Backfire
Han Pan sighed and tossed his phone aside. He laced both hands behind his head and sprawled out across the bed.
It had been a Sunday packed with all kinds of things, he thought. A flood of thoughts raced through his mind. Hye-su especially filled his head, and he fretted over how Mi-ho would react if she ever found out. At the same time he wondered what she would think if she knew about the affair he had witnessed that morning at church—Pastor Byeon and his daughter-in-law going at it.
He unlocked his phone and played back the video he had recorded of their heated scene. Almost at once the screen filled with the two of them fucking messily. Moans and heavy breathing spilled from the phone’s speaker. He had never been the type to get off on watching other people have sex, yet the sheer filth of it made his cock stir. He gave it a few idle strokes, then sighed, shut the video off, and flung the phone away.
Exhaustion washed over him. For a while he simply stared into space, turning one thought after another over in his head. Soon the sound of a car pulling into the house reached him. When he heard heels on the stairs he knew Mi-ho was home. A moment later she came up from the underground garage, her expression bright and cheerful.
“Mom, you’re back?”
“Mm, son—you’re already home.”
She smiled as she came over and sank onto the sofa beside him.
“Something good happen?” Han Pan asked.
“Huh? Oh! Me?” She was beaming. “Why? Do I look happy?”
“Your face looks happy.”
“Yeah, well… just a little while ago our group was having coffee at a café. Then the pastor came by, gave us all a laying-on-of-hands prayer, and even bought us dessert. So the conversation ran long.”
At her words, Pastor Byeon’s face and that of his daughter-in-law Im So-eun flashed through Han Pan’s mind. He suddenly remembered the lecherous look the man had given Mi-ho earlier. He wondered what kind of dirty scheme the pastor was cooking up.
Mi-ho noticed his expression darken and looked at him with concern.
“Why? Did something happen to you?”
Seeing the worry on her face, Han Pan forced a smile.
“No, no.”
He decided to keep the video to himself for later. Mi-ho stretched and rose from her seat.
“Alright, this mom needs a little rest… It’s been a long day.”
Han Pan caught her hand as she stood. She settled naturally into his arms. With a soft sigh she leaned against him and lifted a hand to stroke his face.
“Son… Mom’s feeling a little holy today… So, um… let’s just keep things quiet tonight…”
Han Pan brought his hand to her chest. The lush fullness of her breasts filled his palm completely. It was a different kind of abundance from Hye-su’s—where Hye-su’s filled the hand perfectly, Mi-ho’s were simply massive.
“Son… mm… Mom wants to hold on to that sacred feeling from today.”
“Your son’s feeling pretty sacred too…”
She burst out laughing.
“Aigoo… you really know how to talk…”
She said it as she rose from his embrace. Watching her head for her room, Han Pan spoke in a deliberately casual tone.
“I met the woman Dad married today.”
Mi-ho spun around, eyes wide with shock. Han Pan only shrugged.
“That appointment you had today—was it to meet her?”
He nodded.
“You…”
“No reason I shouldn’t meet her, right?”
“…”
Mi-ho’s face twisted sharply, her brows drawing into a fierce reverse-eight shape as she glared at him for a long moment. A truly terrifying aura rolled off her. The intensity of her reaction caught Han Pan off guard; he scrambled for a way to respond. Still, he didn’t want to lie.
“Uh… did I do something wrong?”
“…”
“Mom, if I did something wrong, just tell me. I won’t see her again…”
“…”
“Mom, this is uncomfortable for me too… Dad’s my dad and you’re my mom. I don’t want to get stuck in the middle of the two of you… Dad went and got remarried, and I know that hurts you, but I’ve got my own position here. I’m an adult too.”
“…”
She simply stared at him, face still set in that hard scowl.
“Fine. You’re an adult, so you’ll live your own life however you want… But Mom is not okay with you seeing that woman.”
“Then what do you want me to do?”
“That’s for you to figure out.”
