Yeji’s cool, somber eyes traveled over the packet then to him. Walking over calmly as if he never said anything she placed a leather folder onto his desk saying, “You finally looked at it.”

“You’re not answering my question.” He growled turning around to face her.

She stared back, eyes icy, “The man making a ruckus in the lobby yesterday gave that to me. He’s a loanshark in Gangnam.” Her eyes moved toward the paper then to him, “As for the rest, I don’t know. You’ll have to figure it out yourself. I believe it’s not my problem.”

A burning fire grew ever in heights when Yeji brushed past and the door closed seconds later, leaving him with the packet he wanted to know so much about. Heaving a deep breath he skimmed through it again. Namjoo had incurred a debt so large that even if she worked her entire life, she’d never be able to pay it off. And he had known nothing about it.

The familiar numbers in grand Namjoo had recently paid were marked clearly, the dates also noted. Jongin felt his eyes tremble over the numbers, recognizing them instantly.

“You’re home?” she greeted upon sighting him and smiled. “You’re early today.”

“I’ll try to be earlier in the next few days, maybe next week,” he promised positively. “Ah…did you withdraw some money today?”

He caught the expression of surprise lighting up her face. Guiltily, she murmured, “Yes, I did.” Hurrying toward the closet she opened it show him the new dresses inside, “I just bought a few things. You said I could use it to do some shopping…I hope you don’t mind.”

Jongin recalled doubting the price of the dresses, an instinctive feeling had bugged him but he had shrugged it off. He’d wanted to believe Namjoo was telling the truth. He so much wanted to believe she had told him the truth, but the numbers on paper…were too much of a coincidental match. And it bothered him more.

“That’s a dress I haven’t seen before,” he commented when Namjoo walked out of their room and they started toward the door together.

Latching onto his offered arm she said, “I went shopping again. You don’t mind, do you?”

Namjoo was telling the truth. He had to be sure of it. There had been no notification yesterday that she’d spent a grand of money. It wasn’t right to be suspicious…

“When you think you know someone, you actually don’t know them at all. When a person smiles at you, you begin thinking if that’s a real smile or do they have something up their sleeve? That’s how we live because we can never be too careful.” Yeji said. “I live on edge and I’m always prepared for the worst. You should too.”

Gripping the papers tightly, Jongin forced himself calm and closed his eyes. Setting the papers onto his desk he persuaded himself that if Namjoo was in trouble and needed him, she would tell him. She would because she loved and trusted him like he did her. If Namjoo ever needed anything, she knew she could talk to him because he would help her.

Quickly silencing the voices of doubt at the back of his head he snatched up the leather folder Yeji had left him with and headed out to complete today’s surveillance. Half an hour through it and his mind was only half there, the secretary summarizing up sales and profit of each store busily at his side. Jongin’s eyes searched and flew around as they walked up from the first floor to the next, a voice in his head telling him he shouldn’t be here right now.

It was disheartening to think that behind each sweet move Namjoo made toward him might be because she was hiding something from him. Because of Namjoo he’d gone through so many emotional swings. From feeling drawn to believing she and Chanyeol were going to become an item and the disappointment, frustration he had gone through. And then Namjoo had come to him, courageously telling him she liked him. Jongin had feared his father and seen the pending marriage to Yeji as a threat, afraid he wouldn’t be able to spare Namjoo from getting hurt. Suffering that one week of no communication with Namjoo after she met his parents and it had been his worst living hell. He had realized then that he couldn’t do without her, he needed her.

He still needed her. Everything was perfect, in place and couldn’t be any better. They were married. Their marriage had received blessings from his parents.

Then what was the meaning of this debt?

Jongin abruptly halted when he lifted his head up. From the other side something caught his eye. His heart drummed and quickly picking up pace he shuffled forward. His secretary called out after him surprised but Jongin couldn’t stop himself.

The dress on display at the very front of the store was the exact same one Namjoo had in her closet. It was just the one Namjoo had shown him the first time when she said she’d gone shopping. The thousand dollar dress…

Stopping directly in front of the dress Jongin ran his eyes over it and broke out of his thoughts of anticipation when the salesperson walked up to him.

“This is currently in trend, woman love the blending of these colors nowadays,” she said, “do you like it? Are you buying it for your girlfriend? Sister or wife?”

“How much?” Jongin asked, his eyes impatiently landed on the woman. He was anxious for an answer. If it was over a thousand, he would make it up to Namjoo for doubting her. Before he finished his thought the salesperson answered. “It’s two hundred dollars.”

Two…hundred…dollars…

“What?” he breathed with disbelief. He shook his head. “It can’t be…are you sure? It’s not…a thousand?”

The salesperson looked at him like he was crazy but smiled, remained calm and said, “No, it can’t be anywhere that high. It’s not like a Chanel brand or made from some famous designer, it’s just an ordinary dress made from the finest material. Are you looking to buy?”

