Summer Getaway (4)
"Hanbyul... what do you think of me?"
Honestly, she was clinging to a hope that barely deserved the name. It was the kind of thing that only ever happened in dramas, and yet...
Whether it was love or lust or some tangled mix of both, she had been nursing a quiet fondness for Hanbyul for some time now. But he had a wife he was happy with, so she had done her best to bury the feeling.
Or so I thought.
After the incident with that vulgar video of him masturbating, she had decided she finally had enough of a legitimate reason to want a straight answer from him. That was the honest truth of it.
And it wasn't pure guesswork, either. Looking back over everything that had happened between them, she was fairly certain Hanbyul felt something for her too. The way he had offered her a massage at the restaurant. The way he had told Iseul he would be her dad. And then there was what had happened on the bus, right before he sent that video... Not to mention the way his eyes kept drifting to her chest and her hips every time they talked.
"N-Noona...?"
"Mm-hm..."
She couldn't exactly come out and ask, Why did you send me that video when you're living a perfect little life with your gorgeous wife? So she had framed the question as close to that as she dared. And then—
"You're a good person...!"
The whole thing fell flat. There was a clear line being drawn in Hanbyul's answer.
"Ah... is that... it?"
"A-And also, you're incredibly kind, and sweet, and beautiful... You're such a good person I don't even have the words for it!"
Why did the words good person cut so deep?
Go find someone better than me. You're such a good person, after all.
The last thing her ex-husband had said to her before the divorce rose up out of nowhere.
"Ahahaha..."
A bitter, self-mocking laugh slipped out at the thought of being discarded all over again.
"N-Noona...?"
The hollow laughter kept spilling out of her whether she wanted it to or not.
"Hahahaha..."
If she looked at Hanbyul now she would start crying on the spot, so she forced her eyes straight ahead and kept driving toward their destination. And yet some scrap of lingering attachment must have still been clinging on, because her mouth went and spilled the one thing she had sworn she would never say.
"Then... do you hate me?"
Her voice sounded like it might break into sobs at any second.
"What? Of course not!"
"Then... do you like me...?"
Hanbyul flinched, as if he could tell the conversation was sliding somewhere dangerous. The correct answer, if he wanted this to end well, was obviously yes. But—
He has a wife. And Jia, the daughter he loves.
"No."
The single word left his mouth like a blade driven into Jiwoo's chest, and the air in the car went heavy.
"Ah..."
She let out a tiny, dying sound, then forced a smile.
"B-But that doesn't mean I hate you...!"
Something was about to burst. Whether it was tears or her heart itself, she couldn't tell.
"J-Jiwoo Noona...?"
She could feel Hanbyul's worried gaze on her. At the same time, he reached toward her shoulder, wanting to check whether she was crying.
Smack.
Without thinking, she slapped his approaching hand away hard and glared at him with brimming eyes.
"Were you just playing with me?"
"W-What are you talking about...! Why would I ever play with you, Noona..."
Hanbyul glanced nervously toward the back seat as he spoke, careful not to wake the children. She was watching herself around the kids too—but right now, the last thing she wanted was to play along with whatever game he was running.
"Then why did you send me that video yesterday?! Why the hell did you send it?!"
The moment she raised her voice, he panicked and clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Mmph—!!!"
"N-Noona! What are you doing... Just—just a second..."
Fortunately he was the one driving, so he couldn't keep her muffled for long. Only after flashing her a frantic please be quiet signal with his fingers did he carefully let go.
"Hah... So? Are you just not going to say anything? Have you decided you're not going to talk?"
From Hanbyul's position, blurting out I sent it by accident felt both true and impossibly irresponsible. He couldn't quite bring himself to say it. Which left him with only one thing he could manage.
"I-I'm sorry... Noona."
He dipped his head again and again, apologizing.
"Nh..."
She had expected him to dig in and brazen it out the way her ex-husband always had, refusing to admit fault. He hadn't. The reaction caught her off guard—but the wound in her heart was still carved in deep, and there was no way she was going to forgive him.
"So you were just playing with me. I really looked that easy to you, huh? I help with everything you ask, I go along with everything you want, so—"
Her voice had gone razor-sharp.
"Do I look that easy to mess with? Am I just some woman you felt like testing out once? Do I look slow because I'm fat? Were you sizing me up so you could get a taste of my chest and my ass?! Why does everyone always do this to me?! What the hell did I ever do wrong?!"
Every old wound, every sideways glance, every cutting remark came flooding back, and for a moment it felt like she was living through those miserable years all over again.
"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you."
"..."
