Page 46 of Perfect Happiness
“Thank you, Auntie,” Jiyoo muttered in a sleepy voice as Jane laid her down and pulled the blanket over her.
Jane stopped what she was doing and looked Jiyoo in the eye.There was guilt in Jiyoo’s voice.Yuna had probably drilled into Jiyoo that she always needed to be grateful whenever someone did something for her.
“If you have another bad dream, just call for me.”Jane then leaned over to whisper into Jiyoo’s ear.“Auntie’s not going anywhere.”
Jiyoo fell asleep shortly after this.Jane put her laptop on the edge of Jiyoo’s bed and used the guest bed as a chair.She opened the document file for Chungju Literature Museum and opened the recording file.She felt like she was going to collapse from exhaustion, but she couldn’t do that just yet.Even though she had taken a few days off from work, she was still responsible for getting this article out on time.
It was dark out by the time Jane checked her work email.There were dozens of emails accusing her of being a trash journalist.Most of them were lambasting her for last week’s article about the Chae Man-sik Literature Museum.“I guess pro-Japanese collaborators enjoy luxury even in death.”“Should murderers be forgiven just because they apologized?”
One email subject among these caught Jane’s eye.
Jane, it’s Min-young.Please read this.
Yesterday’s events at the café flashed through Jane’s mind.She closed her eyes to suppress the emotions that followed.Her intuition was telling her to press the delete button.It warned her that she would get tangled up in Min-young and Joon-young’s problems if she opened the email.Jane clicked delete.After quickly organizing the rest of her inbox, Jane closed the window.And then, just before she turned off her computer, she remembered what Jiyoo said last night.
From the Half Moon Marsh, Dad is calling.
Jane also remembered what Min-young had said.
I haven’t heard from him since Tuesday afternoon.
Jane could hear a voice inside her head telling her this wasn’t a coincidence.
Jane searched through the trash bin and found Min-young’s email.The email started with the words, “Jane, I’m sorry.”The next paragraph caught Jane off guard.
I know you must be angry.I’m sorry for embarrassing you like that.There must have been a lot of your coworkers around.Please forgive me.That’s not why I asked to meet you.I lost my cool ...
Jane didn’t quite believe this apology.It seemed insincere.Jane skipped over these pointless apologies until she got to the body of the email, which started on paragraph three.
Jane, I’m in Wonju now.I live in a small one-bedroom apartment.I moved here when I got my job.My company is nearby.For the last few years, I haven’t been able to see my big brother often.He was just too busy after the divorce.
Last Tuesday, I was in Seoul for work.I hadn’t seen him in a long time and decided to give him a call.But I couldn’t get through.His phone was turned off, as I told you yesterday.
Nothing seems right.My big brother has never turned off his phone on purpose.He’s never gone off the grid.I can’t take time off work to go looking for him.We just started an audit.I thought he might have gone back to Geoje Island to see our parents, but when I called, they said they hadn’t heard from him.
I wasn’t able to return to Seoul until Saturday.The first place I went was his apartment.But he wasn’t there.I couldn’t tell when the last time he had been home was.The place hardly looked like someone lived there.There wasn’t a speck of dust on the floor.I tried calling his friends and coworkers, but no one had seen him recently.And the delivery company he worked for said he quit the week before.I was the last person to talk to him.
I’ve already gone to the police.I tried to make a missing person’s report.But the police wouldn’t take me seriously.When I told them everything, they just told me to wait a few more days.They seem to think a grown man can’t be in danger.
I had no idea what to do.Then I realized I needed to meet Yuna, somehow someway.That’s why I came to you.I thought you could help me arrange a meeting.
You probably want to know why I want to meet her so badly.After all, they got divorced so long ago.I shouldn’t have any business with Yuna.I thought for sure you would understand.I thought you were playing dumb.That’s why I got so angry.I’m not sure why it never occurred to me that you wouldn’t understand.
I only remember what my big brother did to you on my way back to Wonju.You and he dated until you were nineteen, and then he dumped you and married your sister.If it were me, I would have killed them both.That must be why you decided to cut ties with them.But that’s why I’m sending you this email ...
Jane looked up from her laptop.The letters in the email were jutting out of her screen like two tightly clenched fists.Her nose felt like someone had punched it.Her breath was unsteady, and her head was beginning to spin.She was filled with deep regret.She shouldn’t have run out of the café like that yesterday.She should have broken Min-young’s fingers.That way she wouldn’t have been able to send Jane such an infuriating email.
Jane got to her feet suddenly and walked over to the windowsill.She brought her face close to the glass and looked out into the darkness as it consumed her field of view.She could hear Joon-young’s voice from all those years ago.
“Jane, I’m getting married.”
Joon-young was always busy in college.If he wasn’t working at one of his many part-time jobs at a café or barbeque restaurant near school, he was studying, tutoring, or at drama practice.But whenever he had a few minutes of free time, he would come to Jane’s studio apartment, which was located just off campus.He would ask her to let him sleep there for just an hour or two.He didn’t have enough time to go all the way back home.
True to his word, he came to her apartment only to nap.He was even respectful enough to sleep on her sofa and use the cushion as a pillow.But while he slept, Jane couldn’t focus.The slightest flicker of his eyelashes was enough to ignite all the nerves in her body.The light radiating from her nerve endings was so intense that she felt like she might explode if as much as a strand of hair fell from his head.
The light in Jane’s body went out as soon as he left.Despondent, her shoulders would drop.She felt like she was a human motel.
Jane never expressed her feelings to him, but desperately wanted to believe that he felt the same way about her as she felt about him.She held onto this belief like a morning prayer, the kind one makes daily despite never receiving a sign.
