Final: Lesson

It’s almost 9:00 p.m. when Jihyo arrives home. She had a late evening meeting with external auditors alongside her director. As the Finance Department high ranking officers, the both of them were responsible to meet the auditors before they’d come to their office and do audits on the company.

However, it isn’t a pleasant feeling to come home to. The sight of her husband seated on the sofa in the living room, with a few opened cans of beer in front of him and one in his grip, made him looked like a total mess.

Yoongi, her husband, isn’t a good drinker and has low alcohol tolerance. If he had this much beers to drink, it meant he’s already drunk now.

“Oppa,” she walked slowly over to her husband, called her out tiredly. “What are you doing, causing a mess instead of taking care of Yoonho?”

She’s already exhausted enough with the long day at work, and now she has to deal with the mess that her husband created. Jihyo is fed up.

“Gosh oppa, why are you so useless tonight?!” she let out her frustration with her high volume. She’s not only tired, but the pain from her stomach also added her stress more. Yoongi usually has best sense when it comes to his wife, especially knowing she’s carrying their second child inside her womb, but he only turns her off even more now.

“Useless?” he repeated dryly, followed by a bitter scoff. “Right, I’m always the useless and ignorant one between us, ‘till it gives you the power to step on me and fool me, right? HUH?!”

He started to raise his voice furiously like a mad person. Suddenly Jihyo begins to cower down and stares at her husband fearfully. “O-Oppa, w-what’s wrong?”

She approaches him with slow steps but is unable to continue only after two steps. Yoongi is really scaring her right now.

He closes his eyes and she suddenly sees a few droplets of water come down through his closed eyelids.

W-Wait, are they tears?

Jihyo suddenly feels terrible for yelling at her husband earlier. “O-Oppa…”

“What’s wrong with me, you asked?” He opens his eyes back and confirms her guess. He’s crying. “I was asking myself for the same thing over too.”

She frowns as she watches him stands up on his feet and strides over to his wife. Yoongi rests his hands on her shorter wife’s shoulders and she sees more tears start to stream down on his face.

“How could you…” he paused, taking a moment as he let his blurry vision turns clearer.

“How could you...cheat on me, Jihyo?”

That single question shocks Jihyo and sends her to anxiety. Her eyes are enlarged, and everything around her feels so slow.

“...” She’s unable to say anything as she’s too stunned and scared to open and move her lips.

“Tell me Jihyo...why did you cheat on me?!” he pressed her, shaking her shoulders aggressively, scaring his wife further.

Tears start to accumulate behind her eyes, waiting for the crystal clear’s droplets to fall on her cheeks.

Jihyo has never seen her sweet and kind husband this rough and violent. She suddenly fears of him.

“Am I not good enough for you?!” he cried, his hands tremble as he shakes Jihyo’s shoulder. “Huh?!”

Jihyo trembles soundlessly and attempts to hold his arm while he held her shoulder but Yoongi rudely yanks her hand away.

“How could you?!” he repeated and roughly wipes the tears that fall on his face.

“I-I can explain-”

“Save it!” he retorted.

Jihyo sobs because of his harsh, cold reply. “I’m sorry…” she uttered under her breath.

She hears him snorts and she can’t feel even more terrible.

“You’re only sorry you got caught…”

He shakes his head as he looks away. Pain is visible all over his face, and Jihyo can feel her heart shattered and broken into pieces.

“I bet you’d never tell me about your affair, and being a stupid man I am, I’d continuously believe all of your lies,” he remarked bitterly as he swallows his throat.

“If Mijoo didn’t come clean to me, I’d never know what you had done behind me,” he added and turns his back on her, ready to step away from her.

Mijoo…

So it was all her doing…

She really meant all her words back then…

And ought to destroy my life…

“And you were wrong all these times, Jihyo. You thought Soojung, your former lover cheated on you, but you were wrong.”

“It was you who left her miserably. And it was you who cheated on me.”

Yoongi’s last words before leaving her dumbfounded behind really hit her hard. She feels like the world is crumbling down and collapses on her.

Jihyo falls on her knees, and she’s seated on the cold floor lifelessly.

***

Mijoo is at home, sitting in the lounge room with the company of her friends, Seulgi, Joohyun, Wendy, Hyojung and Seunghee. The tv is , but none of them are paying attention to the screen. They have bottles of soju and cans of beer with them on the request of the host. They understand her misery and grief, thus let her do anything she wants.

As long as she’s still here with them.

“I’m sorry I had to tell her husband everything. He seemed like a fine man when I saw him, and I’m sorry I had to hurt him this way,” she said slowly after swallowing the drink from the green glass bottle inside .

“I’m sorry I had to ruin your best friend’s life like this,” she added, eyes specifically set on Seunghee, the youngest in the house, dim and apologetic.

“It’s okay. You only do that to justify yourself and get your rights back. I think Jihyo deserves to learn her lesson too,” Seunghee uttered with a small sigh. She hates to admit it but Minjoo did the right thing by exposing the truth to Yoongi about her affair with Jihyo, his wife, this time.

What Jihyo and Mijoo did behind him was awful. Mijoo can’t be the only one suffering of the bad consequences.

“And I believe I deserve an apology from Nayeon’s fiancee too. She started to spread the rumor about me first.”

Seunghee nods her head, completely understands where she came from. After all, Jeongyeon did do Mijoo wrong for putting her in a bad place. If she puts herself on Mijoo’s shoes, Jeongyeon’s actions would be a little too unforgivable too.

They’re talking about Mijoo’s plan after being unemployed. She lost her job, lost her only family member left; Mijoo has nothing else left with her except for her childhood friends.

“Are you really leaving?” Wendy asked as Mijoo told them about a few things that she has in her mind. The woman neither nods nor shakes her head at the question.

“Have you thought about it thoroughly?” Joohyun sent another question. Now, Mijoo can’t resist herself but answers that.

“I have nothing to lose anyway. This is my one and only opportunity left.”

***

[1 and a half year later]

As she arrives in front of the building, she realizes it’s really been a while since she last visited this place. She wonders if anything has changed since then, and how big of a change that is, if it really does.

She steps in through the entrance, and walks inside slowly, as if she’s taking her time like it’s moving in a slow motion.

Mijoo moves her legs 5 seconds for each step. Until she sees the corner that will take her to the place she’s been meaning to visit, she halts her motion.

A tear rolls down from her eye to her cheek.

“Unnie,” she whispered, getting teary-eyed and runny-nose. She wipes the mist in her eyes and nose before starting over again, walking towards the room that takes her to see her family.

When her eyes catch a familiar back in her vision, she stops her steps.

Mijoo watches as the person, a woman, is standing frozen in front of her sister’s compartment. The woman seems lonely from the back, and the remorse part inside Mijoo’s heart feels a tug in her chest that she falls pity for the woman instead of the evil avenge plot she once had against her.

“J-Jihyo,” she stuttered, calling her name.

The woman slowly spins around, revealing herself.

She’s in full tears, and her face reflects an emotion that is full of regret.

***

It’s a quiet visit when she stands in front of her family’s compartments. From having so much words to say, Mijoo keeps sealed throughout the time she spends there.

Jihyo still hasn’t left since Mijoo first discovered her, and the older woman lets the younger stays with her. There are no words traded between them, just comfortable silence keeps them company.

Just silently mourning over their losses.

After some time later, Mijoo decides to withdraw from the place and turns to Jihyo.

“Would you like to have a drink with me?”

The both of them sit in a cafe nearby.