Phase 2. Hui-gyeong (15)
It was a day I had to head to school for classes.
Technically I only needed to be there before lunch, but thanks to this damn habit of mine, my eyes cracked open early again.
"Urrrgh...! Huh?"
Hui-gyeong was gone.
Thinking she might still be under the covers, I lifted the blanket, but she wasn't there. Even the towel I'd laid out when I put her to bed last night had vanished. The fact that she'd cleaned up her spot told me this wasn't just a quick trip to the bathroom.
I felt a twinge of disappointment.
There was something addictively sweet about holding her while she slept and stroking her hair, the way she would nestle even deeper against me without waking. Or just watching her face as she dozed with her head pillowed on my arm. There had been times the reverse happened too—when she woke first and I would feel her lips brush absently against my neck and jaw whenever she got bored.
"Nngh—!"
I stretched hard and finally pushed myself all the way out of bed.
After last night's lift-and-bang session, my lower back should have been sore... but it wasn't. If anything, it had been good exercise. The raw pleasure of spreading Hui-gyeong's ass wide and slamming her down onto me was intense enough that I figured it was going to become a regular favorite. Judging by the way she came so hard she could barely breathe, her satisfaction rating seemed pretty high too.
"……."
Thinking back, Hui-gyeong had only managed to survive by swallowing every sound. If she had gasped and panted out loud under her older brother's brutal cock-pounding the way she usually did, Mom would have caught us immediately.
Back at the motel, she had always let out little moans every time a wave hit her. For a girl like that to take a full lift-and-bang and only hold her breath because it felt too good? That was Hui-gyeong desperately, desperately holding it in.
"Ah, damn it…."
Gyeong-hun, you idiot. You're her older brother and her husband, and you made your wife sit there terrified on her own. While this useless bastard was busy getting off on the thrusting, Hui-gyeong was biting everything back so she wouldn't get caught—all so she could still satisfy her husband.
Mom's mood had already looked terrible last night. How on edge must Hui-gyeong have been the whole time?
I wanted a space that belonged to just the two of us, somewhere we wouldn't be interrupted. To get that, we had to get out of here.
Easy to say, hard to do. It wasn't just about Hui-gyeong—there were rumors about our entire household. We had to cut every last one of those ties before we left.
People would say, why not just go overseas? As if that were simple. Leaving the country you were born and raised in to settle somewhere with a completely different culture and mindset—most people who say that have no idea how hard it actually is. Even kids who only went on short language-study trips would talk about how once homesickness hit, there was no cure.
And more than anything, if you had money, Korea was the best place in the world to live.
But right now I had to wait for the right moment.
How long are you going to keep waiting for the right moment? Time keeps moving.
Gyeong-jun's frustrated words from a while back floated up. Of course, he'd meant hurry up and move out—not hurry up and erase Dad. From the moment I first told him my real intentions, Gyeong-jun had never once supported them.
How the hell did a lift-and-bang session lead me all the way to thoughts like this?
What I realized all over again was that even after getting Hui-gyeong, my life was still buried under a mountain of shitty problems I had to solve. All I wanted was to handle them without letting any harm reach the family.
"Fuck, first thing in the morning and I'm already in a foul mood."
I folded up the bedding to shake off the thoughts, then gave one last stretch. Bone popped all the way up my neck. When I opened the door, the smell of cooking drifted in.
"It's bland…."
"Gyeong-hun likes things mild, so no."
Hui-gyeong and Mom's voices. For some reason Mom was speaking with absolute firmness. She wasn't trailing off the ends of her sentences the way she usually did; she sounded like a strict judge.
"Who told you to slice the onion into long strips when I said to mince it!"
"Huh? If you're mincing onion, you're not slicing it, right? Weren't you supposed to cut it into little cubes like diced radish?"
"Well, yes, but if you just keep slicing all the way to the end in one go, what am I supposed to do, Hui-gyeong—! Don't pound the onion with the handle of the knife! You'll ruin the cutting board!"
"Huh? You said to mince it…?"
When I stepped into the kitchen I found Hui-gyeong wearing an innocent expression while diligently demolishing the cooking, and Mom clutching her head as she watched.
Cooking side by side?
Hadn't the atmosphere between Mom and Hui-gyeong been ice-cold yesterday?
"If Mom isn't around, you're the one who has to feed Gyeong-hun instead, so just endure it and keep going~. Got it?"
