Something's Up (1)
Dohyun left the house, and Harin and Yoon-seo also retreated to their respective rooms to find things to do.
Left alone, A-yeon wandered around the house in a troubled state of mind.
'...Oppa did that yesterday.'
While she was off in dreamland, knowing nothing.
A thick, pink atmosphere had already swept through this house.
'And I didn't even know.'
She snuck a peek into Dohyun's room, and it definitely carried a different scent than usual.
"...Ugh."
She felt like she was the only one falling behind, the only one losing.
She was the one who had spent the most time with Oppa.
Everything had been taken away.
But what could she even say?
"...Ugh."
She couldn't keep groaning to herself forever.
A-yeon decided to call her trash can to vent these feelings.
"...If you're going to call someone over, at least say something."
Su-ah stared at A-yeon's face as she blankly slurped on her coffee.
"What are you trying to do, sitting there in silence for 30 minutes?"
A-yeon's face, still beautiful beyond compare, was filled with worry.
Only then did A-yeon finally speak.
"...How can I be more direct with Oppa?"
"What?"
"I want to move things forward, but I keep feeling like I have to walk on eggshells."
Su-ah recalled the past, the scene where she had witnessed A-yeon kissing her own brother.
A surprise kiss she had performed as revenge after her own past was exposed.
That event had become a trauma, appearing in her nightmares every single day.
"Actually, we haven't done anything since that kiss that day."
Su-ah's expression, slightly dumbfounded, sank even further.
"I keep hesitating because I'm worried I might be a burden to Oppa."
A-yeon asked without a care.
"What should I do?"
"...Why are you asking me that?"
A-yeon knew perfectly well that Su-ah liked her in a romantic way.
And yet, she was asking for dating advice regarding the person she was secretly in love with.
Su-ah gave her a look that said, Is this really what you're doing right now? But.
"Is it any more of a 'thing to do' than you turning me into a pathetic wreck for three years?"
"...."
They were friends of three years, after all.
She couldn't refute A-yeon's words, which had read her inner thoughts perfectly.
"If you don't want to answer, get out."
A-yeon pointed toward the cafe entrance.
Su-ah squeezed her eyes shut.
A friendship where the relationship between the master and the servant was clearly defined.
Even though it was a rope on the verge of snapping, Su-ah couldn't bring herself to let go.
She said.
"...Can't you just treat him the way you treat me right now?"
"You mean be rude to Oppa?"
"That's not what I meant."
Su-ah mumbled.
"From what I've heard about your situation, your Oppa is going to stay by your side no matter what you do, so why are you walking on eggshells?"
Just as Su-ah could never leave A-yeon's side.
Dohyun, too, could never leave A-yeon's side.
Even if A-yeon committed an unforgivable mistake, Dohyun would stay by her side.
If that was the case, she just had to do it.
Just like she did with her, she should do it with Dohyun.
"But that's exactly why it's hard!"
A-yeon couldn't understand Su-ah's shameless attitude.
"What is?"
"People have a conscience, you know."
A-yeon pushed aside the coffee she had finished.
"I've only ever been a nuisance, and now I'm even acting spoiled. It's not something I can bring myself to do."
Su-ah turned on her camera app.
She switched to selfie mode and pointed it at A-yeon's face.
"Look, this is your face."
"Yeah."
"You're talking about conscience with this face? Do you even have one?"
Though A-yeon didn't seem to realize it herself, her beauty could only be described as overwhelming.
A beauty that Su-ah, who had high standards for women, hadn't been able to escape from for three years.
If A-yeon had been born in the distant past, wars would have been fought to possess her.
It was no wonder that Dohyun, who had perceived A-yeon as his younger sister his entire life, had been conquered by a single kiss.
"You need self-esteem more than a conscience. Why do you have so little self-esteem?"
A-yeon narrowed her eyes.
"Thanks to who?"
"...."
"You're the one who stripped away all my self-esteem and confidence, so you're not really in a position to say that, are you?"
"...Sorry."
A-yeon extracted some self-esteem from her Self-esteem dispenser.
Actually, "getting it back" would be a more accurate term.
Seeing Su-ah flustered, A-yeon smirked. Pisik.
Anyway, let's get to the main point.
"The problem is that there are two other women as pretty as me by Oppa's side."
"Those older sisters?"
Su-ah had followed her to the U.S., so she had seen their faces.
A-yeon was shy around strangers.
Because Dohyun was stuck in the hospital and she didn't know anyone, she had forced herself to bring Su-ah along, and thanks to that, Su-ah had been able to grasp how things worked over there.
"I only have my looks, but those sisters are different. One is a chaebol, and the other has been stuck to him for two and a half years."
She had heard the three women were currently living together.
She could clearly picture A-yeon living like a mouse, crushed by the power struggle.