Something shattered. The lights like stars seemed misaligned. Something was wrong. Deep down in his guts, Jongin wished he hadn’t touched that packet.

The entire day Jongin remained distracted. Yeji’s story, her warnings, and Namjoo’s debt suffocated his mind. Hours later he woke from his daze when Yeji walked in. “Still here?”

He glanced at the papers she placed down onto his desk. The sight of them triggered the immediate thought of the records of Namjoo’s hidden debt.

“You said there’s something you want from me,” Jongin mumbled then looked up at her, “what is it?”

“You want to hear it?”

“I’m asking.”

Her eyes ran over him a few times, “You.”

Jongin stared back with no reaction to display. There was only one thing he wanted to know. “Then what is it my wife wants from me?”

“You figure it out yourself.” Yeji flatly replied then turned to walk away, leaving him there fitful and unsatisfied because he knew she knew the answer. The only one thing he knew was that what he wanted and desired from Namjoo was her heart, her most earnest feelings.

On the drive home he wasn’t sure whether he was more irked with himself or the fact that he was starting to believe Namjoo wasn’t being honest with him. They’d gotten married, had been so happy together, and it all was a dream come true. He believed in her, he had faith in her, and had given his everything to her.

The first thing he did when he got home was head to the bedroom and began going through Namjoo’s closet. He found her dresses all hanging together in a corner. The exact ones like the items sold in his mall. Not over a thousand dollars, the salesperson had mocked.

Something bit onto the last of his hopes.

Jongin turned at the opening of the door and Namjoo appeared in a cozy dress he’d never set eyes on before. From the back of his head a voice wondered if she’d spent fifty bucks on it.

“You’re home?” she smiled. “You’re back so late.”

Jongin tried smiling. It failed for the first time. He couldn’t smile. This feeling of misery was starting to grow over every rooted feeling of what he believed they had, mutual love.

“What are you doing?” she asked noticing he was looking at her clothes.

Jongin’s brows furrowed down on his face. He was hesitant but there was still some hope in him. A tiny bit of him wanted to believe Namjoo was right about everything and he was wrong. He was so dead wrong and he needed to be punished.

“Namjoo,” he quietly called while his insides prayed she tell him the truth even if it wasn’t what he wanted to hear, “your new dresses, how much were they? You know no matter the price, I don’t mind.” Because he only wanted to believe her again and wash away this feeling of doubt that there was something he didn’t know.

Namjoo smiled. His heart fluttered uncontrollably. She was so mystical. So beautiful. It touched his soul in just the right places.

Those papers had to be a lie.

“They were expensive,” Namjoo said. “A few thousands.”

Why was she lying?

Disappointed, he turned away. “I’m taking a shower.”

~~~~~

Namjoo listened to the door close and the shower start almost right away. Something seemed amiss but maybe it was because it’d been a stressful day. Closing the closet Namjoo walked out of the room and into the kitchen to search for some food to warm up for Jongin. She’d prepared dinner earlier because Jaegeun and her mother hadn’t yet returned. Once Jongin was done showering she wanted him to eat something warm before going to bed. Maybe they could make love again and this time he didn’t need to use protection. She suddenly felt ready to try getting pregnant. How nice it would be, she was starting to think, if she had a baby. Jaegeun wouldn’t be lonely and neither would she, and Jongin would have the kind of family he always wanted.

The thought of a family might ease the loneliness and worry in her heart, but even an hour later he hadn’t come out of the bedroom.

Deciding to check up on him, Namjoo started down the hallway and when she opened the door, discovered Jongin reading at his desk. Dispirited that he hadn’t said he still needed to finish things up, she walked over optimistically.

“Are you hungry? Should I bring something for you to eat?”

“I’m fine.”

For some reason, Namjoo couldn’t distant herself from her spot. There was something in the air that told her she was uninvited in his space, but she still wanted to persist. She wanted Jongin to know she was there if he was troubled. He always came to her. Tonight something was different. It made her insecure.

“Jongin…” she began again but he stood up and came around the desk. Anticipation swept through her and she hoped he was going to talk to her, maybe hug her and pull her in for a kiss and say he was sorry for ignoring her.

“I’m tired. I think I’ll sleep first.”

Namjoo grabbed his arm and looked up at him, “Did your mom call you? They’re not back tonight.” Sliding her arm around his waist she timidly said, “I was thinking we could…”

“Not now,” he turned and walked away. Namjoo watched disappointed when he climbed into bed and slipped under the blanket.

Maybe he was tired, that was all. Deciding to leave it as is she turned to walk out, put the food back, and turned the lights out. An hour later with her heart unsettled, she slipped into a fitful sleep.

~~~~~

The moon cloaked room was really nothing but darkness. What had been left of bliss was now withering. Dead flowers all around him, peace lost. Suffocation, hands grappling him from all sides and making his body ache. Wide awake, Jongin stared up at the dark ceiling unable to make out a thing but Namjoo’s breathing. Well asleep and well unaware of his waking thoughts.

