The Next Morning
The next day dawned.
Han Pan rose from the bed and headed out to the living room. He downed a large glass of cold water in one go, then walked into the exercise room.
He started walking on the treadmill. As strength surged through his body, he picked up the pace and began to run. After several minutes of hard running, sweat poured down him like rain. Every muscle in his body twitched and responded.
He moved on to the barbell, putting himself through a fairly intense workout until his whole body was soaked. Leaving the exercise room like that, he walked into the kitchen and drank another glass of cold water to cool himself down.
That was when Mi-ho came downstairs into the kitchen, hair a mess, face scrunched up from what was clearly a hangover. She glared at Han Pan, then snatched the water bottle right out of his hand. She found a cup in the cupboard, filled it, and drained every last drop in one go.
She let out a long breath.
“Huu… Okay, I might actually live now…”
Han Pan watched her in silence. Facing his mother like this left him unsure what to say. Seeing him hesitate, she stepped closer and looked up at him.
Han Pan thought her eyes were incredibly beautiful. Even before she was his mother, she was clearly an attractive woman. When she simply stared at him without speaking, he felt flustered. She reached out and gently stroked his cheek.
“Uh… Mom…”
“My son… You had a rough time yesterday, didn’t you? With Mom suddenly acting so different…”
“Uh… Yeah…”
“Mm… Mom spent all day yesterday thinking about a lot of things… and now my head feels a little clearer…”
“Yeah… Yeah…”
Mi-ho gazed at him with a deep, lingering look.
“Son…”
“Yeah?”
“Do you like Mom?”
Han Pan nodded firmly.
“How do you like me?”
“Uh… Well… I just like you… How do I put it… I can’t really explain it… but I like you…”
“Really like me?”
Han Pan nodded hard again, and Mi-ho let out another deep breath. Her mind was still full of the things Eun-yeong had said the day before.
“I like you… Mom likes Han Pan too… And well… it feels like we crossed that line a long time ago already… We both know we’re interested in each other… We’re physically drawn to each other… But… Han Pan, there’s still this little knot of unease in one corner of Mom’s heart… So I’ll take care of that myself. Can you wait for me a little in the meantime?”
Han Pan understood her struggle. He nodded firmly. When he did, Mi-ho took a steadying breath and spoke again.
“Mm, it’s okay if Mom does a few dirty things with her son, right?”
Han Pan nodded up and down again, big and clear.
“Good… I’ll try a little harder… Mm… But I hope our son doesn’t look at Mom strangely… I’m older than the girls your age, and I’m not all smooth and polished, so I don’t have much confidence… But you say you like me anyway… Don’t hurt Mom’s feelings, okay?”
“Yeah… Yeah…”
Han Pan understood how deep the wounds from her divorce had been, and he sincerely hoped nothing like that would ever happen again.
“Alright… Then let’s eat… Go wash up… And don’t tell anyone about this conversation, okay? Hmm?”
“Yeah, I got it…”
“Good. Go wash.”
Mi-ho patted his butt as she said it. Han Pan nodded and headed up to the second-floor shower.
Mi-ho’s feelings were still a little unsettled, but she realized that drinking the night before had helped sort a lot of things out. One thing was clear: her son was a vigorous man in his twenties ruled by hormones, and she found that man deeply attractive. She couldn’t deny that she herself was under the powerful sway of those same hormones, and that was what left her torn between morality and desire. It felt like a battle between devil and angel. She couldn’t tell whether the battlefield was her son or herself, but she could sense that lust was winning over morality. And as Eun-yeong had said, a little enjoyment wouldn’t be so terrible. If they were careful enough, no one would get hurt and no one would lose anything. What mattered was resolve and action. Of course her age still worried her, but the fact that young men these days went for older women like her was at least some comfort.
She prepared breakfast with a thousand thoughts swirling, but there was no turning back time. Whether she sensed her mother’s mood or not, So-jo soon stepped into the kitchen, greeted her cheerfully, and hummed under her breath as she helped get breakfast ready.
“So-jo, go call Han Pan… Time to eat…”
“Okay, Mom.”
So-jo went straight upstairs to fetch him. A moment later Han Pan and So-jo came down together. The three of them shared a quiet, uneventful breakfast. No one mentioned the day before.
