“I’m pregnant.”
“Pregnant?”
Byeolha’s eyes, which were shaking while holding a teacup, grew like a rabbit’s. Startled by her friend’s unexpected words, Byeolha almost nearly threw the teacup.
Is it because of her trembling? The hot tea in the cup overflowed and wet the back of Byeolha’s hand.
“Oh, it’s hot.”
When the tea hit the back of her hand, which had not yet cooled, Byeolha put down the cup quickly and wiped her burning hand. The white skin had already turned reddish.
Gyeoru soon opened her mouth after watching a flustered Byeolha struggle. Seeing the injured Byeolha, she didn’t even ask if she was okay and instead only said what she had to say.
“He’s going to marry me.”
Byeolha, who was creating cold winds with her breath, turned her head and looked at Gyeoru.
“That’s great. Congratulations on the wedding. Did you decide on a date? We’ll have to hurry up if we want dinner before we get even more hungry.”
Byeolha sincerely congratulated Gyeoru because she always boasted about her boyfriend and how much he liked and cared for her.
“I’ve already met the family and set up the wedding.”
Gyeoru smiled faintly as if to say not to worry and began searching through her expensive luxury bag.
“I called you to give you a wedding invitation today.”
The wedding invitation was placed loudly on Gyeoru’s table. Then she gently pushed the wedding invitation towards Byeolha.
“Have you prepared wedding invitations already?”
It looked quite luxurious with the subtle pearl on it. Byeolha picked up the wedding invitation and opened the envelope.
November 28th. 1:00PM. S Hotel Wedding Hall.
The front was simple. In addition to the date, time, and place—only the names of the bride and groom were written. Byeolha, who was reading the groom’s name, opened her eyes wide.
“Oh wow, the groom’s name is ‘Lee Dohyun?’ It’s the same as my husband’s name.”
She couldn’t believe that there was such a coincidence. Was Dohyun this common of a name?
When Byeolha, who couldn’t hide her surprise, made such a fuss and was so amazed—Gyeoru, who was in front of her, began to twitch her lips.
Then she stared at Byeolha, her lips twitching as she tried to suppress her laughter.
It was no exaggeration to say that all these nerves were towards Byeolha.
“It’s amazing. Compared to us, the name Lee Dohyun is a common name.”
“Pfft.”
Gyeoru, who was trying hard to hold back her laugh, eventually burst out in laughter at Byeolha’s following words. A low, quiet laughter escaped her lips. But a moment later, a bizarrely loud laughter started to fill the café.
“Ah…. hold on a minute. Haha….”
All the attention was focused on them instantly due to the laughter. Gyeoru did not care about all the looks being directed at her and clutched her stomach.
“You’re so funny. Really.”
It was so funny that there was even tears in Gyeoru’s eyes. She wiped her tears away and nodded towards the wedding invitiation.
“Open it.”
“Ah? Okay.”
‘Why were you laughing like that all of a sudden?’
For some reason, she felt uneasy. It was because Gyeoru’s eyes seemed to be mocking her. With Gyeoru’s gaze fixed on her, Byeolha slowly opened the wedding invitation.
Inside the wedding invitation, there were simple phrases saying that they would live happily, and wedding photos of the bride and groom were printed onto the invitation.
Gyeoru was wearing a dress that highlighted her slender body and the new groom was smiling happily next to her.
“……?”
As soon as she saw the picture, Byeolha’s face turned white. This is because the man next to Gyeoru was someone that Byeolha knew well.
“Why is my husband…….”
Byeolha looked at the wedding invitation in her hand and looked at it again and again. No matter how many times she looked again, the man in the photo was her husband, Lee Dohyun.
“What? This isn’t funny. Come on, don’t joke around.”
Byeolha bit her lower lip and looked at Gyeoru. Her eyes began to lose focus and started to shake pitifully. Gyeoru slipped her long black hair back and took a look at Byeolha, who was shaking.
As she watched Byeolha, who was looking at her with the feeling of catching a piece of straw1, she kept laughing and smiling.
