chapter 8

It’s okay because we’re married , right?”

If it was Yeonhwa of the past, she would never have said that. But now things were different.

‘This guy knows I’ve lost all my memories.’

When Geonwoo said nothing, Yeonhwa tilted her head at an angle and closed her eyelids halfway.

”I am asking because I can’t remember.”

“……..”

“Because Yoo Geonwoo liked to put out the Iights.”

As Yeonhwa, who became a little bit bolder, pulled the man’s neck a little closer, the accompanying man filled her sight. Like seeing through her eyes, he has a sharp jawline, and wide shoulders. Yeonhwa had fallen for the man and decided to marry him. It was true that she still liked Geonwoo even though it was a choice that she had made when she was 23 years old. Geonwoo, who seemed to have lost his words, opened his mouth and said.

“Stop playing at this moment.”

He hardened his face terribly and dismissed Yeonhwa’s actions as a joke. Of course, Yeonhwa was joking but seeing Geonwoo was uneasy because of the situation made her want to be stubborn.

“You’re playing.”

The arms that were covering Geonwoo’s neck were released and placed it over the man’s chest. She was about to tease him a little more and stepped closer.

“Isn’t it natural for couples to do this?”

Geonwoo’s expressions had become embarrassingly stiff by the touch of her hands on his chest. His heart was thumping quickly like a person who ran out of breath. She felt like she could feel even the hot heat in his heart beating with a constant beat. Suddenly, Geonwoo wrapped his arms around her waist and pushed her down on the bed.

“Ah!”

It was in the blink of an eye. Without a chance to escape, she was trapped in his arms. Geonwoo’s right hand was sticking to the side of Yeonhwa’s face and pushing the mattress down, while his left hand was still wrapped around her waist.

This was the result of the joke. She was lying in bed and stared at Geonwoo’s face which looked quite different. With a beating heart, her eyes seemed to shake like a candle’s flame in the wind. She tried to push his chest out, but it was hard like a rock and didn’t move. Yeonhwa was choking and it was difficult to speak.

“If you do this so suddenly….”

“I’d like to keep the lights on.”

“………..”

“Because I have to see your face.”

After losing her voice, she felt her cheeks gradually become hot. She didn’t expect her joke to cause such a big storm. She just wanted to see the man panicked.

After seeing him being like this, Yeonhwa realized that she had done something wrong. It was the man who even wanted to wash together, but she overlooked that he could do more. The tips of her fingers on his chest trembled slightly.

“Yoo Geonwoo, it’s just a joke, you know?”

“You must have been joking but not me.”

It wasn’t to stimulate the man. Geonwoo seemed to have no intention of getting off of her. But Yeonhwa, who swallowed her saliva multiple times, spoke.

“Really .. You don’t mean to do it?”

Geonwoo shuts his mouth and gives no answer. He was just holding on to her with a tight gaze and not letting it slip. Geonwoo lowered his head and looked at her clothes as tense as Yeonhwa grabbed his collar tightly.

Shyly, Yeonhwa’s hand that was holding his collar naturally fell on the bed. She wondered if her reddened face was caught, Yeonhwa turned her head aside. Suddenly, Geonwoo released his grip on her waist, got up, opened the door and went outside. The sound of the door closing from a distance seemed to be the library.

It was then that Yeonhwa, who had relieved the string of tension, exhaled long and touched her face with her palms. The hot, burning heat warmed her skin.

“Sigh.”

As the heavy air loosened, Yeonhwa took a breath of relief.

”…What is it, Geonwoo Yoo?”

If it was not a joke …Did he really intend to hold her? He didn’t give a glance to her in a year. She was just a scarecrow-like wife to him but why is he so reacting to her jokes? Yeonhwa, who turned over, hugged the hem of the blanket in her arms and curled her waist.

“l almost died in nervousness.”

She almost died. If Geonwoo had narrowed their distance a little more, her heart might have burst.

