thirty-two

  “Sehun-ah! Oh gosh, I’m incredibly sorry!” Seohyun apologized profusely as she came hurrying into the café, taking a seat across him. After the dashed, she looked slightly flustered, puffing and panting as she took a gulp of water. “I’m late again, I know, I know – don’t nag!”

  Sehun chuckled softly, sipping his coffee with an amused expression upon his face. “I wasn’t going to nag. You seem to be rather busy nowadays.”

  “It’s inevitable.” Seohyun shrugged her shoulders, seeming rather distressed. “There are always a billion things to do each day and I feel like I’m running on the treadmill with someone increasing my speed every ten seconds! Exhausting, let me tell you, it’s absolutely exhausting. That reminds me – have you been exercising lately?”

  He flexed his muscles, grinning contemptuously. “Why? Am I losing tone?”

  “The almighty Oh Sehun losing tone? I wouldn’t even dare to admit it if you were.” Seohyun jokingly, earning herself a nudge. “Don’t worry, you’re still young. You’ve still got your… youthful freshness.”

  “You’re just as much of a youth as I am, Seo-noona.” Sehun coaxed her, his voice becoming tenderer. “You just feel that you’re growing old because you’re piling yourself up with dozens of tasks each day! You need to relax.”

  “Relaxation is out of the question.” Seohyun did not hesitate to defend herself. “Firstly, I have two growing daughters who need my unwavering care and concern. Seonjung’s like a photocopy of her father, constantly putting stress on me with her petty requests and her princess-like attitude! I mean, Yeonjung’s much more obedient, but she’s got her problems too, every now and then…”

  “…That’s why I told you not to marry that man.” Sehun muttered brutally.

  Seohyun raised an eyebrow, her ears perking up. “What?”

  “Nothing, nothing.” Sehun reassured her quickly, switching the topic. “…You say that you’re busy and that your schedule’s absolutely crammed up, but even so, you’re having frequent lunches, tea times and dinners with the other ladies, aren’t you? Trying to fit in into the society, Seohyun?” He prompted her purposefully. “…It’s only natural – is that the excuse that you’ll give?”

 Her eyes widened. “Preposterous!” She shook her head, nearly laughing at his statement. “Don’t ridicule me, Sehun, that’s absolutely nonsensical. I don’t sit with the ladies for the sake of status, you know, and in fact, I don’t even sit with all of them. Just some.” She enunciated her words, making her point clear.

  “Like I’ll believe you.” He snorted. Funnily, he would. And he did. Only that he wouldn’t tell her.

  “I’m serious.”

  “If it’s not for status, popularity, or to gossip around, like Jessica-noona does, what’s it for?” Sehun challenged her, assuming that he would triumph. “Admit it, Seo Joohyun, you’ve become the stereotype of the housewife that you once said you didn’t want to be.”

  Seohyun pursed her lips at his tactless remark. “This might sound irrational, but last time, before I became one, I judged housewives to be nosey busybodies who had nothing better to do…But after becoming one myself, after stepping into their shoes for real, I realized that there’s more to it than it looks.”

  “Oh yeah? Tell me then.”

  “I listen to them, Sehun, I listen and I give them advice.” Seohyun’s voice dropped to a low murmur as she stared to the distance, a wandering look in her eyes. “Jessica-unnie, like you said, she doesn’t really know how to take care of her kids, and occasionally, I’d help her with Jeongmin and Mijeom. Taemin and Sulli have just moved in together, and I’d have to check on them, wouldn’t I? Victoria-unnie seems stable, but truthfully, she’s not and I have to ensure that Huiling’s fine. And Yoona-unnie? Do you know how hard it is for her and Luhan right now?” She paused. “What do you know, Sehun?”

  Sehun was slightly startled, his expression softening. “…I’m sorry. But then again you should stop taking care of other people, and start taking care of yourself, for once. Why aren’t you making yourself happy?”

  “I am happy, Sehun.”

  “You don’t seem like you are.”

  “Sehun, just because you aren’t content with your own life, it doesn’t mean that you’re allowed to assume that every other person on this earth isn’t content.” Seohyun spoke harshly, but firmly. “If this is about what happened many, many years ago, then I’d advise you to best forget about it. All you’re going to do is bring out a level of hurt that has escalated over time.”

  Sehun was dissatisfied by her abstinence. “I reckon I’m not the only one – what about Kai?”

  “Don’t even talk about it.” Seohyun remained steadfast. “…Pull up your socks, marry Krystal, then settle down. You’ll hurt Jun and Seonjung if you continue with this… That’s the last thing I’d want, for my daughter to be hurt because of my own mistakes. In fact, I didn’t even make a mistake. Still, I think that Jun’s dear to you, isn’t he? Do you want to hurt him, no, can you bear to hurt him?”

  “…I can’t-“

  “I thought so. Then let’s leave it at that.” Seohyun said briskly. “More coffee? I’ll order you another cappuccino.”

  And as much as he wasn’t allowed to admit it, her sensitivity and her firmness was one of the reasons why he loved her dearly.

  She smiled, inhaling the appetizing scent of her self-cooked food. It was not her first time in the kitchen, and she, she used to be the sort to detest the kitchen in every possible way. Well, not necessarily the kitchen, but rather, cooking. She detested getting her hands dirty, and she would much rather prefer to order takeaways than to cook. But for the past few weeks, she had found that the kitchen was one of the most wonderful places to be in.

  Sulli had once been an idyllic girl who had everything laid out for her on her plate. She was practically spoon-fed, literally, throughout her life. No doubt there was a certain period of time that she had to persevere, but even so, she had the support of her colleagues and her family. And when she said ‘family’, she meant her two capable parents and her sturdy elder brothers. Never once did she actually have to stand on her own two feet.

  She stirred the soup gently, somewhat wonderingly. She wondered whether she had made a one-hundred-and-eighty degree change over the past few years. She wasn’t sure though, since she was so accustomed to her current way of life that she felt excitement in going through it. And it was all to the extent t