‘You’re so foolish. There’s so many men yet you lost him.’
She even showed her wedding invitation. What do you mean funny? She slowly opened her mouth, thinking that she should say everything with her own mouth for the sake of Byeolha.
“I’m pregnant with your husband’s child.”
“……!”
Boom.
‘Pregnant……? With my husband’s child?
Her heart was dropping downwards. Unbeknownst to herself, she took a deep breath as she felt like everything was spiraling downwards. She was confused and felt so dizzy. Her eyes were twitching and she felt nauseous on the inside.
‘I can’t believe it. Why… Why with my husband……!’
Byeolha covered her mouth with trembling hands like a tree. She couldn’t feel the reality at all from the words of Gyeoru. She prayed that her husband, Lee Dohyun, would come out from behind right away and tell her that everything was a joke.
However, it was only a vain hope from Byeolha.
Lee Dohyun did not appear, and Gyeoru stared at Byeolha while stroking her stomach with her unborn baby. She looked intoxicated with victory and bent the corners of her mouth leisurely.
‘I’m sure you’re misunderstanding something. My husband wouldn’t do that to me.’
Her husband was so dedicated to Byeolha that everyone envied her. She had already seen the wedding invitation, but she could not accept the current situation. No, she didn’t want to admit it.
“Do you know what day November 28 is? That day is the 6th anniversary of Dohyun and I. So please don’t bring up useless words like it’s just my own imagination.”
Gyeoru spoke out like someone who knew what Byeolha was thinking. Byeolha had no choice but to harden on the spot after hearing that she was with him for six years.
It wasn’t just that they met in the last few months, it was six years.
A sense of despondency flooded in like a storm. The pain of one’s heart being ripped to pieces, the pain felt was to the point that it was hard to even breathe.
All of that encroached into Byeolha’s body.
“Do you know that I came here from time to time while I was studying in America? Dohyun is a very kind person. Usually, of course, in bed.”
Gyeoru slipped her lower lip and smiled meaningfully as if to provoke. Byeolha, who was happily married without knowing anything, was funny. She didn’t know how much she always wanted to say this.
Your husband loves me.
Gyeoru looked at the tattered Byeolha with eyes full of joy. Then she savagely cut out Byeolha’s heart.
“Dohyun and I were together the day before your wedding. He spent the night with me at the hotel and went to the ceremony.”
Byeolha’s eyes were already filled with transparent tears. She couldn’t say anything, but cried sadly.
“Your husband has never loved you from the start. He always said he loved me, not you. So don’t be too sad. There must be another man somewhere who will love you.”
Byeolha eventually lowered her head. Because she couldn’t listen to Gyeoru’s words anymore.
Transparent tears were soaked all over her knees, her shoulders were shaking and wept.
“Are you going to congratulate me on my wedding?”
The devil-like voice of Gyeoru dug into Byeolha’s ears. Gyeoru’s voice became an echo and resounded endlessly. As if in a whisper, it relentlessly rushed in and destroyed Byeolha’s mentality.
Wishing you congratulations on your marriage to my husband?
It was unfair beyond absurdity.
She wanted to grab her by the hair and ask why the hell she did this right away, but strangely, her body didn’t move.
The impact was so great that her body didn’t have any strength at all.
“I……Do you think I’ll get a divorce?”
Byeolha asked back in a trembling voice without even looking at Gyeoru. It was her last move.
Byeolha was shaking but she wouldn’t allow herself to back down. Gyeoru smirked with a serious look.
“Are you threatening me?”
Gyeoru who burst into laughter was not shaken at all by Byeolha’s words. Rather, she laughed at Byeolha who mentioned divorce.
“You didn’t even register your marriage with Dohyon.”
“……!”
“What kind of divorce are you talking about on such a topic?”
Byulha’s body flinched. Because Gyeoru hit the nail.
She did not register his marriage with Dohyun. Because she respected his suggestion that they should register their marriage when they have children.
After rummaging through the bag once more, Gyeoru threw a piece of paper onto the table top.
