A Moment of Sweetness

Seo-hyun didn’t know what to expect. For one thing, she never thought her life would come to this. Here she was sitting across from her husband about to divulge the biggest secret in her life. It’s not like she was planning to but her mantra was “One must take responsibility for their actions”; Hyowon was her responsibility. All that she endured, sacrificed, and tolerated was for the glory of Hyowon and she would be damned if Ji-Yong’s madness ruined it. The board meeting at Cadenza had gone flawlessly. She was able to instill trust into every party all while educating them about how twisted the chairman-to-be truly was.

Still, that trust could easily be swayed if she didn’t get ahead of her life first. It was unfortunate that she had to even take measures like exclusive interviews just because she was in love. Yet if she didn’t do this her way, Ji-yong would morph her ual identity into some harrowing story of deceit and betrayal.

Her relationship with Jin-ho was straddling a very thin line between usefulness and hostility. He was tremendously flawed but his pure vitriol for Ji-yong was a necessity. On top of that, she hated the tension Cadenza was founded upon. There wasn’t one honest person in that house, herself included. She wanted peace, more than that she wanted a chance to let someone in. Once the interview was out they would make Jin-ho seem like this helpless pitiful man whose life was so miserable he even had a homoual for a wife. They would probably even blame his alcoholism on her too. For once, she thought she could extend him some grace.

The restaurant she called him to was empty except for them. The servers knew enough about Hyowon to keep all information within these walls. The pair sat across from each other in silence as the waiter poured their wine. Seo-hyun took every minute of silence as a chance to catch her thoughts. There was no going back after she told him. Jin-ho was trying to turn over a new leaf but who knew if this would help or hurt that? She was trying to seem composed but it was hard. Her hands rubbed the back of her neck and she looked down unable to make eye contact just yet. Jin-ho spoke first.

“What did you want to tell me?”

She sighed, “We have to bring down Ji-yong as soon as possible.”

“You don’t need to tell me that. I’ll kill him even if I must.”

“You sound like you mean it, so I’m a bit flustered.”

“Yes. I mean it.”

The revelation made her anxious. She reached for her glass of wine and took a hefty sip. The band-aid needed to be ripped off.

“Tomorrow, I’ll be doing an important interview. I thought I should tell you beforehand. After all, we are married.”

Jin-ho went on to ask her what for and why. He had good intentions when telling her that using the media against Ji-yong was a poor decision. Seo-hyun could hear the guilt in his voice about getting their only witness killed. That notion gave her a bit of comfort. felt a little tacky but she had to spit it out.

“I’m...a lesbian.”

Jin-ho was in the process of cutting his steak so the words didn’t resonate right away. He was halfway to eating when he finally realized. His eyes bugged out and he leaned forward as if to say he didn’t fully hear her. She kept going.

“The person in my heart...My one and only love is… a woman.”

She let the words sink in a bit. A faint ‘no way’ escaped Jin-ho’s lips before continuing,

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. If you want, we can get a divorce.”

The hardest part was out of the way. Her ability to find enough confidence to speak her truth made the rest of the conversation easier. She answered all his questions even if it slightly annoyed her that he was fine since she technically didn’t have an affair. He didn’t need to know that she only cut off contact with Suzy two years ago. Besides he was right, Seo-hyun had honored their marriage far more than he had.

He was adamant about not doing the interview, stating that his acceptance was enough. Despite his support, she couldn’t help but be apologetic. Ji-yong’s words rang in her head causing her to say them back to Jin-ho.

"I deceived you."

His reply amused her. She found it befitting that he would much rather she didn’t like men at all versus liking another man that wasn’t him. She proceeded to tell Jin-ho about her plan to become chairwoman and how she needed his support.

Seo-hyun wasn’t banking on crying but hearing him say that her competence wasn’t dependent on her uality got to her. By the time everything was out on the table she felt a bit lighter even if he didn’t want to get divorced.

The two left the restaurant after a little tiff over who would pay. Jin-ho claimed that he was glad to be considered before the interview so he wanted to pay but Seo-hyun won since she was the one to call him out. They walked to the parking lot where their respective drivers were waiting for them. Seo-hyun didn’t know what else to say but she gave him a small bow before walking off.

“Wait!”

The sudden request made her stop in her tracks. Jin-ho said it loud enough to make a few passersby look, causing them to be slightly embarrassed. He cleared his throat before heading over to her. Seo-hyun watched him with thinly veiled apprehension. Sure they were starting to understand and support each other but not enough to warrant a continuous conversation. Jin-ho saw her weariness and swallowed before continuing. For a second, she could see a bit of Soo-hyuk in his mannerisms which made her smile.

