Page 31 of Perfect Happiness
“This is just the kind of house I wanted.”
Yuna looked like she had already made up her mind.Eun-ho shook his head.He liked it, but there were still a lot of problems.First, the house was absurdly expensive.Eun-ho would have to sell his place and they would have to use up all their savings and take out a loan just to pay the down deposit.Not to mention the fact that they wouldn’t be able to move in right away.They would have to wait until next June, more than six months away.Where were Eun-ho and Noah going to live in the meantime?Eun-ho thought they would have to settle for a three-room apartment.
But Yuna suggested a different plan.She would sell her apartment instead so that she and Eun-ho could live in his apartment close to work.Noah and Jiyoo would live at their grandparents’ places.And then, when the townhouse was finally built, they would all move in together.If Eun-ho didn’t like that, they could simply postpone the wedding.That way they could continue living separately until the house was finished.
Instead of postponing the wedding, Eun-ho decided to postpone his reunion with his son.He’d lived apart from Noah for almost five years, what was a few more months?Even though Eun-ho’s mom didn’t like the plan, she agreed to look after Noah for a bit longer.
It was relatively smooth sailing after that.At least until after they moved in because even after moving into the townhouse, Eun-ho was unable to bring Noah to live with him.Wife had wanted to bring the two kids together, on the same day.But she argued that they needed to have the same last name when that happened.Sending a brother and sister to the same daycare with different names was like advertising to the world that their parents were both divorcees.She didn’t want the kids to have to go through that if they didn’t need to.To her, such wounds were like the seeds of unhappiness just waiting to sprout.
This time, as well, Wife had a plan.She told Eun-ho all he had to do was adopt Jiyoo and change her last name.This was a clear solution to their problem, but there was only one major issue.Adoption papers by a stepparent were only accepted one year after filing for marriage.So, they would need to wait five more months.
Eun-ho rejected Wife’s plan.It wasn’t that he didn’t want to adopt Jiyoo, nor was it because he was that upset about not being reunited with Noah.He simply rejected Wife’s premise as invalid.Their second marriage wasn’t some secret that needed to be hidden from the world.While it was true theirs wasn’t your typical marriage, it wasn’t the kind of flaw that warranted changing a child’s last name or should prevent them from raising their own children.
Humans live in their own universe governed by their own beliefs.Wife’s universe was one of perfection—flawless, faultless, spotless perfection.And she believed that perfect happiness started with filial perfection.This belief of hers was borderline religious.There was no room for compromise.Wife rejected his rejection.
This difference in opinion exploded into a fight in just a matter of minutes.They exchanged hurtful words without hesitation.Wife called him a selfish prick who only cared about his own child.In fact, selfishness was his third marriage-threatening flaw.And then, she accused him of going back on his word like a liar and slapped him.Once with a forehand, once with a backhand.
He was so shocked that he couldn’t retaliate nor defend himself.He just stood there and took it as her slapping turned into punching.They had had bad fights before, but never had it turned physical.That night, Eun-ho finally understood how men who allowed themselves to be abused came to be.
Wife stormed out of the apartment as though she were the victim.The next day, Eun-ho received a message asking for a divorce, as though he had been the aggressor.
Eun-ho threw away his pride.He also gave up on his plans to bring Noah into the house as soon as they moved in.He didn’t want to threaten their marriage anymore.Losing was better than ruining his marriage, he thought.That was the principle that ruled his universe.Even though he’d never said this out loud, she knew it as though she were some psychic.This was the reason he lost every fight.
When Wife finally came back home, Eun-ho went looking for his mom.He convinced her to look after Noah for yet a few more months.He didn’t mention adoption.She would find out eventually; there was no reason to pay up front for a scolding by running his mouth.Instead, he used Wife as the excuse.He said Wife hurt her back and needed to receive treatment for a few months.His mom didn’t look like she believed this, but she didn’t protest, under the condition that he pay all her living expenses for the remainder of Noah’s stay.
Last Monday was their first-year anniversary.Eun-ho met Wife in Songdo, where they had dinner and watched the classicBefore Sunsetat a car-park movie theatre before returning to her house in Cheongyeon to share a bottle of wine and make love.
Married life for Eun-ho was a mixture of bliss and agony.That night belonged to the former.It was a peaceful, satisfying night.The kind of night that made Eun-ho think they could grow old together if they could just do this more often.The kind of night that made him want to believe that they were normal.But that all changed when Wife dropped a new bomb on Eun-ho’s chest.
Wife asked Eun-ho to fully adopt Jiyoo as his own child.Under regular adoption, the law would still recognize the father-daughter relationship between Jiyoo and her biological father.But under full adoption, those bonds of kinship would be severed.Jiyoo would be added to Eun-ho’s family register as his rightful child, and her last name would automatically be changed.In other words, Wife was asking Eun-ho to uproot and replant Jiyoo in his family tree.
Eun-ho, who had been blissfully dozing off after making love, sat right up in bed.He would have been less shocked had someone started strangling him in his sleep.Why was this the first time he was hearing about this?This was probably her plan all along; he just had been too stupid to notice.They had already been married for an entire year, and he was still this bad at reading his own wife.Or rather, he was wholly incapable of reading her.Even a brainless sea cucumber could become a master of reading minds with a bit of training.
“I’ll take care of all the paperwork.”Wife got up and sat across from him on the bed.“All you have to do is agree.”Her tone suggested that she didn’t doubt for a second that he would agree.“You’ll do this for me, won’t you?”
Up till this moment, Wife still had a sweetish smile on her face.Eun-ho didn’t want to betray her expectations, he didn’t want to ruin the mood, but he had to speak his mind.
“No, I can’t do it.”
The smile disappeared from her face, as though someone had flipped the circuit breaker,POP.
“Why not?”
She wasn’t really asking why not.What she was really asking was,What’s wrong with adopting Jiyoo?This was the kind of cross-examination that someone did when they were so sure of themselves that they didn’t believe the person they were talking to had a mouth that could think for itself.Eun-ho answered as though he felt he had to defend himself.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?We’ve always talked about this.The process is basically the same.It’s not like we’re bringing the kids in any later.”
“As far as I’m aware, you need the signed consent of both biological parents to do full adoption.Think about it from your ex-husband’s point of view.He’s basically relinquishing all blood ties to his daughter.You really think he’d be willing to do that?He’s not crazy.You’re asking him to hand over his only daughter.He’s not just going to say, ‘Yes, yes, of course.’”
The color was draining out of Wife’s face.Daggers appeared in her pupils.These were signs that she was losing her cool.
“What if I get him to sign?”Wife paused for a moment before continuing.“Will you sign then?”
Eun-ho wavered slightly, but he had no intention of changing his mind.
“No.”
