Chapter 100: Date (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 100: Date (5)
Lately, Seo Jeong-hee found herself standing in front of the mirror more and more often.
“I think I’ve gained some weight…”
Unlike in the past, when she’d thought she was in decent shape for a woman in her forties, her mindset had now changed.
The parts of herself she once considered acceptable now all seemed unsatisfactory.
As she aged, she had naturally started to put on weight.
Until a few years ago, she had tried her best to fight it.
She would walk along the trail in the morning and work out at the gym during her free afternoons.
She did whatever she could to make up for her lack of exercise and maintain her figure.
But as the years went by, she grew skeptical about tending to her body.
‘What’s the point of all this?’
That’s what she thought.
No matter how much she worked on her figure, there was no one to praise her for it. Why was she going through all this trouble?
The one man in the world who was supposed to see her as a woman, her husband, had moved to the countryside, and she only saw him once or twice a year.
Her dampened spirits made her stop.
She continued her morning walks, as breathing in the dawn air did seem to clear her head, but she stopped going to the gym.
She thought things would never get better.
She believed all that was left was to grow older, one year at a time, and become just like all the other middle-aged women.
But as they say, you never know what life has in store.
“Do-jin said it was fine, but…”
Another man who treated her like a woman had appeared in her life.
And he was a young man, the same age as her daughter.
Perhaps she had given him an opening for her own satisfaction.
The moment she felt the young man looking at her with an unmistakably sexual gaze, she felt an indescribable sense of fulfillment.
It was a heated gaze, qualitatively different from the slack-jawed stares of the old men at the mineral spring or in the park. It pulled up her self-esteem, which had been on a steady decline for the past several years.
At first, she was simply grateful.
That gratitude made her act more leniently toward Kim Do-jin.
On top of that, when her life was on the line, he had saved her. It all started when she couldn't just ignore the boy who’d gotten hard just by looking at her.
From that point on, she was helplessly swept away.
Every time she felt the young man’s heat, she melted without even putting up a decent fight.
Deep down, she knew it was wrong, but she found herself thinking about him more and more.
“This won’t do. I have to start working out again…”
Kim Do-jin had said everything was perfect, but she couldn’t help but be conscious of it.
The small roll of fat on her stomach that he sometimes grabbed, her large bottom and thighs that made a rough sound whenever their skin touched—all of it.
So, to resume the body care she had given up on for so long, she started going to the gym again.
She kept it a secret from Kim Do-jin.
She was embarrassed to tell him she had started working on her figure for his sake, and she was also curious to see the look on his face when he saw her changed appearance one day.
And today was the day she saw meaningful results.
“I wonder if it’s noticeable…?”
It was the day she had finally succeeded in losing a whole 7 kilograms as a result of her dedicated exercise and diet control.
She returned home with the thrilling thought that the sharp-eyed Kim Do-jin would notice right away with just a small hint.
That’s when she saw it.
Kim Do-jin was getting into a car parked in front of their building.
And the person in the driver’s seat was a very pretty young woman.
How must she have felt, seeing Kim Do-jin greet the woman with a smile and get into the passenger seat?
‘Right, this is how it’s supposed to be.’
Her first feelings were acceptance and resignation.
The age gap between her and Kim Do-jin was at least twenty years, to put it mildly.
It made sense for him to be with a young woman his own age rather than with her, a woman who had nothing to look forward to but more wrinkles.
As she tried to console herself, telling herself it was just a short dream and it was time to wake up, she was soon confronted with a different emotion.
“What a ridiculous kid!”
Suddenly, she was angry.
How could he look at her with such affection, getting hard at the sight of her one moment, and then go fool around with another woman the next!
“Still, how could he…!”
It felt so unfair.
For him, she had even started going back to the gym she’d abandoned for years, yet the very person who should have noticed was off somewhere having a blast in another woman’s car.
“Mom, I’m home. What’s for dinner?”
“…Mom’s not feeling well today, so you can either make something yourself or order in.”
With that, Seo Jeong-hee stormed into her room, leaving Shin Yu-jeong staring after her in bewilderment.
“…Is it that time of the month?”
Poor, innocent Shin Yu-jeong was the one who had her dinner confiscated.
Seo Jeong-hee, perched on her bed, was still on an emotional rollercoaster.
Resignation, then anger, then sadness, then back to resignation.
“Haa…”
Heading to the kitchen to quench her parched throat, she happened to check the clock.
It was almost midnight.
After downing a glass of chilled mate tea, she saw the stack of side dish containers in a corner of the fridge.
“……”
They were the side dishes she was going to bring to Kim Do-jin.
After staring at them with resentment, she let out a small sigh and picked them up.
‘I made them to give to him anyway…’
Rationalizing that it would be a waste to throw them out, she climbed the stairs.
Soon, she reached the rooftop.
Not a single sliver of light escaped from the window.
Was he sleeping, or…
Normally, she would have turned back.
But today was different.
With a trembling hand, Seo Jeong-hee knocked on the door.
“Do-jin… are you asleep?”
She hoped.
She hoped he had simply fallen asleep early.
“Do-jin?”
No answer came from the room, which was shrouded in heavy darkness.
She didn’t want to admit it, but she had to.
Kim Do-jin hadn’t returned since he’d left in that woman’s car.
“……”
Her mind ran wild with imagination.
A vivid image formed in her mind of Kim Do-jin and the woman from the driver’s seat, tangled together without a stitch of clothing on.
The moment that woman got a taste of that thing of his, which seemed to have gotten even bigger recently, she too would end up…
“What… what am I thinking!”
Seo Jeong-hee shook her head violently.
Placing the containers on the wooden platform and sitting down beside them, she opened her smartphone to check the time.
