Page 47 of Perfect Happiness
The club members all thought she was his girlfriend.Strangely, he didn’t deny it.Their friends all called him the “perfect boyfriend.”And in terms of personality and smarts, she agreed.But no one knew that he had one fatal flaw that prevented him from being the perfect boyfriend.
He didn’t look at Jane like a woman.He looked at her as if she were something else.The closest thing Jane could think of would be a vegetable.Not sweet, but something you needed by your side, something you didn’t love but which was safe, the kind of thing that was beneficial, not necessarily enjoyable.Indeed, Jane was the kind of person he could visit late at night without hesitation, the kind of person he could casually ask to put him up for the night, the kind of person who would be considerate enough not to wake him up while he was napping.
And Jane never crossed the boundaries he set between them.At the very least, she didn’t grab him by the collar and demand he sleep with her.But she regretted this every time he left her apartment.She should have grabbed him by the shirt and demanded he sleep with her if he was serious about their relationship.And if there was no convincing him, she would have kicked him into orbit.
A long time passed as Jane idled her time away and did nothing about her relationship with Joon-young.There was no change in their intimacy, not after graduation, not after she started working, not even after he debuted as a playwright.Whenever he was burnt out from writing, or whenever he took a break from his part-time job, he would come to Jane, like some neighborhood cat that appears at a restaurant for a dish of milk once in a while.He would even leave behind two tickets to a play whenever he left, like a stray leaving behind a dead mouse for their human friend.
The reason this relationship continued for so long was clear: Jane was always available.The reason their relationship ended was just as clear: he had becomeunavailable.
Yuna had just got back from Russia.She showed up at Jane’s work just before it was time to go home for the day.She said she was in Gwanghwamun and was “just stopping by.”She asked Jane to buy her dinner.That night just so happened to be the first time one of Joon-young’s plays was being shown on a live stage.Jane was planning on going to the showing in Daehak-ro with a bouquet of flowers and a fancy ballpoint pen with his name engraved on it.Yuna invited herself to go with Jane, saying something like she liked plays, too.
The play was good.And so was the audience’s reaction.The only thing that wasn’t good was Jane’s mood.Yuna offered Joon-young the bouquet of flowers as thoughshehad bought it for him.Jane didn’t even need to introduce Yuna; she did that on her own.
“Are you Jane’s boyfriend?”Yuna asked as she smiled teasingly.
Joon-young just laughed slightly without answering.Jane never found out what happened after that.She thought it strange when he didn’t show up at her place for several months, but she didn’t give it much more thought than that.Little did she know, her cat had found another dish of milk to drink from every night.
He only showed up again later that year in the autumn.He didn’t come to nap.He was there to tell Jane he was getting married.He told this to her as she made an omelet.It had been four months since that night in Daehak-ro.She was more shocked by the short time frame than she was about the fact that he and Yuna were getting married.
“You’re getting married to whom?”Jane couldn’t believe her ears.
Joon-young replied by saying he was sorry.
“Sorry for what?”
“I know all about it.Your relationship with your sister.”
In other words, Joon-young was apologizing for something else, not the fact that he was leaving her for her sister.She was so enraged by the shameless look on his face that she almost took the hot frying pan and hit him across the face with it, omelet and all.If only she had screamed out in anger and told him to fuck off, she might have felt less resentment toward him in the future.
Yuna asked Jane to catch the bouquet at the wedding.Well, not directly.She asked through their mom, something she intentionally did to put even more pressure on Jane.
“I think Yuna doesn’t have any friends who can catch it.They all got married while she was off in Russia.”
Jane was surprised all over again.Yuna was even less human than she had imagined.She was nothing but an animal wearing the skin of a human.Jane had once read in college that the most useful personality attribute was audacity.Jane doubted Yuna was marrying Joon-young because she really believed she loved him.
Jane refused outright.
“It’s not like she’s asking you to buy the flowers!What’s so hard about catching a bouquet at your own sister’s wedding?”
Min-young was right.Janehadcut off ties with the two of them.She had no interest in getting involved in their problems.And to this end, she needed to block Min-young and permanently delete this email, not just send it to the trash.Jane sat down in front of her computer again, but she immediately lost sight of her goal.The moment her eyes met the screen, she was caught in Min-young’s trap again.
I want to tell you everything I know.I’ll assume you know nothing about why my big brother decided to get a divorce, about the divorce proceedings, about what happened after the divorce, about why Yuna is a fraud and a con-artist.
I actually don’t know all the details of Joon-young’s marriage.I had assumed they were getting along well.But I learned that wasn’t true when he showed up at my place in Wonju one day.
I didn’t have to go to work, so it must have been a Sunday.He showed up at my place in the early morning with a backpack over his shoulder and a blue bruise on his chin.His lip was busted, too.He looked like he had gotten in a fight.But I never would have imagined it was with Yuna.He told me she hadn’t hit him with her fist.She had thrown an iPad at him.
At the time, I couldn’t ask him for any further details.He looked so exhausted.He asked me to let him use my bed to get some shut eye.
I was thinking about going to the grocery store to buy him food so I could make him something to eat when he woke up.Something that would cheer him up.After all, it was the weekend, and I had a lot of time.
Anyway, when I went back into the room to organize his clothes, he was already asleep.I picked up his clothes and hung them in the closet.That’s when I saw it.There was a long cut through the front of his shirt.It wasn’t torn like it would be if someone had ripped it with their hands.The cut had been made with a knife.Of course, I’m no forensics expert, but I’m positive it was a knife.
I lifted the blanket to see his body.I regretted it immediately.I couldn’t believe that Yuna had made such marks.There were bite wounds on his forearms.And beneath his neck were three claw marks, the kind that someone could only make if they had the intent of drawing blood.Between the thumb and index finger on his right hand were three or four stitches.His shins were also covered in bruises as though someone had kicked at them.
I felt dizzy.I tried my hardest to convince myself that those wounds weren’t proof that Yuna had attacked my big brother.I wanted to believe that they could be injuries from him trying to stop her from hurting herself.
Joon-young woke up later that evening.I asked him about the marks as we ate.He just told me that he left the house after asking for a divorce.He was probably too embarrassed to tell me about how she had attacked him.Or maybe he was worried that I would find Yuna and confront her.As you know, I’ve got a bit of a temper—especially when it comes to things involving my big brother.
