Page 32 of Perfect Happiness
“No?”
“This won’t end with my agreeing to it.The fundamental problem is Jiyoo.Haven’t you thought of the possibility that Jiyoo might grow up to resent us?How do you think she’ll feel when she finds out that we cut her off from her biological father, who may I remind you is still alive?Haven’t you thought about how much it will hurt her?Why do you have to have everything your way?Jiyoo might be your daughter, but she’s not your property.She has her own life.”
“You’re such an asshole.”
Wife twisted her lips as she smirked.Her glare was darting back and forth between his right and left eye, carving lines into his cornea with a razor blade.Eun-ho could feel her breathing starting to tremble.He could even smell the sour odor of perspiration on her pale skin.
Eun-ho couldn’t help but admire her.Her entire body was perfectly coordinated in expressing her emotions.When that emotion was love, her body gave him bliss, and when it was rage, her body dragged him into the fiery pits of hell.Even though Eun-ho knew this, he couldn’t stop.
“If I were Jiyoo, I wouldn’t forgive you.Never.”
Wife got down from the bed.She started a series of rage-filled verbal attacks.
“Don’t pretend you’re thinking of Jiyoo.I know you don’t accept Jiyoo as your daughter.You shower your son with affection, but you treat my daughter like the neighbor’s kid.You think I wouldn’t know?I’ve never seen you affectionately hold her hand.You don’t even smile when you look her in the eye.You’re exactly like your mom.I’m sick and tired of you and your mother’s hypocrisy.”
Eun-ho walked around Wife and went into the living room.He locked the door so she couldn’t come in.He thought they would start fighting in hand-to-hand combat if she hit him again.The next day, Wife left the house.That was her fifth time doing so.If her sister Jane hadn’t come to see Eun-ho, he would have just assumed she was at her mother’s house.
Yuna, where on Earth did you go?
This question, which Eun-ho had asked himself dozens of times over the past week, appeared again in Eun-ho’s mind.He turned to look at the kitchen.Wife was just coming out of the kitchen with a tray of tea.Perhaps she went to her ex-husband’s place to have him sign the adoption papers.Would she really have spent five nights there holding out until he signed?And even if that was true, Eun-ho wasn’t sure what it would change.
“Is Noah asleep already?”
Wife put the tray down on the living room coffee table.Eun-ho examined the cookies and three cups of tea.Each cup was a different color: red, blue, yellow.
“Have some tea.”
Wife offered the yellow cup to Eun-ho’s mom and the red one to Eun-ho.It smelled tart yet sweet.Probably quince tea.Eun-ho’s mom took a sip then looked at Wife.
“Did you make this?”
“If you like it, I can pack some for you when you leave.”
Wife picked up the blue cup and sat down next to Eun-ho.A sudden silence fell over the living room.It was a long and awkward silence.The only sound in the room was the offbeat rhythm of people blowing on hot tea.
Eun-ho’s mom was the first to put down her cup.She was also the one to break the silence.
“It’s late, so let’s finish what we were talking about earlier.Noah.What are you going to do about him?”
With her teacup nestled between two hands, Wife smiled at Eun-ho’s mom.This was her characteristic smile: toothy with crescent-shaped eyes.She looked calm and relaxed.Even her voice as she answered had regained its usual softness.
“I always do as Eun-ho says.”
Eun-ho almost choked on his tea.The hot liquid burned his airway.Wife had simultaneously thrown two balls at him from opposite directions.One ball was the claim that Noah’s stay at his grandma’s was Eun-ho’s decision, and the other was a warning to Eun-ho to behave himself.
“Is that so?”
Mother turned to Eun-ho.Wife was looking down at her blue cup, as if to take a step back from the action.Eun-ho decided not to behave himself.
“You’re going to take Noah by the end of this month, right?”Eun-ho’s mom asked him.
Eun-ho sucked up the last drops of tea in his cup.A bittersweet aftertaste lingered on his tongue.
“Yes.”
Wife raised one eyebrow and glanced at Eun-ho out of the corner of her eye.And that was it.She didn’t add to what he said, nor did she refute it.Eun-ho put the cup down on the tray.He was bothered by the brown color of the tea, which reminded him of dried blood.Eun-ho knew almost nothing about China, but there was one thing he was sure of: Wife would never use teacups painted with primary colors like this.
“Good.Then I’ll expect him gone by the end of the month.”She stroked Noah on the head and then clicked her tongue.“Poor child.Who’ll stand up for you now?”