"Compared to them, I'm just...."
A-yeon's emotions sank once again.
Su-ah let out a deep sigh.
"...Compared to them, I'm so worthless. They helped Oppa when he was struggling, but I did this and that. Oh, my."
Su-ah, having sipped her coffee, spat out the very words A-yeon had been thinking.
"You talk big about inviting him to the Wedding, or having him watch the kids, or making him pay you back for the rest of his life, but look at you now. What is this? You're not some battered wife, and are you sure you're the one who's supposed to be taking revenge on me?"
"...."
"I don't know where the person who kissed me for 10 minutes and shattered my mentality went."
No one could stop an unleashed A-yeon.
Conversely, a leashed A-yeon was a woman so broken she would seek dating advice from a disqualified friend who had been acting like trash for three years.
Previously, the leashed version was easier to manipulate.
But now, she knew there was no hope.
Since it had come to this, Su-ah would rather A-yeon live with her leash off.
Even if it was twisted, the feelings of affection were not a lie.
If she wasn't going to be by her side anyway, she wanted her to at least be happy.
Besides, she had received grace from her.
Legal action had been possible.
Spreading rumors at school wouldn't have been a problem either.
According to what she'd heard, Jin-ho, the accomplice, was currently in a terrifying legal battle.
She should have been destined for the same fate, but A-yeon had forgiven her and kept her by her side.
Even if it was just as a Self-esteem dispenser or an emotional trash can.
Since she had received grace, she would fulfill her duty.
"You seem to think of yourself as trash, but in our industry, that doesn't even count as anything."
"...What are you talking about?"
"I'll tell you a few stories."
Self-esteem dispenser Kim Su-ah brought up her own past.
Before she met A-yeon.
Su-ah told her about a few things that happened when she was in middle school.
A-yeon, who had been listening silently, widened her eyes and gasped from time to time.
"...You're a real psycho, you know that?"
Suddenly, A-yeon felt proud of herself for not having been swayed by someone like this for three years.
As if she had wanted that reaction, Su-ah puffed out her chest triumphantly.
"You have to be at least this level to be called trash."
Things like a victim of domestic violence accidentally harming their parents, not even on purpose.
Compared to herself, who had planted mental illnesses in countless women and then vanished into high school, that was nothing.
A-yeon asked seriously.
"Doesn't that make you feel self-loathing, humanly speaking?"
"Not at all."
"Why?"
"If they hadn't liked me, they wouldn't have gotten hurt, right? It's their fault for liking me on their own."
A-yeon frowned.
"It's not my fault I was born cute, is it?"
"...That's truly disgusting."
To A-yeon, who was wearing a look of contempt, Su-ah cut to the chase.
"You need to accept that you were born pretty, too. Your Oppa helped you because you're so great, so why do you feel guilty about it?"
"My conscience..."
"So what if you don't have a conscience? Does a conscience feed you?"
"...."
"As a person, it's natural to feel sorry or grateful. But I don't think you should turn yourself into a pathetic wreck because of it."
A-yeon's expression softened slightly.
"If you think of yourself as pathetic, what does that make your Oppa, and what does that make me?"
"...You're really good at saying cringey things without hesitation."
"That's how I seduced so many women."
"That's something to be proud of."
With an expression much better than when she had first called her to the cafe.
"Kim Su-ah."
"Why."
"I'm going to have sex this week and send you a verification photo."
A-yeon stood up from her seat.
"Take it like a champ."
"...Why are you sending that to me?"
"The way I see it, you need a bit more 'corrective education.'"
Her words sounded casual, but.
Su-ah was deeply rattled by this dating advice alone.
If A-yeon really did send a verification photo, she might end up slitting her wrists, just like one of the women she had once discarded.
Suddenly, Su-ah felt like she understood how those women must have felt.
The feeling of the person you like never looking at you.
The feeling of them looking at someone else with eyes full of affection.
It was the worst.
But seeing A-yeon's back as she left the cafe, humming a tune.
Before she knew it, her own feelings didn't matter at all.
She was a femme fatale.
Su-ah envied Dohyun, who monopolized such love from A-yeon, more than anyone else in the world.
*
"Achoo."
A sneeze suddenly came out.
Is someone badmouthing me?
Fortunately, the meeting today ended without any issues.
My Wish ticket had become a decent option for several politicians, and they had promised to support me with all their might.
I had been worried about what I would do if I didn't have a single guest on my side at the Wedding.
But if this trend continues, I don't think that will happen.
"There's still one more person to meet, right?"
"That is correct."
After finishing today's schedule following Yoo Seol-ssi's supporting, I stretched out in the car.
Since I had barely slept a wink, my eyelids felt like they were on fire.
Please, let nothing happen tonight.
I returned home, harboring a small wish.