What was it, he wanted to know, had she not told him? When they had gotten together, when she first stirred his heart and made him mad, what had been left out that she’d given him?

His eyes were tired but his mind was churning like a power generator. The missing pieces, he needed to find them in order to place what he’d been blind to. He had fallen for Namjoo. That had started it. The attraction, the pull, and the many times she kept showing up in front of him.

On the stairs that day, what was it she’d said? About his father? Jongin couldn’t remember but he was confident it had been about his father’s health. There was a tug on his heart and his mind screamed no. Namjoo wouldn’t, she couldn’t have wished for his father’s death. She couldn’t have been waiting for it. She wasn’t like that…

Painfully clamping his eyes close he to his side so that Namjoo wouldn’t be in his view. He couldn’t look at her. The sight of her was heartbreaking.

What else was there?

The wedding. Namjoo’s brother had been absent and he’d known nothing about it. Had Namjoo been honest when she told him it was because she wanted him to rest instead of coming? Did that make sense, to keep a wedding away from your own brother? Because he, no matter how tired and exhausted, would want to be there for Shinae on her most important day. Why would he want to miss it?

It didn’t make sense. Now that it was becoming clearer, how had he missed these little things? Why did Namjoo like him when they barely knew each other? That one week when Namjoo had ignored him, what had gone wrong? Why had she wanted to break up with him? Without saying I love you she had married him. Did she love him?

Was he really like Yeji?

Thinking more about it made his heart ache. Had Namjoo been real with him? Did he mean anything to her at all?

~~~~~

Once breakfast was prepared and the table set, Namjoo opened the door to the bedroom to see Jongin slipping into his suit jacket. “Breakfast is ready. Are you done?”

“I’m not eating.” He coldly said, his back turned to her. “I’m going to a meeting this morning and I’m already running late.”

She watched him turn around, hands fixed on adjusting his tie. Walking forward she reached up for it, “Let me help you.”

“It’s fine, I got it.” he brushed past her to avoid her hands and began walking through the hallway. Turning on her heels she followed him.

“At least bring something to snack on the way there.” She called from behind. Without even as much as a farewell he slipped into his shoes and was out the door, leaving her feeling suddenly lonesome.

Like yesterday, she ended up cleaning the table alone and pondering over what was bothering Jongin. Was it work? Stress? He usually wasn’t like this with her. Just what was it?

It was hard, she was starting to realize, when he was upset and not saying anything. Why wasn’t he communicating with her like he usually would?

~~~~~

Jongin felt like a villain but he couldn’t help himself. He was mad frustrated with himself and there was no source to use it on. At least he had enough control not to lose it in front of Namjoo. All these thoughts clouding his head was driving him crazy. Figuring out what Namjoo was doing, what she truly wanted from him was such a puzzle.

Who was she, other than his wife? Did he know her like he thought he did?

Work, like yesterday, was even more hellish. He couldn’t focus, was constantly distracted, and hindered by his personal problems. Not professional at all, he could hear his father chiding him. He needed to do better if he didn’t want to fail this company his deceased father left him.

“Staying late again?” Yeji asked walking in with yet another set of leather binders.

Obviously not doing anything but just sitting there in the leather chair with hand over his eyes to block out light, Jongin mumbled, “What do you want?”

“Nothing,” she placed the binders onto his desk. “I see you’re avoiding going home.”

Piqued, Jongin removed his hand and sat straight up. “Why did you give those papers to me?”

“Because,” she looked him straight in the eye, “you still have a chance to fix this.”

Jongin was up and out a moment later. Yeji wasn’t wrong. She had never been wrong from the first moment. If Namjoo talked to him, if she told him the truth they could still fix what he had with her. There was still the chance, since they were still together and married, that he could make her love him – if she didn’t already. Their relationship could still have grounds and truly grow into the kind of marriage he really wished for.

“Jongin,” his mother greeted him when he walked in.

“Later,” he brushed her aside. He panted as he rushed toward the bedroom and found Namjoo putting his freshly laundered clothes away. Relief flushed through him. They would fix this. Whatever was there between the gaps, he could close.

“Jongin,” she said surprised. “You’re home? Good. I was hoping we could talk.”

He nodded, “Lets talk. I have a few things to say to you.”

Namjoo looked at him, curious. “Oh, ok.” Closing the door behind him he waited for her at the foot of the bed. “You seem to be in a bad mood lately. I was just wondering if anything was wrong.”

Jongin gripped the packet in hand and glanced down at it. Pressing them against his torso he looked at her, “Namjoo, can you be honest with me?”

“Of course.”

He was starting to grow nervous again, uncertain whether he could stand the truth, whatever it was. Pursing his lips together he glanced at her and forced himself to press on. “Where did you really spend the four grand you took out?”

***hold on for the ride! Next chapter...well you know what's up next chapter