Page 130 of Perfect Happiness
There are two types of people when it comes to conversations.Those who listen to the person they’re talking to, and those who don’t.Talking with the latter is like playing an endless game of ping pong.
Wife belonged to the latter.Regardless of what he said, she would always ask him emotional questions or give him exhausting answers.This would continue until she started attacking him physically.And even if he kept his cool, things only got worse.Then she would lose it and start harming herself.This was the same tiresome pattern that Eun-ho had experienced since they got married.The only solution was avoiding her entirely.
He looked straight into Wife’s eyes, which were shaking with rage.He tried his best to sound indifferent.
“I’m leaving tomorrow.I’m not taking anything with me.”
“That’s because none of this belongs to you.”Wife’s breath was damp and sour.
He could feel himself becoming nauseous again.He pushed away Wife’s legs, which were still straddling his chair, and got up.He picked up his jacket, which had been thrown on the desk, and left the study.
“Eun-ho—” Wife called out to Eun-ho just before he closed the door behind him.“Come here.”Her voice was a soft whisper.
This made Eun-ho flinch.Such a tone of voice always had power over him.Marriage with Wife was a train platform: on one side of the platform was the train for heaven, on the other side was the train for hell.“Come here” was the boarding call for the train to heaven.Come here, I’ll make you happy.
Eun-ho didn’t go to her and simply closed the door.He continued walking and went out the back door.He entered a trail with streetlamps, and walked until he reached a rest area in the forest.All the while, his phone was ringing tirelessly.The only times it wasn’t ringing were the second-long intervals it took for the caller to hang up and dial again.He had no need to check who it was.There was only one person who could be calling him.
Eventually, he put his phone on silent.He sat down on a bench that was damp with evening dew.With his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped, he looked down at the lights beneath the hill.Fog was forming over the streets.Eun-ho felt like he could hear Noah’s voice beyond the fog.
Dad, what are you doing there?
Good question.What am I doing here?How did my life turn out like this?Where had I gone wrong?
Eun-ho felt like he had stepped into a dark void.He felt like he had walked blindly into a place where there was no place to stand, where he couldn’t see in front of himself.Ever since he had met Yuna, he had been completely bewitched, like a climber blinded by the beautiful peak of a tall mountain, who climbs the mountain even though he knows death awaits him.Eun-ho had paid the ultimate price for allowing himself to be so blinded by Yuna.
Something hot was burning inside his throat.His temples throbbed.Moisture filled the corners of his eyes.He held his face with his cold hands and started to cry.The sobs and groans slowly turned into an uncontrollable wave of grief.But this wasn’t grief about losing Noah or resentment toward himself.His tears were from the sudden clarity of his own disillusionment.
After two hours he left the rest area.He wanted to hold out until daybreak, but he couldn’t stand the cold anymore.When he pulled out his phone to use its flashlight, he saw Jinu was calling him.
“Where are you?”Jinu asked immediately.
Eun-ho was about to ask why Jinu was calling him at such a late hour, but stopped himself.He knew why.As Eun-ho expected, Wife had gone to Jinu and told him about their fight.He didn’t need to ask why she went there.She had gone there because she was confident that Eun-ho would be there.Jinu was unable to stop Yuna from tearing the place apart.
“I told her you weren’t there, but it was no use.I knew she was difficult, but I had no idea she wasthiscrazy.She saw that your car was in the parking garage, and was convinced that you were hiding somewhere in the apartment.”
Jinu let Eun-ho imagine the rest of what happened for himself.Eun-ho felt himself blushing.Now he knew what his students felt like when their parents came to school to demand better grades.It was fortunate that Jinu lived by himself.He didn’t want to imagine what would have happened if Jinu had a girlfriend living with him.
Jinu asked Eun-ho again where he was.When Eun-ho said that he was on the trail behind their house, Jinu told him to come to his place to get his car and tell him what happened.But Eun-ho didn’t want to go; he was too embarrassed to talk to Jinu, and he was afraid that Wife would be hiding in the bushes outside Jinu’s apartment.But most of all, he didn’t want to drag Jinu into this anymore than he already had.
“No, I should go home.”
Eun-ho went to a nearby PC café.He needed to think about what Wife might do when he went home to pack his things.Would she offer him a cup of coffee before he left?Or would she take him somewhere?
It was unlikely that she would try to drug him now.She knew his car was still at Jinu’s, so getting him drowsy on sleeping pills would do nothing.
Eun-ho thought about putting all his money on the former.Wife knew that Eun-ho knew.And because of that, she wouldn’t be dumb enough to use her usual method.In fact, there was a good possibility that she would suggest they go somewhere so he would have time to reconsider.And that somewhere would be the same place she took her ex-husband.
That was what he wanted.But there was just one small problem.When the moment arrived, he would have no way of defending himself.He was using himself as a sacrifice.But even so, he needed to know the truth about Noah’s death.He needed confirmation that he hadn’t killed his own son.Not to prove it to the police or to the world, but to prove it to himself.This was the first time in Eun-ho’s life that he realized the truth was more valuable than his own life.
Around 7 a.m.he returned home.Wife was sipping a cup of coffee and looking out the balcony window.She should have seen him come in.But she only appeared after he entered his study and started putting his things in his bag.She appeared in the room suddenly, without even knocking.
“Honey, please talk to me.”
Their talk didn’t go well.Wife was a poor negotiator.She was only good at giving speeches.She went on and on, pointing out how rash a decision he was making, sobbing about how much pain she was in, bragging about how much she had tried last night to fix this problem.But all Eun-ho could do was yawn.
“If you must leave, then go.All I ask is for one more day to change your mind.”
Eun-ho could feel the drowsiness wearing off.His ears had finally heard what they’d been waiting for.
