Her Sweet Home (6)
Had the two of us slept together?
Heo Suyeon had clearly lost her mind. There was no other explanation for how she could ask something like that so bluntly, right in front of both of us.
But Suyeon just sat there smiling as if none of it fazed her. She even looked at ease, like she already knew everything there was to know about the two of us.
"What... what did you just say?"
The woman I loved, on the other hand, looked thoroughly rattled. I could feel her body trembling beside me.
Having her affair with her son's friend thrown in her face was hardly a situation she'd grown accustomed to.
"I already know you two are involved like that."
"W-what are you talking about! Is that something you say to an adult's face?"
She bristled at Suyeon's brazen words. She'd called the girl over to put a stop to Seongdae's delinquency, but the conversation was zeroing in on her relationship with me instead.
Keeping what we had a secret mattered. If Seongdae and Seongdae's father ever found out... just imagining the fallout was enough to make my blood run cold.
"Don't lie. I already know everything. I have proof, too."
An unexpected word slipped from Suyeon's mouth.
Proof? Proof? That was news even to me. What kind of evidence could Suyeon possibly have to prove the two of us were involved?
"......Anyway, no. Whatever you're thinking—nothing like that ever happened."
She paused, then looked Suyeon straight in the eye. She couldn't bring herself to admit our relationship out loud.
"Pfft. Is that so?"
A smile settled fully across Suyeon's haughty face. Whenever she smiled like that, a wave of unease always followed. She only ever changed expression when she was mocking someone—or when her plan had landed exactly as intended.
"Then what's this?"
Suyeon pulled her phone from her pocket and held it out. A video was already playing on the screen in her hand.
It was CCTV footage of a hallway lined with rooms.
Ah... a motel. CCTV.
A few seconds in, a door opened, and a man and a woman hurried out of one of the rooms. The camera had caught both faces in perfect clarity—mine, and hers.
Her hair, still dripping wet as if she'd just washed it, stood out more than anything. Anyone with eyes would have taken them for lovers. The way we left that room was as natural as any couple's.
"Still going to deny it?"
Suyeon finished the video and slowly looked back and forth between us. For a moment, that flawless face of hers looked like a wicked demon's.
"Th-this is... we were in the next room because we were trying to follow Seongdae and you..."
"Hah... and who would believe that?"
"What?"
"Who's going to look at this footage and believe that? If you were tailing someone, why is your hair wet?"
"Th-that's..."
"Anyway, setting that aside—why is Dongho in this room at this hour?"
"What...?"
Suyeon didn't look even slightly nervous. She cut Seongdae's mother off at every turn and pressed her instead.
Did Suyeon have any idea how terrifying the things she was saying were? She was telling a wife and mother that she knew about her affair—and she had the evidence to back it up.
The hand of the woman beside me was trembling. Her already pale face had gone even whiter; the flush from earlier was long gone. I didn't have to sit here and listen to Heo Suyeon's little performance.
"Hey. Heo Suyeon. That's enough."
"You sit there and shut your mouth. Unless you want to die."
The smiling Suyeon glared at me. The force behind it was something else. Even in front of a woman years older than her, Suyeon never flinched. The look in her eyes was a hyena sizing up wounded prey—a far cry from that beautiful face.
A few minutes of heavy silence followed.
She sat with her head bowed and her eyes closed, as if she had a headache. Through her white T-shirt, the outline of her pink nipples showed clearly.
Suyeon would have already pieced it together from her clothes. She would have pictured her rolling around with me—her son's friend—just moments ago, and been certain of it.
"So... what is it you want?"
After a long silence, she finally opened her mouth. There wasn't a drop of color left in that elegant, pale face.
"Whew. Now we can actually talk, right?"
Suyeon answered her with that haughty look again.
That... that insolent little... look at that smug face.
"First, stop interfering with what Seongdae and I do."
"What?"
Her voice rose. Mentioning her son was like hitting a nerve—Suyeon had just slammed the panic button.
"Seongdae and I have been doing this work just fine for a long time. So please stop paying attention to us."
"That 'work' is illegally sleeping with other people... how am I supposed to look the other way?"
"Well... it might be illegal, but we're grown adults. And where there's demand, there's supply, right?"
"Even so... Suyeon, that's not right."
"Then I'll have no choice but to tell people about you and Dongho."
"What...?"
Suyeon laid out her thoughts, word by word. No—it was closer to a threat than a statement.
She knew exactly what card she was holding. It was a forbidden card that neither she nor I nor anyone else could afford to have played. If it came out, we would all be headed straight for ruin.
"My first demand is that you stay out of our business."
"Your first?"
"Yes. There's one more. Promise me first, though."
"....."
She had no answer to Suyeon's demand that she back off from their business. Her son was doing sex work with some girl she barely knew. No mother on earth could forgive that.
Suyeon had been Seongdae's girlfriend and a school friend... but right now, all she looked like was a pimp.
"I'll... think about it......"
She managed to get the words out. She said she'd think about it, but it was as good as acceptance. If she refused, Suyeon would go straight to Seongdae's father and Seongdae and expose us. She was more than capable of it.
"Alright. I'll give you time to think. And the second thing...."
Suyeon paused.
"What's the second...?"
"Take it easy with Dongho."
"What?"
She and I both cried out at the same time.
"I mean take it easy on sleeping with Dongho."
"What are you talking about....?"
"I need to manage Dongho's condition. From a seonsu management standpoint. Don't ask any more questions. I'd like you to keep it to once a week."
She and I stared at Suyeon, stunned.
Managing my condition......? Was she seriously trying to regulate how often I had sex?
She was dead serious about the player-management part. Suyeon wanted to manage even my physical condition with the cold precision of someone handling a racehorse that ran for her.
Was I... really becoming her seonsu?
"Promise me. Then I'll keep my promise too."
Suyeon demanded a firm answer with that haughty look again. The card she held was too effective to refuse.
"......"
She said nothing. Only her trembling hands seemed to speak for how she felt.
"I'll take that as a yes, then."
When she still didn't answer, Suyeon stood up as she spoke. The woman kept her head down and said nothing.
"Dongho. If you ignore my calls like you did today, you're actually going to die. Got it?"
"What....?"
"Answer me."
".....Got it."
At her cutting words, I nodded. If I didn't give her the answer she wanted, she'd torment me until she was satisfied. The card she held right now was too strong—I couldn't afford to cross her.
The door clicked shut. She left with those haughty footsteps, and only the two of us remained in the quiet living room.
"What... do we do now?"
I asked, looking at her. She had her head down, and it looked like she might be crying. I followed the pale line of her neck and slowly pulled her into my arms.
"Let go......"
A cold voice came from her lips. She wasn't crying. The anger in her voice caught me off guard.
"What....?"
"That girl Suyeon... she's not the type who'll listen to words."
Her large eyes were looking at me.
"For now...... wouldn't it be better to wait, like Suyeon said?"
I spoke carefully to the angry woman in front of me. Watching the situation unfold slowly would be wiser than doing anything rash right now.
"No...... I can't just leave this alone."
"What....?"
"If Suyeon won't listen, I'll have to go get Seongdae back myself."
Her voice was trembling.
What was she thinking right now?
Color began to bloom again across that face that had gone so deathly pale.