After eating, Han Pan returned to his room, sat in front of his computer, and idly browsed various communities. He spent the morning smirking at posts.
A little later he heard the click of high heels approaching his door. He could feel his heart begin to beat faster. Then came a knock, and Mi-ho poked her head in. Her face, made up for work, gave him a whole new impression.
“Son, are you busy?”
Han Pan spun his chair around to face her.
“No.”
“Want to talk with Mom for a bit?”
“Sure…”
Mi-ho smiled as she stepped inside. Her style didn’t disappoint him today either. She wore a tight, pale ivory blouse through which a bra of nearly the same color faintly showed. Her violet skirt fell to the knee—simple, but quite form-fitting—and she had paired it with high heels in the same color. Han Pan thought again how weak he was for high heels. The dizzying look of those slender heels pulled his gaze hard. Her slim ankles and beautifully long legs suited the heels perfectly. And of course the full, voluptuous line of her chest was incredibly alluring too.
Mi-ho felt his eyes lock onto her chest, her legs, and her heels. She wondered if her son shared her own high-heel fetish.
“Do you like Mom’s high heels?”
She twisted one leg across the other as if inviting him to look closer. The unexpected question snapped Han Pan out of his daze.
“Huh? Yes?… Ah… Yes… Well… Mm… I guess so…”
“Not ‘I guess so’—you do.”
Han Pan scratched his head, embarrassed.
“Han Pan… Since things between us have already come this far, just be open about what you want… Mom will do the same…”
“Uh… You’re right… It’s a little embarrassing…”
“Anything else?”
“Huh?”
“What else is there?”
“Well… Uh… Sexy underwear or sexy clothes… Mm… Anything that shows off the body, I guess I like all of that…”
“Oh… Really? Simpler than I expected? Mm… Mom has some sexy clothes, so I should start wearing them more often… Hohoho.”
Mi-ho took a step closer to him. She took another deep breath to steady herself.
“Uh… Son, Mom really has something she wants to say…”
“Yeah.”
A clear tension showed on her face. Han Pan felt just as tense waiting for whatever came next.
“Mm… Us… Mm… Mom doesn’t have a boyfriend, and you don’t have a girlfriend yet either… Ah… So I was thinking… What if we filled each other’s needs?”
“How?”
“Mm… You masturbate, right?”
The sudden question flustered him, but he forced himself to answer calmly.
“Yeah, I do…”
“How often?”
“Uh… Well… At least twice a day for sure… When I’m really in the mood, three or four times…”
Mi-ho realized for the first time in her life that her son was a man with such strong stamina. Discovering that her sweet boy was overflowing with that kind of drive, she said,
“Mm… Is that so?…”
“What about you, Mom? Don’t you masturbate?”
“Uh… Me? Mm… Mom does it once a day too… Sometimes more…”
“Oh…”
“Well… I know you want sex… but Mom needs a little more time to get ready for that in her heart… So… how about we try being sex partners without the sex for now? We’ll do some dirty things… but keep it within a reasonable line… Just helping each other out, something like that?”
“Huh? Sex partners without the sex?”
“Uh… Not exactly that… Just… relieving each other’s needs within a reasonable line, something like that…”
Han Pan felt a strange mix of emotions. Remembering how cold she had been the day before, her proposal didn’t sound bad at all.
“I’m good with that…”
When he smiled brightly, Mi-ho’s heart eased a little.
“Alright… Then see you this evening… Mm… Will you be home today?”
Han Pan thought for a moment.
“No, I’m meeting someone for lunch.”
“Oh, really? Okay… See you tonight.”
“Yeah.”
After saying that, Mi-ho looked at him quietly. Then she stepped forward, leaned down, and pressed a short kiss to his cheek.
“Son, you know Mom loves you a lot, right?”
Han Pan felt a little shy.
“Yeah, I know…”
“Good… Mom will try not to disappoint you… So you try to understand Mom a lot too… Okay?”
Han Pan nodded firmly.
“Yeah, I got it.”
Mi-ho smiled, satisfied. Then she turned and left his room. A quiet smile lingered at the corners of Han Pan’s mouth.