Page 132 of Perfect Happiness
Eun-ho held his breath as he watched.One thing rolled noisily under the sofa, another thing slid to the middle of the living room floor, and something heavy fell to his feet with a thud.He felt like he was watching a video in slow motion.
He sensed no movement upstairs.The surroundings went quiet again.Eun-ho looked down at the fallen items.One of the items was his cellphone.He bent down at the knees and picked it up.With trembling fingers, he pressed the power button.The screen eventually lit up, showing him that he had several missed calls.Twelve in total.All from Jinu.
Eun-ho switched the phone to silent, turned on the recording app, then put the phone back into the pouch.He turned to the item that had slid across the floor.It was a bag of medicine.He crawled over to the bag and picked it up.Inside were five oblong-shaped pills.The name of the drug was printed on the bag:
Temazepam (10 mg)—Sleep sedative—Take one pill thirty minutesbefore bed.
The word temazepam looked to Eun-ho as if there were embossed lettering.So this was the drug that Wife had used.Eun-ho remembered his doctor explaining the difference between sleeping sedatives and sleeping aids.The side effects stored in his memory were exactly the same as the symptoms he was experiencing now.
The prescription had been written at a “Dr.G’s Sleep Clinic,” and the pharmacy was in Geomdan, not Cheongyeon.That was where Wife’s company was located.It was likely the clinic she went to was also in that area.Not that it mattered anymore.
Just as he was putting the pills back in the pouch, something startled him.He had heard a voice coming from upstairs.When he perked up his ears, he could hear footsteps coming down the stairs.Crouching on the living room floor, he was frozen in place.There were still things left under the sofa to retrieve, but he didn’t have time.His heart was beating out of his chest.A single droplet of sweat trickled out of his armpit.The voice inside his head was shouting at him in desperation.Pull yourself together!Move!Quickly puteverything back!
“Eun-ho?”Wife called from the door to the living room.
This happened just as he was performing a feat of superhuman speed.He towed his body under the sofa like a broken truck, grabbed Wife’s lipstick and hand mirror, put them in the pouch, put the pouch back in her bag, and then took off his soaked sweater and threw it on the coach.
“What are you doing over there?”
Eun-ho turned around to look at her.He wanted to say he was looking for a change of clothes because he had got his sweater wet, but his tongue was curled up toward the back of his throat.His words came out like a jumbled groan.
Eun-ho tilted his head to the side in confusion at the sound he had just made.As Wife approached him, the image of her split in two.The living room was being stretched like the rubber band of a slingshot.And then, as if someone had let it go, the entire living room smashed into his face.This time, he was unable to accomplish any feats of superhuman speed or agility.Eun-ho fell backwards, and everything went black.
When he opened his eyes, he was locked in a frozen lake—the same lake from his dream, the one in which he had been adrift the night Noah died.Just like then, his body was immersed in water trapped beneath the ice.A mysterious light was flickering above his eyes, and the wind was howling in the distance.
“Why did you do it, honey?”
Eun-ho could hear Wife’s voice through the wind.
“Why didn’t you keep your promise?”
She asked this question in an inflectionless murmur, as though she were talking to herself.
“I thought marrying you would make me happy.”
The water swept across his forehead like a heavy breeze.The undercurrent was dragging his limp body through water.
“Do you know how much effort I spent trying—”
Wife’s voice was momentarily swept away by the wind.
“—to make that dream a reality?”
Right.Effort.Wife’s effort.That horrifying effort that had driven their family to ruin.Suddenly, a violent rush of water put Eun-ho on its back.
“Do you know how hard I tried to protect you?”
Eun-ho’s body rose suddenly, hitting the ice, then sank deep into the lake.Wife’s voice drifted in and out with the motion of his body.Rising, then dropping, surging, then falling.
“When Noah died and the police suspected you, I did everything to clear your name.I endured you and your irritability.I tried to forget the pain you caused me these last few weeks.I did it because this was our new beginning.”
The wind swept away Wife’s voice again.Eun-ho wondered how much time had passed since he lost consciousness.Two hours?Three?Five?
“But you kept pushing me away.”
The wind returned with Wife’s voice.
“You avoided me, hid things from me, betrayed me.You pretended to be asleep when I came home.You looked through my phone while I was asleep.You drank with Jinu behind my back and then came home and asked for a divorce.I forgave you time after time, and you still don’t appreciate me.Do you know how much that hurts?”