“Perhaps, would you like to take a walk with me?”

The very request made her do a double-take. Jin-ho could see the confusion on her face and began to explain.

“Mianhaeyo, I-I just think we could talk...as people.”

“Pardon?”

Jin-ho was a bit embarrassed to say the next part but he continued. He scoffed his feet on the ground.

“Ummm when I had mentioned us being close friends back in your office of course I had different intentions but...I was pretty lonely at the heart of it.”

“Is this your way of getting more information about my love life?”

“Anneyo, this is my way of finally being some type of companion to you. I know we didn’t get married for love nor did you ever see Soo-hyuk and I as a family but maybe we can begin a friendship?”

Seo-hyun didn’t know what to think. What could they possibly have in common? She was apprehensive to accept but grateful for his understanding of who she was. She had to admit that it could’ve been worse. With a deep sigh, she gave him a slow nod before going to tell her driver to wait for an hour.

They met back up on the street where Seo-hyun walked beside Jin-ho around the neighborhoods of Seoul. She wondered where they were going but thankfully Jin-ho spoke up.

“There’s this really nice part of the park where you can sit and watch the sunset on the river. We can walk there.”

Seo-hyun just hummed her agreement and she casually strolled along. She could see Jin-ho anxiously stare at her every few minutes trying to ask something.

“What is it?”

“I’m curious and you don’t have to answer but...how long?”

“What do you mean?”

“How long have you been a lesbian?”

Seo-hyun had to close her eyes to control herself. She should’ve known this would’ve been a probe into her personal life. This road to making amends would have to stop before it fully began if this is all he wanted to talk about. Sure, she was taking ownership of her life but it didn’t make it any less scary.

“Jinho-ssi, I’m not going to divulge my entire life in the closet to you. If this is how you want to get closer then I’ll call Driver Kim now.”

“Mianhaeyo! It’s not like that! It’s just...can you fault me? You’ve always been the elusive Jung Seo-hyun, heiress by birthright, the walking epitome of grace and refinement. It’s surreal to know that you have a story too. As I said, I’m just interested. I promise I’m not gonna get drunk and turn against you later.”

Jin-ho gave a little pout and all Seo-hyun could see was a neglected boy who never got to be himself.

“I tried to be a mother to one son and it seems like I unintentionally got another.”

The thought made her chuckle. She softened up and began walking again.

“It’s not something you just wake up one day and decide. I think for me at least, there was always this bud inside of me that was waiting for the right moment to water it. Growing up how we do, I had schedules by the time I was eight. I spent my entire childhood learning and exploring the finest arts and languages. My parents accepted nothing short of the best. I was Jung Seo-hyun, the only daughter of the Jung estate. It was my sole duty to be unblemished.”

Jin-ho listened attentively. He could already relate to the immense amount of expectations and education they had to endure. Being the eldest son gave him no room for error even though in the end nothing much came out of that except repressed trauma and alcohol abuse.

“Abeoji, he was my favorite. He was a busy man but he always found a way to be with me. He’d lie and tell my mother that he had a board meeting but really he would pay my tutors to lie while we went all across Korea watching theatre troupes. He loved the arts too. Told me he wanted to learn how to play the guitar but his parents said it wasn’t elegant enough.”

The memories made her heart warm. Oh, how she missed him.

“I think my father knew that I was different. I hated etiquette lessons with my mother. She was cold and unscrupulous with no incentive to pretend she loved my father. Seeing how she would be so distant from him made me hate the concept of marriage. Everyone praised me for sharing her looks, but all that meant to me was that I’d end just like her one day. Every minute I could get I spent it with my father learning about the company and how to be a CEO. He always told me I had what it took but my mother thought that my place was at the CEO’s side being a wife.”

By now they had made it to a garden within the park. The day was warm enough to warrant some ice cream. Jin-ho could see that the talk was hurting her so he ran off to the nearby soft-serve stand. Seo-hyun didn’t even notice since she was staring out into the distance. Out of nowhere a wrist wearing an expensive Patek Phillipe watch and holding a strawberry ice cream cone was in her face. She turned her head to see Jin-ho cautiously eating his chocolate cone while waiting for her to take it. Seo-hyun was both offended and charmed.

“Please don’t make this a habit, I may want to adopt you or something.”

She took the cone before asking, “Were you gone the entire time? Have I just been talking to myself like a madwoman?”

“No! No! I caught most of it. It’s just. The topic is heavy and it’s hot and ice cream makes everything better. I actually like it better than alcohol but Eomma says I’ll get fat.”

Seo-hyun let a laugh escape her lips but covered it up with a from the cone. She hummed in delight.

“I was right. Strawberry is your favorite.”

T