With that she turned and climbed the stairs to her room. A cold draft seemed to slide down Han Pan’s back. He regretted saying anything, yet she would have found out eventually anyway. Telling her later wouldn’t have changed the outcome. His mother was undeniably attractive—but so was Hye-su. Choosing either one would have caused problems; he had simply wanted to be honest.
Watching his mother disappear, he let out a long, heavy sigh. Things were going to be awkward between them for a while. He found himself hoping his older sister would come home soon, if only to break the tension.
The next morning Han Pan was working out as usual, sweat pouring off him. Mi-ho came downstairs late, spotted him, and leaned against the gym doorway, staring at him for a long time. Her mind was a tangle. The fact that her own son—the one she had trusted—had gone and met the woman who felt like her rival left her deeply disappointed. Images of her ex-husband and that woman flooded her thoughts, and her mood plummeted. Her face twisted as she glared at him.
Han Pan felt his mother’s presence, but the sudden murderous weight of her gaze was too much to meet head-on. He deliberately ignored it and kept running on the treadmill in silence. When he showed no reaction, Mi-ho sighed and began stretching beside him, preparing for her own workout. The two of them exercised without exchanging a single word.
Han Pan finished first, wiped away the sweat that had run down his body, and left the home gym for the kitchen. He could feel Mi-ho’s glare burning into his back the whole way, but he ignored it, poured himself a tall glass of cold water, and drained it in one go.
Just then So-jo came downstairs from her room, stretching with a bright expression. Han Pan smiled and greeted her.
“Good morning!”
She returned the greeting cheerfully and stood beside him to drink a glass of water. Han Pan spoke quietly next to her.
“I met the woman Dad married yesterday.”
“What?!”
She stared at him, stunned.
“And?”
“Well, we had a meal, watched a movie together…”
“Are you out of your mind?”
Her fierce reaction left Han Pan flustered. It felt like he had just run into a public enemy.
“Uh…”
“Anyway, so what?”
“Uh… just what I said—ate, had coffee… watched a movie…”
“Why a movie?”
“She just said she wanted to see one… Seemed like she needed someone who knew Dad’s taste and would watch with her…”
“Hmph! That woman is seriously weird…”
Han Pan could tell So-jo was quite hostile toward her.
“You don’t like that auntie either, Noona?”
So-jo held up a palm toward him.
“It’s not that I hate her—it just feels bad.”
“She seemed kind and nice…”
“That’s not the point… Just the fact that Mom and Dad divorced and Dad went and got remarried is uncomfortable by itself… Even what to call her is awkward. Anyway, she’s not great…”
Han Pan sighed.
“So, about that… I told Mom about it yesterday…”
So-jo’s face scrunched up.
“You made a huge mistake… She already can’t stand that woman, and now she finds out you spent time with her? What do you think that does to Mom?”
“Noona, I don’t want to take sides… The fact is Dad and Mom got divorced because something went wrong and they didn’t fit. I don’t want to pick a side in their problems…”
So-jo’s expression turned stern.
“Little brother, I get that you don’t want to take sides, and that’s your freedom—I’m not going to interfere. But as a woman there’s something that just doesn’t sit right. You’re a guy so you might not get it, but between women there’s this… energy. Just hating someone for no clear reason… Ah, by the way, Mom must be seriously pissed… Ugh, another stretch of low pressure coming…”
“…”
At that moment Mi-ho walked into the kitchen. A strange tension settled among the three of them; So-jo felt it and hurriedly pretended to start preparing breakfast. Mi-ho ignored Han Pan completely, brushed past him to the refrigerator, pulled out water, and drank it to cool her body still flushed from the morning workout.
Han Pan sighed inwardly and headed for his room. The completely unexpected fallout left him flustered, and the sheer intensity of his mother’s reaction was something he had never imagined—regret crashed over him in waves. But he had already crossed the bridge; he would have to live with the consequences.