"Hmph. Even if Mom's here, I'm the one who'll take care of Oppa's meals from now on."
"Fine, fine, just cook properly first… why are you crushing the green onions?!"
"I hate the texture, so I was going to mince them until you can't feel them at all."
"That is not mincing! Who mashes green onions into a rag and dumps them into egg rolls!"
"No, I'm going to erase them completely, I said!"
What the hell was this?
Was I even hearing Korean right now? I could not for the life of me understand what Hui-gyeong was trying to say. Completely oblivious to her surroundings, she kept pulverizing the green onions until their distinctive juice ran out and everything turned slick and slimy.
Thud thud thud!
"Hmm, these really aren't disappearing."
Hui-gyeong herself was turning into a kitchen disaster. The smile on Mom's face had vanished long ago. Watching Hui-gyeong stubbornly repeat whatever this cooking-or-destruction act was, Mom's eyes grew steadily colder.
She simply stood there wrapped in that same scary, spine-chilling aura I'd seen at dinner last night, watching in silence.
Before things exploded, I hurried over and caught Hui-gyeong's wrist.
"Oppa~!"
"Yeah, yeah. That's dangerous—let's put the knife down first."
I was happy when she beamed and threw herself into my arms, but I would prefer she not try to hug me while still holding a knife. I calmly took it from her and set it on the cutting board.
"Just wait a little. I'll make you something."
I patted Hui-gyeong's back and shot Mom a look. She shook her head firmly.
"I'm starving, though—can't you just make fried eggs real quick?"
"Real quick?"
Seizing the chance, Mom casually dumped every remaining ingredient into the beaten eggs and slapped the mixture into a hot pan, frying it at top speed.
"Heh~. After going that hard last night of course you're starving first thing in the morning!"
I froze.
The hand that had been sizzling the eggs stopped. Mom looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh.
Was she doing this on purpose?
Hui-gyeong's total lack of tact was going to kill me.
"Hey, when you say it like that it sounds weird."
"What? Ah…."
Hui-gyeong realized her slip a beat too late and clamped both hands over her mouth, but Mom had already finished the fried eggs and was roughly scooping them onto each of our plates.
While Mom wiped the oil out of the pan first, Hui-gyeong picked up her own plate and sat right beside me the way she had yesterday. Mom turned around holding a paper towel, saw it, and twisted her mouth into a distorted little smile.
The atmosphere was not good.
I had thought that once I finally connected with Hui-gyeong we would just get to build happy days together, but now even the rest of the family was locked in cold war. As the head of the household all I could do was sigh.
"Hey, why is mine burnt?"
"Oh my, that's the part with the green onions Hui-gyeong made, isn't it?"
"Mom, are you doing this on purpose?"
Hui-gyeong, are you doing this on purpose too?
"Jo Hui-gyeong, this happened because you kept ignoring Mom and doing whatever you wanted."
"What! I know how to cook! I can handle a knife just fine!"
"Hui-gyeong, enough. From now on just take it step by step the way Mom teaches you."
"I said I already know how!"
"You little—! I only let it slide because you said you'd make Gyeong-hun's meals!"
God, what the hell was this first thing in the morning.
I stood up and quietly scolded the two of them who were glaring at each other.
"Hui-gyeong, I know you're good with a knife, but Mom's been cooking a lot longer. Listen to her."
"Oppa, are you taking Mom's side instead of mine right now?"
"I know our Hui-gyeong is upset because things didn't go well today. So calm down. Oppa knows you tried hard."
"...Tch."
"So learn a little more from Mom and make Oppa something delicious, okay?"
"…I don't care. I hate Mom."
At least she didn't hate me.
For the moment I treated her not as my wife but as my little sister. Once I had a little emotional room, I started to see Hui-gyeong clearly. She had wanted to do well, and when she hit a wall she threw a childish tantrum to hide how hurt she felt. Maybe it only came out like this in front of me. Even before we started dating she had shown more and more of these symptoms, but after holding it all in alone for so long, now that she finally had someone who would indulge her, she was getting needier and more endlessly clingy by the day.
"You worked hard too, Mom."
"…Hmph."
If you asked how I understood it so well—Mom had been the same way. Ever since she started depending on me, whenever she felt I wasn't paying her enough attention she had been doing this for a long time.