It felt like she had only been imagining things for a moment, but it was already past midnight.
She slowly scrolled through her recent call history.
The number of calls with Kim Do-jin, which had become more frequent than those with her husband who rarely answered under the excuse of being busy, was recorded right there.
She pouted and muttered to herself.
“Tomorrow’s Monday…”
He had a morning class and needed to leave early. What was he thinking, not coming home yet?
After hesitating for a long time, she finally called him.
It was purely because she was worried about his next day, with no other intentions whatsoever.
Probably.
*
The smartphone I had placed on the table while I went to wash up cut in and rang at the most impeccable timing.
Who could be calling at this hour?
The name on the screen was none other than Ajumma.
Ah, this was unavoidable.
I could ignore anyone else, but it was a bit difficult to not answer Ajumma’s call.
“I’m sorry, Ji-an. I need to take this call for a moment.”
“Oh, of course. Please feel free to use that room over there.”
“Thank you.”
She was so kind and considerate.
The room she pointed to was a dressing room.
Just by looking at the hangers, filled with neat, clean designs without a single flashy color, I could guess her usual style.
I closed the door and answered Ajumma’s call.
“Hello?”
-Ah… Do-jin?
“Yes, Ajumma. What’s wrong?”
-Um… I came up for a moment because I had some business, but you weren’t here, so I called because I was curious where you were.
I pulled the phone away from my ear for a second to check the time.
It was well past midnight.
Business at this hour? Could something serious have happened?
“I’m at a… friend’s house right now.”
-A friend’s house… Then are you planning to sleep over?
“Uh… I’m not sure.”
I didn’t know either.
She had told me to stay for ramen, not to stay the night.
I wanted to cling to her, but I had to be careful. Trying to close the distance too rashly could end up pushing us further apart.
-Do-jin.
“…Yes?”
Suddenly, Ajumma’s voice when she said my name dropped an octave.
Why did I feel a chill run down my spine?
-Shouldn’t you come home to sleep? Your friend might feel a bit awkward.
She doesn’t seem particularly awkward, though…?
“No, she doesn’t seem that uncomforta—”
-Hmm?
My mouth snapped shut.
Alarm bells went off in my head.
The words I was about to say were the perfect wrong answer, as far from the correct one as possible.
“Actually, now that I think about it, she did seem a little uncomfortable…”
-Right?
I could feel that Ajumma’s mood had softened a little.
-Come home soon. You have school tomorrow, don’t you?
“Ah, um, Ajumma, just one bowl of ramen…!”
-I’ll be waiting, so come quickly, okay?
…She hung up.
“What the hell was that?”
My plea to have just one bowl of ramen seemed to have been completely ignored.
“…What should I do.”
My head was telling me, ‘How long does it take to eat a bowl of ramen? Just eat and go,’ but my heart was shaking its head, insisting that I absolutely should not.
This was a battle between reason and instinct.
I quickly made my decision and left the dressing room.
“Ji-an?”
Yoon Ji-an, who had been pacing in the living room, turned her head at the sound of my voice.
“I’m sorry. I think I’ll have to have ramen some other time.”
“Pardon? Ah… something must have come up.”
“Yes. Something came up at home.”
At the word “home,” Yoon Ji-an’s expression stiffened slightly as she asked me back.
“Is it… bad news?”
Her worried tone made me immediately wave my hands to dispel her anxiety.
“No, it’s not that. Probably…”
I had a strong feeling that if I went home right now, it wouldn’t turn into bad news.
That’s why I’d chosen to give up the ramen and go home.
I pointed to the T-shirt I was wearing and asked her.
“This T-shirt, is it okay if I wear it home?”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
“Thank you. I’ll wash it and return it to you next time.”
“Then I will wash the shirt hanging in the bathroom and return it to you when we next meet.”
“You really don’t have to…”
“It was my mistake, so it’s only right that I do it.”
Her tone was so firm, as if it was an absolute must.
“…Then, would you do that for me?”
“Yes, leave it to me.”
Her reply was filled with such a sense of duty that I had nothing more to say.
“I’ll get going then. See you next time.”
“Yes, as I said, please feel free to call me anytime.”
“Since I have your permission, I’ll be sure to bother you a lot from now on.”
As I spoke with a smile, a small smile bloomed on Yoon Ji-an’s lips as well.
After grabbing the head of the insistent woman who wanted to see me off and pushing her back inside, I left the building and hailed a taxi on the main street.
Perhaps because there weren’t many cars at this hour, the taxi driver drove like he was in a racing game.
“We’re here, sir.”
“…Thank you.”
Well, thanks to him, I arrived early, so that’s good.
As I climbed the stairs, I suddenly thought of Ajumma.
She said she’d be waiting, but surely she wasn’t waiting outside…?
An uneasy feeling made me quicken my pace up to the rooftop, and just as I’d feared.
“You’re here?”
Despite the fact that the nights were now quite chilly since the heat had broken, Ajumma was sitting on the wooden platform in thin clothes.
I rushed over, wrapped my arms around her shoulders, and led her toward the door.
“It’s cold, why are you waiting outside?”
As I spoke in a scolding tone, Ajumma looked me up and down with a strange gaze.
Then, her expression changed.
It was a sulky pout, one that clearly showed she was displeased about something.
I unlocked the door to let her in, but Ajumma pulled her arm away and stopped in her tracks.
“There are side dish containers on the platform. Put them in the fridge and eat them.”
“Ajumma…?”
Ignoring my call, Ajumma let out a “hmph” and turned her back to me.
“I’m going down now, so get to sleep. Don’t be late for school tomorrow.”
“…Okay.”
Without a single glance back, Ajumma trudged down the stairs.
“What was that…?”
It seemed Ajumma was sulking.