Kyu Jong woke to feel he may as well have never slept that night. He dressed and then did some exercises to wake himself. He had to be careful how much he did in the morning because usually he worked out after his schedules but that was only every third day, he enjoyed basketball when he had the time.

He only had two hours before the builders would come and start working on repairing some of the damage which had been done. Due to the large amount needed it wouldn’t be the first and last time they would be coming.

After grooming himself he got breakfast and ate imagining it that it was Sang Hee’s personal cooking. He found he missed her the most when he was filling his stomach. Her cooking was not a skill to be considered just average.

He came back to the house, afraid of how she would be when he opened the door. He found the door unlocked, something that she never usually did. That seemed a little strange but he would ask about it later if it concerned him further. Going inside he glanced around, he heard sizzling and went towards the kitchen. He decided in a last moment to go and look in the living room.

What had he seen that made his face go pale? Paint was splashed on the window, the drips drying in the process of the morning sun. The chairs they’d taken from the dining area to sit in were turned over; one was against the wall leaving a dent. Paint was spread on the wall, the ceiling and even on the floor.

He grabbed his hair in anguish at the mess and then went to find Sang Hee before he exploded. She was in the kitchen serving the fried meat she’d just finished frying by hand. The rice cooker was full; she always made too much rice even when it was just her eating.

“What on earth happened to the living room,” Sang Hee ignored him. But then she spoke, “oh what a nice way to say ‘how are you?’”

“Answer my question!” Kyu Jong hadn’t intended to raise his voice, “what happened to the living room since I was gone?!” Now he was taken back, her face changed as she heard him. “W-what do you mean?”

“It’s a mess; the paint which you strongly opposed is on the windows, the floor…” His annoyance at thinking of the task ahead made him lose his speech. He just steadied himself, Sang Hee stayed the same, “w-why don’t you say anything?”

“I don’t know,” even Sang Hee found she was feeling lost. “I don’t think anything strange or different happened last night.” She saw his face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“How can you say you don’t know how it happened?”

“Because,” Sang Hee started; “because I don’t remember anything that happened last night.” What she said didn’t make any sense. Kyu Jong felt she had to be lying, or hiding something. But what if she really had no recollection of it? For now he would have to accept her answer no matter what.

“Ok,” he nodded while speaking the short phrase. “We’ll talk about it later; you’d better get changed before the builders come.” Sang Hee turned the heat off the stove. “Fine, but first let me eat.”

*

For the next week Sang Hee and Kyu Jong had their home invaded by builders who worked hard at getting the place fixed up and repaired. They spent a day and a half cleaning the paint spillage; Kyu Jong helped them out of guilt for it being there.

 Sang Hee stayed out of the way except when she had to have her opinion which was for every task. Other than those she cooked meat for the men when they had their break. Kyu Jong sensed favouritism when he saw how well done she did the meat for the builders but seemed to give him pieces that were charcoal or cooked almost too rare.

Slowly though they could see the efforts of the work being done. The banister for the stairs was repaired with a new steel frame which would last longer than the previous wooden one. The laundry room looked better and with paint it would match the rest of the house. The living room would still need work as well as repairing from the damage in the roof; they suspected it may leak in the rain.

“Why is there no wine in this house?!” Kyu Jong wanted to relieve himself after a rather stressful day from working. Some of the builders had gotten into a fight over how to fix the roof and Kyu Jong had no choice but to intervene. As a result they’d lost the last hour of the working day since the men left early, bad feelings between the two still there.

“You know why,” Sang Hee stated scraping the onion she’d just diced up into the pot for their dinner. “Doctor’s orders remember?”

“Damn,” Kyu Jong closed the cupboard doors leaning his head against it. “Why did I have to get it?”

“ Is that meant to be a rhetorical question?” Kyu Jong glared daggers at Sang Hee’s back, “be happy at least. You aren’t getting any worse provided that you keep up the healthy life style.” She then picked up the small bowl beside the pot, pouring in the melted butter. “You never told me if your mother got tested when the news came out.”

“We weren’t exactly on speaking terms back then.” He muttered as he set the table, placing cutlery at their places.
“I rest my case,” once again the resentment started to flow through himself. He blamed her AB blood type; she was straight to the point. “But still, don’t stress over it, stress won’t help you digest.”

Kyu Jong struggled to not talk back. He just went to the table and had a seat, wishing that it was like their old time when he had his arms wrapped around her. Right now, if he did that the result would be very much the opposite.

“Noona,” the word made the same reaction to Sang Hee like a kiln does to a terracotta pot. She let him continue, “When the news came out… Did it change your desire towards me?” Kyu Jong hit his temple with his loosely clenched fist. “No, I meant to say… Did it affect how you saw me?” He didn’t realise Sang Hee had been watching him the whole time, her gaze embarrassed him.

She wiped her hands on the tea-towel, her signal that dinner was almost finished. “Kyu-Jong-ah, if it had. We wouldn’t be sitting here talking about it.” The response was a shock to the core. He had tried to hide for a while since the news came out, but Sang Hee hadn’t tried to hide. Antis had come to her at work, telling her not to bother with such a man. Yet she’d still married him, he knew because he’d read the responses online. While he waited for her to serve he went online on his phone to the old forum. One of the anti’s accounts was still there.

I told her oppa is a bad man, he’ll only cheat on you. When I said this she took me aside and told me to stop. “I’m his noona by three months, I can handle him.  Look after yourself because you’ll want to marry a good man. Only bad women marry bad men.”

I didn’t understand, I wanted to help her but she refused. And then I thought to myself; does she see herself as a bad person?

 

~*~

For the record Kyu Jong is a carrier of the virus for Hepatitis B. It usually is passed on if the mother has it, through contaminated needles, razors or through the un-protected wee-woo (I had to censor the word LOL). Truth is we don’t know how he got it and it doesn’t matter; for the sake of the story I sort of hint at how he could have got it only to prove fault on his half instead of Sang Hee. Meanwhile let’s hope and pray that it won’t progress during his time in the army (apparently if he keeps a healthy lifestyle then it won’t make him sick)