Summer Getaway (22)

With last night's storm finally behind them, the four of them sat around the table nursing bowls of bean-sprout hangover soup.

"Mmm... this is so good! Nothing beats gukbap for a hangover~"

Iseul, who knew absolutely nothing of what had gone on, was eating in pure bliss. The other two, however...

"Daddy, eat lots? Hehe♡"

Jia was in such a soaring mood she looked ready to float out of her chair — she had, after all, started her morning with a mouthful of Daddy's fresh semen.

"Hanbyul-ah, I went all the way to the supermarket just for you..♡ Don't I get something? Heheh♡"

Baek Jiwoo was being completely shameless about it, all but demanding a kiss on the cheek as payment.

"N-Noona.."

Hanbyul's lips hovered, uncertain, in front of Baek Jiwoo's plump, springy cheek — a cheek that somehow looked even better than it had the day before.

"Hnn~? I guess you're not grateful..."

She cut her eyes at him and puffed her cheeks out in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a full pout, laying on the aegyo. And then—

"Uwegh..."

Iseul spat the rice she'd been chewing right back into her soup and wrinkled her whole face. Thanks to her, Hanbyul was spared.

"Th-thanks, everyone.."

He hid his burning face by stabbing his spoon into the innocent soup over and over.

"So what are we doing today, Mom?"

Iseul asked around a mouthful of kimchi. Her interests, as far as anyone could tell, began and ended with having fun, hunting for guys, and Hanbyul.

"Hmm... just play at the beach like yesterday.. take a walk.. ride a few things, hit up some good restaurants. That kind of day?"

"Oooooooh! That's awesome! I love it!"

Iseul was already so excited about the itinerary that she started shoveling food into her mouth — as if they were going to jump up and leave the second the bowls were empty.

"Hey, chew your food. Nobody's stealing it from you."

Jia glanced at the clueless bear of a girl sitting beside her and offered that little piece of morning wisdom. Iseul paid her absolutely no mind.

"One more bowl!"

A genuinely innocent friend, that one. It was a blessing both girls were so easygoing — and kind enough, at least. If either of them had been sharp-tongued or high-strung, this whole arrangement ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would have been exhausting.

"Then Hanbyul-ah, what about you?"

Baek Jiwoo set a freshly prepared bowl down in front of Iseul and looked at Hanbyul, her face drawn with worry. They had milked him past his limit the day before, and this morning he had already complained of a headache.

"Ah.."

Hanbyul turned it over, trying to decide —

"Huh? Daddy's sick..?"

Iseul, who had missed every signal until that moment, finally caught her mother's expression and delivered the world's latest realization.

"Aigoo, you didn't even notice?"

Jia looked delighted to have something to needle her with and made no effort to hide the look she was giving. Iseul, who had apparently decided to ignore Jia entirely from this point forward, didn't so much as glance her way.

"Oh. So Daddy can't come today?"

Her shoulders slumped, the picture of genuine disappointment.

"N-no.. I can go. I just don't think I can play all day like yesterday? Hahaha.."

If Jia hadn't gotten to him this morning, he could have managed just fine. But...

I was the one who tempted her. This is on me.

He had thrown out that untimely little temptation himself, and this whole mess was the result. He had no right to complain. Judging by how his body felt right now, anything before lunch was out of the question. He had no choice but to say he would rest.

"Well, nothing we can do about it. It's a shame, but the three of us will go have fun..."

They already had reservations. They already had a plan. Baek Jiwoo looked sorry and a little guilty, but this was a summer getaway — some choices just had to be made. Hanbyul understood that, so he didn't argue.

"Yeah. Then you three go have enough fun for me too."

"Hiiing, that's too bad.. I barely got to play with Daddy yesterday. Looks like I won't get to today either..."

Yesterday came back to him — the two of them getting their hands on him for reasons he still didn't entirely understand, and the rest of the group going on without him. Guilt welled up. He reached out and stroked Iseul's hair as she drooped in front of him.

Just like that time at Mo-nyeo Deopbap, the height difference should have landed his hand on her forehead. But this time Iseul leaned into it, and his palm settled on the crown of her head.

A soft poof...

"Daddy's sorry, Iseul... I'll make you something tasty. Go have fun."

Jia was staring at Hanbyul with smoldering eyes — not at the words passing between them, but at the hand stroking another girl's hair. Fury burned in her.

"What kind of snack..?"

She chewed her lower lip as if silently screaming at him to let go already.

"Ah—"

He finally read the look and pulled his hand away. At the same instant—

"Ah..."

Iseul let out a small, disappointed sigh.

"No, uh — on the way in yesterday I saw an ice shaver in the storage. I was going to make bingsu."

He had already decided, the moment he spotted that machine, that he would fill it with milk instead of water and pile the shaved ice with every kind of fruit he could find.

"Oh. Nice, nice."

The thought that Daddy was making it for her seemed to flip a switch. Jia's mood soared on the spot, and she was already counting the minutes until they got back.

"Slurp... Daddy's making it just for me♡"

She looked at him with those sticky, gleaming eyes. The look was starting to scare him.

"Y-yeah... that's right? Daddy's making it for Jia.."

"So you'll need milk, then?"

