Page 131 of Perfect Happiness
“The day after tomorrow is Jiyoo’s birthday.Let’s go on an overnight family trip to celebrate.”
She asked him to make just twenty-four hours for Jiyoo, who never got to take a trip with her father.If by the end of it, he still hadn’t changed his mind, she would accept the divorce.
After ten minutes of silence, Eun-ho answered, “Okay.”Everything after that happened exactly as he expected.Before he could even blink, they were at the place where Wife had most likely taken her ex-husband.But there were two variables Eun-ho hadn’t anticipated.
The first was that the Seodaemun Police Department had asked Yuna to come in early that morning.They wanted to question her as a potential witness.This was good because it allowed Eun-ho to talk with Jiyoo while she was out.
Just as Eun-ho figured, Wife had trained Jiyoo well.Her lips were sealed.But there was one exception.Eun-ho could sense a subtle but perceptible air of resistance and obedience within Jiyoo.It wasn’t in her actions, but rather in her attitude.It was the resistance of a child who on the surface was obedient but was secretly talking back to their parents under their breath.Knowing how sensitive Wife was to subtle changes in behavior, there was no way she hadn’t sensed this, too.It was likely that their fight the previous night was because of Jiyoo’s newfound rebelliousness.
The other variable was that Wife had confiscated Eun-ho’s phone.Not only had Jinu called him on their way here, but now he didn’t have the ability to call for help.At the time, Eun-ho thought he would get his phone back eventually.His main goal was not to make Wife suspicious.Only now did he realize this was a lapse in judgement.
It was unconscious obedience.The same unconscious obedience that caused him to beg Wife to come home every time she left the house.Eun-ho wasn’t that different from Jiyoo in that he, too, had been domesticated by Yuna.
Just before leaving the house, Eun-ho sent Min-young a text message:
—I’m going on a trip with my wife.I won’t be back for a while.
He thought about giving Min-young more of a hint, but then decided against it.It would be problematic if Min-young showed up too soon.Eun-ho had drafted the text message when he was alone with Jiyoo and pressed the send button just before getting into the car.After it was delivered, he blocked Min-young’s number so she couldn’t call or text him.
He knew this would put Min-young into a frenzy and cause her to start looking for him.She would either get the help of the police or she would get the help of the private detective she had used to do background research on him.And once they realized he and Wife really weren’t home, they would begin their pursuit.At least, this was the best-case scenario.
Indeed, Min-young was his only safety net.His phone was the guide that would lead his pursuers.But now that the guide was in Wife’s hands, he was anxious that they would never find him.If he could only find the phone and turn it on.
It seemed like Wife was still doing something upstairs.With the water running, he started rummaging through the kitchen.Wife’s phone was on the shelf beneath the kitchen table.He pressed the home button, but it was turned off.Thinking his phone might be in the storage closet, he opened every closet door, but he couldn’t find it.Every shelf was empty.
“Eun-ho, are you looking for something?”
Eun-ho could hear Wife’s voice coming from upstairs.He had tried to be quiet, but it seemed like Wife’s ears had heard him opening the cabinets.He said the first thing that came to mind.
“Do you know where the paper towels are?”
To his own ears, his voice sounded slurred as though he were drunk.It felt distant and vague, as though the voice were coming from outside.
“They’re under the kitchen table.”
Eun-ho stood up.The room started spinning again.His vision lurched as though he were on a boat at sea.
“Did you find it?”Wife asked.
“Yes!”
As soon as he said this, he could hear a door closing.It seemed like Wife had finally gone into Jiyoo’s room.Eun-ho leaned against the edge of the kitchen sink.His nausea was doubling with every moment.His feet looked impossibly far away, as though his legs were several meters long.This wasn’t just a temporary phenomenon.And it wasn’t sleep deprivation.Somehow, Wife had drugged him.
Eun-ho wasn’t particularly receptive to sleeping pills.The only thing to go numb was his body; his mind was just fine.The sleep study he took had confirmed this.This was only the second time in his life that he had felt so drowsy—the other time being the night Noah died.Eun-ho figured Yuna had given him the same drug.
The dinner they ate slowly passed in front of Eun-ho’s eyes.The goulash, the glass of champagne, the salad, the pieces of bread, and the saucer of peanut butter.Eun-ho paused on this last image.It had to be the peanut butter.He was the only one who touched the peanut butter.
Had Jiyoo known?Is that why she didn’t touch the peanut butter?Had she betrayed him like she betrayed her own father?Puddles of sour saliva began to form around Eun-ho’s gums.Eun-ho needed to throw up.
Eun-ho turned around and put his mouth over the faucet head.He held his breath as he drank until he felt full of water, then stuck his fingers down his throat and vomited into the sink.He repeated this five times until he was ready to collapse from exhaustion.His sweater was soaked, and there was a puddle of water on the kitchen floor.
He washed the vomit down the drain and turned off the faucet.He then took a handful of paper towels and mopped up the water on the ground.As he left the kitchen, he hoped this pitiful attempt at an exorcism had rid him of the drugs.His goal was Wife’s bag which was in the living room.It should have only taken him five seconds to get there from the sink, but as things were, this short walk felt like he was crossing the solar system.Nothing felt normal or right.
Only the center of his vision was in focus; the peripheries were distorted like a Salvador Dali painting.Walls were bending, the ceiling was sagging, the front door moving back and forth like a yo-yo.Eun-ho’s feet sunk into the floor with every step, as though the floor were trying to swallow him.
Wife’s bag was on the coffee table in the living room.His travel bag was beneath the table, and Wife’s jacket was hung over the sofa armrest.He opened the bag and looked inside.He couldn’t see well.Not only was the opening to the bag small, but the inside of the bag was deep and filled with miscellaneous items.This was only exacerbated by the fact his eyes couldn’t focus.
Eun-ho stuck his hand in the bag.The first thing he fished out was Wife’s makeup pouch.As soon as he unzipped the pouch, one side of it sagged, spilling out all its contents.