"I'm really sorry, Noona..."
All the old scars, the divorce, and now this—Hanbyul's unintentional mistake—had convinced Jiwoo she had been deceived again. She had taken his behavior the same way she had taken every other man who had ever toyed with her, testing the waters. Well. Her daughter was old enough to look after herself now. From here on out, she was going to be different. She was going to show the side of herself she had always swallowed down and hidden away.
"Fine, then."
"I'm sorry..."
"You keep saying you're sorry, so... let's do it."
"Huh...?"
"Let's do it. You and me."
"D-Do what..."
Hanbyul had a pretty good idea what she meant, but saying it out loud was too embarrassing. He hesitated. This was a man who could send a video of himself masturbating in public without a second thought, and yet he couldn't even get the word sex past his lips.
"Sex."
"Wha—?!"
"Let's have sex. If you're sorry, then have sex with me."
It was an outrageous demand, but she wanted her pound of flesh for being played with—so she asked for exactly what she wanted.
"No, Noona, that's not— I'm already married to Jiwoo, and I have a daughter—"
She had fully expected to get shot down. But the excuse was all wrong.
"And me? What about me? I've never been married, I don't have a daughter, is that it?"
Anyone who thought about it for half a second would realize she had never meant anything to him at all—and yet here he was, stubbornly defending himself from his own side of things. It made her furious.
"Unbelievable..."
"Ah... I..."
It had been a long, long time since she had so much as touched a man, let alone had sex with one. She had held it in all this while—but now, with this man named Hanbyul in front of her, the desire she had locked away deep inside and politely pretended not to notice was starting to boil up.
"Fine. Then I'll just forward that video you sent me straight to your wife."
"Ah..."
The distress and despair written all over his face gave Jiwoo a rush of superiority she had never felt before in her life. She barely had time to savor the unfamiliar sensation before she pressed on.
"So? You don't want to do it with me?"
"..."
Every time he got cornered he just went silent. She didn't particularly want to do this either—but she had no choice. She pulled up the video he had sent her. She had downloaded it, so it was easy enough.
"N-Noona!!!"
"Come on. Just once, and I'll put the whole thing to rest."
Humiliation prickled through Hanbyul—and underneath it, something else. Excitement. Watching him tremble, Jiwoo could see the fear and the arousal tangled together.
"Be honest. Do you not want to do it with me, or do you want to?"
He shook his head, refusing to answer with his whole body. The frustration got to her; her hands clenched hard around the steering wheel.
"Why are you like this?"
"Do you... really want to know?"
"Is that even a question? And since when do you have the luxury of interrogating me?"
"Th-Then..."
He hesitated, lips parting and closing. She decided she would hear him out one last time.
"Spit it out. If it's something stupid, I'm sending it right now."
"Th-Then... answer this for me first."
Hanbyul turned the question back on her. Suspecting he was trying to seize control of the conversation, she glanced over at him.
"If we really only do it once... you'll let it go quietly?"
He was looking at her with completely serious eyes.
"Obviously."
She answered without a trace of playfulness. The price for toying with her had to be paid in full, or the knot in her chest would never come loose.
"I'll be careful about protection. And..."
"..."
She watched his mouth, waiting for whatever came next.
"You said using your hand felt better than getting squeezed by my chest, right? I'll make sure you know for certain. Which one actually feels better."
The slightly harder edge in Jiwoo's voice struck Hanbyul as unfamiliar. But the sheer, milk-heavy swell of her breasts, faintly visible through the sheer fabric of her T-shirt, left him staring blankly, unable to get a single word out. Those full, heavy breasts he wanted to grab right then and there and milk by force—just looking at them was enough to send him into heat.
"Keep that in mind."
"Yes..."
A strange atmosphere settled over the car. It felt like neither of them would say another word until they arrived.
"Get some sleep."
She spoke up. Going from a fight straight into making up was about as awkward as it got—but they weren't heading out alone. They had the girls with them. Letting the mood sour any further wouldn't do.
"W-What about you, Noona...?"
"I'm fine. You just worry about yourself. Don't come crying to me later asking me to save you."
A faint flush rose in Hanbyul's cheeks as he nodded. Before he closed his eyes to sleep, he apologized one more time, completely sincere.
"I'm really sorry, Noona..."
"Yeah."
"You're incredible, Jiwoo Noona... It feels so good...! Your sticky little pussy is gripping my cock so tight...♡♡♡"
"D-Don't... don't say things like thaat...! Nnh...♡ Hnnngh...♡ Nnh...♡"
Without so much as dreaming of anything of the sort, they arrived at their destination.