“Lee Dohyun and I are already legally married.”
Byeolha, who had been bowing her head the whole time, barely lifted her head at Gyeoru’s words. A paper folded in half caught her eye in her blurry view.
Bang!
“…Lies!”
Byeolha hit the table with both hands and shouted. Then, she stared at the paper on the table with her eyes losing focus.
“You can tell if it’s a lie or not if you look at it with your own eyes.”
She forced the paper into Byeolha’s hand and smiled vulgarly. Byeolha couldn’t say anything when she saw it in her hand.
Because Gyeoru’s words were right…….
In her family relationship certificate, Lee Dohyun was registered as a spouse.
“….Ha.”
“So, will you stop saying that Dohyun is your husband? He’s not your husband, he’s my husband.”
As she looked down at Byeolha with her arms crossed, her face was filled with a sense of victory.
Byeolha had no choice but to let go of the hope she had held until the very end. Six years of dating and marriage, it was the moment when everything was ending.
The miserable reality suffocated her whole body. Byeolha staggered and ran away from the café without even taking her bag.
Byeolha, who ran out onto the street, eventually collapsed on the ground without even taking a few steps. In the midst of people laughing and chatting under the cool autumn sun, she couldn’t even make a sound, her shoulders shaking desperately.
At twenty-six years old, the fall of that year was terribly cruel. Like the fallen leaves being crushed under her body, Byeolha’s heart was shattered.
***
‘I’m hungry…’
A small studio with about 5 pyeong2. Sprawling in the middle of a room without a bed, she opened her eyes with hunger.
As soon as she woke up, she fumbled around on the floor and picked up her smartphone. She then, as her habit was, accessed Stargram.
0 followers, 0 follows.
That was her account. She skillfully retrieved her ID and spied on the daily life of her friends and family.
She looked at the phone for a long time with a mixture of bitterness and regret.
After the divorce, Byeolha continued her life in seclusion for over three years. She could depend on her friends and family, but whenever she was with them, Dohyun always came to mind.
So she ran away. Where there is no one, to a place where she has no connection that he would not think of. She quit her job too. Because she couldn’t stand having the same job as Lee Dohyun.
Byeolha tried to forget the existence of Lee Dohyun and Gyeoru, changing her number and name.
Who said that humans are creatures of forgetting. The nightmare-like memories that came to mind when she thought of them made Byulha’s life miserable.
Byeolha put down her cell phone and slowly got up from her seat. Walking around, she put water on the gas fire stove to make something to eat.
It has been three years since she lived in this studio apartment due to the delay in the division of property due to the fact that apartments were not selling.
Byeolha took out one of the books the former tenant had left behind and laid it on the floor. Then she put the pot on it.
The title of the book came into her sight while she was eating ramen.
The Trapped Countess.
It was a novel that she came across by chance after coming to this house. She flipped through the bookshelf out of curiosity, but couldn’t see it until the end.
This was a devastating novel that tells the story of a count who constantly causes problems with women and a count’s wife who suffers from it.
Byeolha was immersed in the heroine’s feelings and finally quit without seeing the ending.
“I should throw it away.”
Just looking at the title of the book made her feel so bad. Byeolha, who was staring down at the novel, muttered to herself.
She picked up the book with her index finger and put it in the trash can.
Thud!
It wasn’t the noise of simply just throwing a book away. Byeolha frowned at the unknown sound and listened.
(Screams)
It was then that the ground began to shake with a great roar.
“O-Oh!”
As if there was an earthquake, the ground began to collapse in a huge movement. Byeolha was laying inside building that was collapsing without a chance to escape.
Byeolha died alone in a place without any connection. Her first life ended miserably.
Maybe she didn’t know. She knew that the brilliant second life in the book, which she had abandoned, awaited her.
Byeolha, who had lost her mind, felt someone desperately calling her.
“… Are you all right?”
Relying on the faint voice that she heard, she struggled to lift her eyelids. As soon as she opened her eyes, what she saw was a spectacular chandelier.