Why is he…
All her attention snapped to the world outside the café window, where rain streaked down the glass.
How long has he been standing there? Ji-woo wondered, a sudden chill seeping into her fingers. She bit her lower lip, a knot of anxiety tightening in her stomach. It felt as if she’d been caught doing something forbidden.
Seo Tae-joon was staring only at her. Then, his gaze shifted, moving from her face to the man sitting across the table. His expression was cold, almost frightening. Ji-woo shot to her feet, her knees knocking hard against the underside of the table.
“Ji-woo?” the man said, his hands flying out to steady the wobbling tabletop.
“I’m so sorry. I have to go.”
“Pardon?”
Ji-woo snatched her bag, her eyes meeting the man’s confused face.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I think this was a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“I… um… I think I’m more comfortable with someone who isn’t so attached to their family. Someone who has forgotten their past with other women, who chooses to be only with me.”
“I’m sorry?” His eyes widened.
“My ideal type,” she pressed on, the words tumbling out. “I’m comfortable with someone like that. I want someone who won’t be shocked when I eventually reveal my own problems. I suppose that can only happen if he has problems of his own. Otherwise, how could we possibly understand each other? I don’t want to feel like I’m the only one who’s broken.”
“Ji-woo… that sounds a little dangerous. I don’t know what you’re going through, but you deserve better than someone from the bottom of the barrel.”
She nodded. “You’re right. But trees are usually eaten by insects at their lowest point, aren’t they?”
Ji-woo clutched her bag, her gaze drifting back to the window. “Chestnuts are the exception. The marks those insects leave become part of the tree’s unique pattern. It wouldn’t be complete without them.”
Her expression was solemn, but her voice was firm. Ji-woo bowed her head in a final, hasty goodbye and left the café. When she stepped outside, Seo Tae-joon was gone. A restless energy seized her, and she scanned the street, searching for him.
She began checking the alleyways, oblivious to her clothes becoming soaked in the downpour. Suddenly, a hand shot out and clamped around her arm. She was yanked backward and pinned against a cold, wet wall. She recognized his faint scent an instant before she could scream.
“Seo Tae-joon.”
His wet shirt clung to his chest, outlining the hard muscles beneath. His dark hair was plastered to his forehead, and rainwater trickled down the bridge of his nose.
“You’re trying to get rid of me.” He lowered his head, his voice a low rumble. “I can smell it on you.”
Ji-woo’s neck went rigid. She flinched at his slightest movement, her body starting to tremble. This feeling—of being cornered by him—was terrifyingly familiar. She clenched her fists.
She wouldn’t be swayed by him this time. She would act just like him. “I can see whoever I want to. I was just trying to have a social life. What about you? What are you doing wandering around in the rain?”
Ji-woo glared up at him. “You didn’t tell me you were going out, either. What did you do?” She could feel a pulse hammering in her throat.
“I went to get my ID,” he said, his tone flat.
She froze, her eyes widening.
“You seem surprised, Ji-woo,” he observed.
“Well, that’s because…”
They stared at each other in the pouring rain, both of them becoming more drenched by the second. Ji-woo couldn’t begin to guess what he was thinking.
“I’m just not enough for you, am I?”
“What?”
“I’ll never be enough. Is that why you went to meet another man behind my back?” His voice was sharp, laced with a threat. “Is it because I haven’t been satisfying you? You seem to forget I’m your husband. Or did you expect me to take you by force before you were ready?”
She stared at him, stunned into silence. Her whole body felt like ice. Seo Tae-joon’s expression soured, and he let out a harsh sigh before letting his head fall to her shoulder in a gesture of defeat.
“Am I that much of a monster? You really can’t separate me now from the husband I used to be, can you?” He looked at her, his eyes pleading. “Isn’t that asking too much? Do you actually enjoy driving me crazy like this?”
Ji-woo flinched from his gaze, and he gave a hollow laugh at her reaction. “I know I was a monster in the past. The Seo Tae-joon you’re trying so desperately to erase. You want to make me into a new person, but what lies have you been telling me?”
His words stole the air from her lungs. “What do you mean…?” Had he remembered something? Did he remember what happened that night? Panic clawed at her.
“Let’s stop beating around the bush,” he said suddenly. “I know you hate me, Ji-woo.”
“What?” she stammered.
“You think I don’t know?”
Ji-woo’s mind went blank.
“I understand,” he continued, his voice dangerously soft. “I know you want to get rid of someone like me. A man with no way to support his family… who might have even hit his wife.”
“What are you saying… hit your wife?!” Ji-woo blinked, the words echoing in the rain-swept alley.