"We've been leaving Mom home alone too much lately, so later let's all go on an outing together."
"Mom too?"
"What, you want to leave Mom out?"
Even she seemed to realize that was too much, so Hui-gyeong took her frustration out on the fried egg, tearing it into tiny pieces.
"I don't want to either."
When Mom, who had been quietly chewing her food, also objected, a sigh slipped out of me before I could stop it.
"Haa, seriously, first thing in the morning…."
Only then did the two of them flinch and start watching my face, which only irritated me more. Even knowing I was in a foul mood, Mom puffed out her cheeks and spoke.
"I want to go out with just Gyeong-hun."
"What? Why am I being left out!"
"Hui-gyeong, you left Mom out too. The two of you even went to the amusement park together."
"Absolutely not!"
Ah, I couldn't take it anymore.
I cut the fried egg I hadn't even touched yet in half. I picked up one half and held it out to Hui-gyeong first.
"Ahh~."
"That's… too big… ah, aahh~."
I kept pushing it at her until she had no choice but to take the bite.
"Good girl."
"Heh~."
The second I praised her she puffed up without any filter and shot a look at Mom.
"Here, Mom, ahh~."
"Aahh~."
I fed Mom the other half the same way. She smiled with her eyes and accepted it readily. I could feel Hui-gyeong glaring, but as head of the household I was already exhausted enough. Now that both of them had half a huge fried egg in their mouths, at least they couldn't talk.
"Later when we pick a day, Mom and I going out together is okay."
"Mmmph!"
"Hui-gyeong, don't be like that either. We're family. Other than Dad being the way he is, we're all we've got in this whole damn world. You want to keep doing this forever?"
"……."
"Mom, you're being too hard on Hui-gyeong too."
Mom could only nod while she chewed. Whether it was because I had agreed to the date or not, her usual soft smile and warm air had returned. When I stroked Hui-gyeong's hair, my wife's mouth went soft and silly too. She should have done that from the start.
"You both look so pretty when you smile. No more fighting—eat. I've got school, so I'm getting up first."
I hadn't even managed to eat a proper meal, but at least I had stopped a family fight. Leaving the two of them waving behind me, I cleared my dishes and headed into the bathroom.
After Gyeong-hun left the kitchen, Hui-gyeong immediately swallowed the food still in her mouth, let out a long breath, and shot Gyeong-ae a sideways glare.
"Mom, when Oppa leaves later, let's talk."
Gyeong-ae, who had already finished swallowing and was drinking water, smiled right back.
"Talk about what~?"
"I've felt this for a long time—aren't you clinging to Oppa a little too much?"
"Pfft…!"
"What, Mom, am I funny to you?"
"You're hilarious~."
"What is!"
The more Hui-gyeong got worked up, the deeper Gyeong-ae's smile grew. In the quiet, only the soft sound of Gyeong-hun washing up could be heard.
Gyeong-ae steadily finished every last grain of rice in her bowl, then stood up with her dishes. She delivered a calm, deliberate warning to her daughter.
"Hui-gyeong, even if you're my daughter, you don't get to touch the person Mom has been waiting for all this time~."
"The person you've been waiting for? You mean Oppa? That's funny. You talk like Oppa already belongs to Mom."
"Not yet. But it's a relationship we've slowly built by relying on each other for a long time."
"Yeah, right."
Hui-gyeong propped her chin in her hand and provoked her.
"What belongs to Mom is Dad. You married Dad, so of course Mom belongs to Dad too."
That provocation woke a sleeping lion.
"Hui-gyeong."
"…!"
The air froze solid. Hui-gyeong fell silent. But the words that followed made even her clench her teeth.
"Hui-gyeong, you shouldn't be the one bringing up a woman's past first~. Right? Our Hui-gyeong should at least have that much sense, shouldn't she?"
"Ha! What?"
"If you bring up that fucking bastard one more time, Mom is going to get seriously angry."
Hearing her mother drop a raw curse for the first time in her life left Hui-gyeong completely overwhelmed. In the end she tucked her tail between her legs.
"…S-sorry."
"Okay! Mom's sorry for scaring you too~?"
Defeat.
Completely crushed in the battle of wills, Hui-gyeong could only swallow her resentment and quietly retreat to her room.
Ironically, neither of these two women was treating the fact that Gyeong-hun was their actual blood relative as a problem at all.