***

An hour had passed since he sat in the library and looked out the window. Geonwoo was waiting for his body to cool down, but sitting still didn’t help. Geonwoo, anxiously tapping on the desk with his index finger, soon pushed the chair and stood up. After leaving the study, Geonwoo went into the bathroom in the living room, not the room where Yeonhwa was.

As soon as he entered, he took off his clothes and threw it over the sink and went into the shower booth. He pushed the water lever all the way to the right and then lifted the nozzle. The cold water like ice took away the heat that Geonwoo had.

As the water quickly wet his whole body, Geonwoo recalled Yeonhwa lying on the bed.

“..She must have hated it.”

The hands holding his collar were trembling, and as soon as he hugged her waist, she turned her head away. Maybe it was because she was terrified or scared. He should have been calm, but the sharp look in her eyes looking up at him looks drowsy.

”What were you thinking, Song Yeonhwa.”

His wife has changed. No… She was weird. There has never been a time like this. Joke, she didn’t do anything like that. She had always acted like an emotionless doll. As if Geonwoo himself broke Yeonhwa’s wings and locked her in a cage. He knows she didn’t lose her memory. Then, why did she even provocate him and made him excited?

“It’s my wife. I know her well.”

It was the words he had spoken to Secretary Kim without hesitation. Even though he said that, he still had some doubts about whether he really knew about Yeonhwa. The truth was the same then and now. He had no idea about his wife.

While waiting for Geonwoo to come back to the room, Yeonhwa fell asleep. When the twilight dawn penetrated the room, Yeonhwa suddenly raised her eyelids. Yeonhwa’s mind was so hazy that it was difficult to tell whether it was a dream or reality.

Following his gaze at Yeonhwa, Geonwoo turned to her and held her chin with his hand. Yeonhwa gradually enlarged her eyes. Geonwoo’s upper body was visible, Yeonhwa, who quickly swept her eyes on his tight abs and wide chest, lowered her eyes. Fortunately, he was still wearing his bottom. As she raised her gaze again, Geonwoo reached out and stroked Yeonhwa’s cheek with his thumb.

Everything felt like a dream to Yeonhwa because of his precious and loving touch. Geonwoo’s lips were opened and a sweet voice flowed out.

“It’s okay because we’re married, right?”

She wanted to speak, but her lips only stiffened and she couldn’t make a sound. As if he wasn’t trying to get permission, Geonwoo hugged Yeonhwa’s body. And very slowly, they had narrowed the distance, making eye contact. The blue dawn moon that came through the gap of the curtain lit up Geonwoo’s eyes. She didn’t think she could see it all her life, but the man’s eyes were gently curved. When she looked at him smiling like that, Yeonhwa closed her eyelids without even knowing.

Even before his lips touched hers, Yeonhwa fell into ecstasy. Her sight was smeared white and the tip of her lips dried up. Geonwoo’s lips were only waiting for their lips to touch.

Suddenly the knocking sound awakened the hazy atmosphere. As their eyelids opened wide, bright sunlight hit Yeonhwa’s eyes. Geonwoo’s spot was empty when she looked at her side. Looking outside at the rising sun with blank eyes, Yeonhwa realized that it was a dream.

“Ha, what kind of a dream was that?”

The fact that she had a strange dream about Geonwoo was embarrassing.

“Madam, have breakfast.”

It means that it’s already past 9 o’clock because Anseong has come to work. Yeonhwa, who had rolled the blanket off, came down from the bed and left the room.

Even though she didn’t sleep well, Yeonhwa still didn’t feel tired because of her dream. In a slow pace, Yeonhwa, who passed through the living room and entered the kitchen, sat in front of the table. There was a plate of pancakes on the table. When she saw the syrup that was placed on top to suit the taste, her hand turned straight to the fork. The pancakes the size of the palm were divided into four so it’s easier to eat. When she put the pancakes in her mouth, the sweetness went round.

“Hmmm.”

Ahnseong came to Yeonhwa’s side, who was asking about the savoring taste.

“Is it delicious?”

Yeonhwa covered her mouth with her fingertips.

“It’s so delicious. You are so good at making pancakes.”

