Instead of collapsing due to Han Dong Group’s bankruptcy, he became even more arrogant, afraid that others would ignore him.
Looking at Sua with her shoulders stiffened, it felt like his shoulders were stiffening too.
“Anyway, what are you doing now?”
“I’m outside with Mr. Hyun-oh.”
“A date?”
She glanced at him. Just then, the staff brought food and beautifully set it on the table.
A date.
It was a strange word, but…
“Yeah… something like that.”
At Sua’s lukewarm response, Jiheon spit out more words.
“Right, you’re clinging to Hyun-oh. Is that all you can do?”
Afraid that Hyun-oh might overhear Jiheon’s mistake, Sua turned her body and lowered her voice.
“Why did you call?”
“-It’s nothing, just lend me some money.”
“….”
At the mention of money, Sua’s fingertips grew cold.
She knew that Jiheon had even touched their mother’s emergency fund because of the business he hastily started, but she didn’t expect him to come to her. No, if he had ever asked, she didn’t expect him to be so quick.
“….Money?”
“- Yeah. I’m in a hurry.”
“Where’s my money?”
“- Who would lend it to you?”
Oppa laughed sarcastically.
“- Through your husband. Isn’t that right? It’s better for you to say it than for me to say it myself.”
“Oppa, I can’t… do that.”
“- No, it’s not just about borrowing money straightforwardly, I’m asking you to invest.”
“Oppa, I…”
Just then, she saw the staff serving drinks on Hyun-oh’s table.
“I’m busy. Call me later.”
She didn’t want to hear more. Sua quickly cut him off.
“- Hey, hey, Han Sua.”
Even though he hadn’t finished speaking, Sua hung up the phone.
The peaceful atmosphere of early summer disappeared, and her spine felt cold. After hanging up the phone, Hyun-oh looked at Sua, who was holding her phone tightly. From head to toe, she felt cold.
“What’s wrong? Something happened at home?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Sua’s expression, which suddenly became uneasy, changed Hyun-oh’s impression.
“What did Jiheon say?”
“It’s nothing, really. Oppa is always like that. Let’s eat, we’re hungry… Let’s eat.”
Her words came out strangely and awkwardly as she picked up her fork. The French toast, cut into large pieces, was generously coated with honey. However, Sua couldn’t taste the sweetness of the French toast as she chewed it.
—
Apart from the phone call that suddenly disrupted the peace, the brunch time passed peacefully. As they finished their drinks and got up from their seats, the café owner, who was calculating the bill, smiled.
“Must be lovers. Came here for a date? To Gangneung?”
“Oh, no…”
While it was common for Hyun-oh and Sua to be referred to as a married couple, the idea of them being lovers was new to Sua, who shook her head.
“We’re married.”
“Oh, really? You looked so fresh, I thought you were lovers. But you seem like a very close couple.”
The cafe owner laughed heartily. Hyun-oh silently watched their conversation.
Not knowing how to respond, Sua bowed her head slightly and left. Before leaving the café, Hyun-oh’s large hand gently grasped Sua’s hand.
What’s this?
Surprised, Sua looked up at him with wide eyes, and he smiled gently.
“Let’s hold hands and go.”
“…”
“Now, we’re truly a married couple.”
It was a trip she had intended to escape from him.
A trip driven by the weight of her feelings for him.
She realized how foolish it was. As she thought about Hyun-oh during the journey to Gangneung and after arriving there…
She became even more immersed in him.
As they walked during their trip to Gangneung, Sua sometimes glanced down at her hand. His fingers were tightly intertwined with hers. Even if he hadn’t followed her to Gangneung, she would have been the same. Because her heart was already full of Hyun-oh, even if she had gone to the opposite side of the Earth, her feelings wouldn’t have changed.
Unrequited love wasn’t easy to stop.
Even though she knew she shouldn’t.
“What are you thinking?”
Hyun-oh asked as he looked at Sua quietly holding his hand.
“Oh, nothing, really.”
It didn’t make sense to say that someone who had decided to divorce had her heart full of someone else. Your hand holding his felt like your heart was in his hand. You couldn’t say such things…
Instead, she swallowed a clumsy lie.
“I was just thinking that Mr. Hyun-oh has really big hands.”
When they first met, he was a high school student. From young Sua’s perspective, he was a towering adult. He always stood one step ahead of her.
He still did.
“Yeah. Han Sua, your hands are really small.”
“…”
“And soft.”
His fingers brushed between Sua’s. The soft flesh squirmed. Last night, his touch had filled her entire body, and she blushed at the thought.
He continued to caress her hand, seemingly aware of her feelings.
“But your hands are warm.”
Sua had Raynaud’s syndrome. Her hands were always cold. Even in midsummer, her hands sometimes felt cold at night.
Why were her hands warm now? Why…
Because his hand was holding hers. As if her heart was there, all her blood was flowing there.
“I, I’m always like this. People often say that my hands and feet are warm.”
A lie came to her lips. As if she had never had Raynaud’s syndrome.
Hyun-oh laughed at Sua’s answer.
“Really? I didn’t know.”
Afraid of being found out, but there was no need to be afraid.
He wouldn’t know that her hands and feet were usually cold.
Hyun-oh continued to caress her fingertips and spoke.
“I realized I didn’t know anything about you. Even though we’ve known each other for so long.”
“…Me too.”
Sua felt the same way.
She had known him well since she was very young and had admired him with puppy love. She knew what kind of food he liked, what his business was doing, but when it came to Hyun-oh himself, she realized she didn’t know anything.
His lips were softer than she had thought, his body was as hard as a rock, and at night…
He was completely different.
She only realized this now.
His hand was truly warm.
She felt like she would get burns wherever his hand passed at night. The intense pleasure that shook her entire body from the night before kept coming back. Seeing Sua shaking her head to shake off the memories of last night, he smiled as if finding her cute.
“What are you thinking? Are you tired?”
Hyun-oh’s affectionate words made her mouth parched.
“No, it’s nothing.”
As Sua swallowed her dry saliva, Hyun-oh, who quickly noticed her change, asked.
“Well, let’s have some drinks then.”
She was about to say it was okay, but she nodded instead.
“Oh, then shall we go to the convenience store?”
She wanted to escape even a little bit from the memories of last night. She wanted to control her body that kept responding without permission.