Baek Jiwoo asked it so casually that he was about to answer without thinking — and then she shoved her chest forward and squeezed, hard. For a second he could have sworn milk would actually come out.

An utterly filthy image flashed through his mind: milking Noona Jiwoo's breasts the way you'd milk a cow, and using that to make the shaved ice.

You were thinking something dirty looking at my chest, weren't you?

He watched the words form on Baek Jiwoo's mouth, her lips opening and closing around each syllable —

"Cough— cough!"

It went down the wrong pipe. The unfortunate man couldn't even catch his breath.

"Pfft♡"

Baek Jiwoo covered her mouth and laughed, as if she found the whole thing adorable. And behind that laugh—

♪~♬~♩~

A familiar ringtone drifted out of the master bedroom.

"Huh? I think that's Mom calling, Dad?"

Jia was the first to hear it. She looked up from her bowl to pass the news along. Hanbyul bolted for the bedroom, shut the door behind him, and grabbed the phone — but the ringing had already stopped at three.

"Ah.. Jiwoo.."

"Three."

"Nnh..."

His wife, informing him — yet again, without fail — that he had been late.

"What were you doing, Hanbyul?"

He thought it would be the usual thing. A little check-in, a little whispered affection, and that would be the end of it.

"I was eating!"

"Oh, yeah? Eating what?"

"Bean-sprout hangover soup."

"Is that so."

"Yeah!"

He could hear it even as they talked. The tone of her voice was sinking, degree by degree.

"Hangover soup.. Hang. Over. Soup. So that means you drank."

"Huh..? Huh?"

"..."

Hearing her like this, he couldn't bring himself to say it again — even though the truth was already out.

The wife who had always been so rigid, so unshakable, seemed to have gone fragile at the edges. The muttering poured out of her like a machine gun, without a single pause to breathe. And then, all at once, it cut off.

"So you ate it alone?"

"No. I ate with Jia, and Iseul and them."

"Ah..."

He hadn't been hit. He hadn't even been scolded. And still his body had started to shake.

"But... Hanbyul."

"Yeah..."

"Why didn't you worry about me?"

"Huh?"

"Ah..."

"How am I supposed to take that, Hanbyul..?"

The words she let fall were so cold they felt like a blade sliding between his ribs.

"Th-that's.."

"What were you so busy with that you couldn't even text the wife who loves you? Hm?"

"Ah.. I was sleeping.."

Even he knew how irresponsible, how absurd that sounded. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his mouth into a thin line.

"Hanbyul."

Her voice came through the speaker carrying a chill that didn't stop at his ear. It filled the whole bedroom.

"Fuck. I try to be good to you and you just keep whoring around like this. What the hell am I supposed to do."

"J-Jiwoo..! I-I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.."

It burst out of him before he could even finish the thought.

"Hey. Shut up."

"..."

He thought the long sigh that followed would be the end of it. Then a desk slammed on the other end of the line — BANG — and the woman who came back was someone else entirely.

"J-Jiwoo.."

"Jiwoo, Jiwoo, JIWOO!!! Fuck, is 'Jiwoo' and 'I'm sorry' all you know how to say?! I told you before. Don't drink again. What, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you don't even let it in one ear now?"

"I'm sorry, Jiwoo."

He didn't know what else to do. In the panic he forgot what she had just said, and repeated himself all over again.

Her voice snapped like a cut string. For a second he almost thought the phone had died.

"But fuck, I warned you that much.. and you just piss it out like some premature-ejaculating little shit and move on. What am I supposed to do with that?"

"J-Jiwoo..?"

"Didn't I tell you before? I will never forgive a lie."

It had been after they were already married. Haeseo had kept calling, and he had wanted to end things with her cleanly, so he had told Jiwoo he was meeting a friend. That lie. That was the second time she had truly lost it — and the time he had received a "lesson" that felt like it would never end. I will never forgive a lie. She had educated that into him personally.

"But you just slept? Ha.. please. As if. You fucker. Who was it. Which bitch did you roll around with. That Jiwoo bitch? Fuck, you like the ones with bigger tits and thicker bodies than me, don't you? You like watching them spread their cunts and bounce their chests? YOU FUCKING INSANE PIECE OF SHIT!!!!!!"

"J-Jiwoo..!"

"I was sick yesterday. I waited thinking my Hanbyul would call. Thinking he'd text. Looking at this now I was an idiot for waiting, fuck. So what are you going to do? I don't think I can take it anymore. You horny bitch-in-heat manwhore."

The chaos of it, the leftover alcohol, the exhaustion in his body — all of it hit at once.

"J-Jiwoo.. khhhh—"

A sudden headache drove through his skull. He clutched his head.

"That's because you drank. That's why I told you not to. Our baby is too fragile, that's the problem... But."

The strength went out of her voice all at once. And then a sound came through the speaker that made him go still.

Her voice wasn't just trembling anymore. It was breaking. She was crying.

"Huh...? J-Jiwoo..?"

"You're sick of me now, aren't you. Tired of me. What would anyone like about a bitch like me. What could possibly be enough. My chest is small and my personality is shit."

"Yang Jiwoo! Don't you say that..!"

"..."

His wife kept shifting, second by second, and in the spaces between the fear he could see the madness looking out. He couldn't say a word.

"Ah..."

This was bad. The Queen was well and truly furious.