It was the first time she tasted Ahnseong’s pancakes. They were fluffy and delicious enough to be sold at the store. Ahnseong smiled as she opened the door of the laundry room on the left side of the kitchen and went in.

After eating a pancake, Yeonhwa wiped her mouth with a napkin on the table. Yeonhwa spoke when she saw Anseong coming out of the laundry room.

“It must be troublesome to make all those pancakes.”

Anseong said with a big smile

“Ahhhh. Boss made them.”

”….Huh? My Husband?”

“He was waiting for me to come to work. I was late because I had to get medicine from the hospital.”

Yeonhwa is surprised to find out that the chef of the pancakes she ate was Geonwoo. For a year, Geonwoo had never made anything for her. So of course, she thought Ahnseong had made breakfast.

“Even though the boss looks so blunt, isn’t he kind?”

Yoo Geonwoo .. being nice? Probably only exists in dreams or imaginations.

“It’s hard to judge from this.”

“Ah, madam is right but I think the boss is a nice husband.”

“No, he is a careless husband.”

”You don’t mean that.”

Yeonhwa, with a bitter smile, looked at Anseong with grim eyes.

“Why? Are you saying that he feels sorry for me?”

“He loves you but he can’t express it.”

Yeonhwa’s appointment with her outpatient treatment had arrived.

She has to go to the doctor and ask if there was really any problem with her brain. It didn’t make sense that Yeonhwa didn’t know he was a sweet husband like others have said. There must have been a mistake in her memory about Geonwoo who handed the divorce papers on their wedding anniversary. Ahnseong removed the plate that Yeonhwa had eaten and delivered the news.

“Today the boss said he was going on a business trip to Gapyeong.”

“He didn’t tell that to me yesterday.”

“I guess he forgot to tell you. He asked me to make dinner for madam because he won’t come home until tomorrow if work is late.“

She wanted to ask if they could have dinner together today, but this time it was a mistake. Yeonhwa stood up thinking about not leaning on him for nothing.

****

After 11 o’clock, he was planning to come today but Geonwoo did not show up. Yeonhwa, who was sitting in bed and reading a book, reached out to the side table and picked up her cellphone.

She was looking at Geonwoo’s contact information, but couldn’t make a call.

Originally, she was a person who wouldn’t make a single phone call on a long business trip. The same was for Geonwoo. If he went on a business trip without speaking, he would never contact her first.

Now, if Yeonhwa called, she was doing something she had never done before. It takes an hour and a half from Gapyeong to home, so he would not return home today. Thinking alone, she lied down at the center of the wide bed.

The sound of a dry rustling blanket touched her ears. She thought that air was touching her skin, kinda warm as heat came over her body. Someone pulled a blanket over Yeonhwa’s hips to her neck. Again, at the gaze that touched her face, Yeonhwa frowned her eyebrows and opened her eyelids. A person who was sitting at the end of the bed, entered in her blurred vision. With a blink of an eye, Yeonhwa checked the other’s face

“Yoo Geonwoo.”

It was her husband. Yeonhwa thought it was a dream.

“…You must be busy.”

She thought he had to work and it would be very busy for him to come out in her dreams. If there was anything different from the dream she had yesterday, a voice came. And unlike yesterday, Geonwoo was wearing a top coat.

“Hmmm.”

As she tossed over, she pulled down the blanket that made her neck stuffy. Yeonhwa forgot that she wore a silk sleep dress. Even if she knew it, she wouldn’t have hidden it because she thought she was in a dream.

Yeonhwa opened her heavy eyelids and reached out to Geonwoo, who was wearing only a black shirt. Yeonhwa’s fingertips touched Geonwoo’s abdomen. And with her injured right hand, she penetrated the inside of his shirt. When her small hand headed upward, his shirt was crumpled and rolled up. The abs that looked like chocolates were shaded more clearly than the abs she saw yesterday. Yeonhwa wanted her imagination to develop day by day.

“Of course, it suits you better if you are naked.”

Words thought in her head ran straight out of her mouth. She might be thinking that what she’s touching is an illusion, but what she didn’t know was that it is real.