She let out a strangled breath; her heart felt like it was breaking into tiny million pieces as she sobbed quietly in the room she shared with him, letting the tears fall freely. She held the material of his pillow between her long slender fingers, inhaling his masculine scent as if it could calm her.
Her eyes flickered towards the door as a knock came. She held her breath and ignored whoever it was on the other side of the room.
“You best not ignore me!” an all too familiar voice yelled.
Eun-Ae stared at the door and let out a sigh, she wasn’t ready to face anyone let alone her best friend who would definitely kill the daylight out of her husband. Christine didn’t like her husband but she didn’t hate him, simply hated the way he took her for granted.
“Yah, Seo Eun Ae! Open this door right now or I will kick it open and you know I’m not kidding,” Christine Park, her best friend for ever since she could remember screamed from the outside as she furiously knocked on the door again.
She sniffed, rubbing her bloodshot eyes as she rolled onto her back with the other hand securely on top of her stomach, “Chrissy, just go,” she finally said as loud as her croaked voice could allow.
In return, she heard an unsatisfied huff followed by loud clicking sound of heels walking away. In matter of seconds, the short term peaceful moment came into a halt when the door suddenly burst open and Christine made her grand entrance by kicking the door open.
“And that my dear is how you should kick your husband’s not so sorry ass,” Christine Park smirked before it quickly turned into a frown at the sight of her best friend’s miserable state. Certainly she wasn’t expecting her to be this broken; the Seo Eun Ae she knew would never let herself to be treated like this.
“What happened?” she asked softly, taking her friend’s fingers into her palm, “you know you can talk to me.”
“He is going to divorce me,” she whispered a quiet reply as she blinked the fresh tears away.
“Why?” Christine gaped.
“He accused me of having an affair with Nam-Gil,” she replied. “I was just trying to help him; the men in his side were trying to destroy him. I couldn’t just sit back and watch my husband’s dreams being burned to ashes.”
“You should have just done that,” Christine bluntly said. “He takes you for granted; you are too kind to him…”
“I love him.”
Christine shook her head. “Love makes you do foolish things.”
Eun-Ae sadly chuckles. “I suppose it does.”
“How did he even manage to get the idea of you being in affair with Nam-Gil, of all people? Last time I check, wasn’t he the one having an affair with Jang Se-Jin?”
“He received pictures of me and Nam-Gil,” Eun-Ae told her as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. “I told him the truth but he would hear nothing of it. As you’ve known, it ended badly with him suffering a heart attack.”
Christine tilted her eyebrow up, “so that’s the reason behind him almost ending in a coffin?”
“Don’t remind me that he almost died, I’d rather have him divorce me than seeing him buried six meters under.”
“You are just too good for him,” Christine said with a shook of her head. “Are you just going to let him divorce you then?”
She sighed and nodded. “I visited him this morning – he is awake by the way – we fought, or to be specific, I yelled to him and told him if he wanted the divorce then our child will have no ties or whatsoever with him.”
“You yelled at Park Dong-Ryul?” Christine said, seemingly amused. “Do tell what his reaction was.”
“He didn’t respond,” Eun-Ae replied, staring out through the huge window, “I made the assumption that he will finalize the divorce.”
Christine narrowed her eyes at her, “you assumed?”
“Yes.”
Christine sighed. “Eun-Ae, there is a possibility that he will not divorce you.”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “He is unpredictable.”
“Well, for the sake of your sanity, I pray hard that he will not. I do not want to see you being treated so poorly, your father would have his head if he finds out about this, do you know that?”
She nodded. “I do.”
A knock came from the door, stopping their conversation. Uhm Ki-Do stood in the doorway of the half broken door, staring at it with a seemingly permanent motionless look before turning his gaze to Christine.
“I’ll send a paycheck for that door,” Christine sheepishly said.
He ignored what she had just said. “Chairman is here to visit you, Madam.”
Eun-Ae shared a look with Christine. “News travels so fast these days.”
“I think he brings back your husband’s dead body,” she joked and turned to look at Uhm Ki-Do. “Is he with a coffin?”
As always, he was untouchable and only shook his head. “No, miss. He comes alone.”
“I need to freshen up, he cannot see me in this state,” Eun-Ae said as she stepped out of the bed.
“I’ll help,” Christine chirped, holding Eun-Ae’s arm as they walked towards the dressing room.
It was a large dressing room, lined with expensive white oak wood shelves and glass doors with fur carpeting. Adjoining to it was a smaller but no less extravagant bathroom.
“You’ll need a fresh set of clothes, yours are wrinkly and I so do not like sad colours on you, love. It makes you look like a fallen angel,” Christine said as she went through the thousands or maybe millions of her best friend’s clothes while Eun-Ae herself was in the bathroom, washing away her ruined make up.
“Just pull out anything, Chrissy. I really don’t have the mood to dress up all over again, I’m in need for something comfortable,” Eun-Ae told her as she walked out of the bathroom, naturally beautiful without her makeup.
Christine nodded, throwing a few clothes out before deciding on a comfortable looking sweater and maternity jeans. “I think you’ll look good in this and it looks so comfortable, makes me wonder why I choose to wear this dress today instead of just pulling into a sweater like this.”
“I have no answer, sorry,” Eun-Ae replied as she took the sweater and jeans before going behind the changing curtain.
“I don’t expect you to,” Christine grinned.
Eun-Ae kept quiet as she stripped off her clothes, changing into the clothes Christine had picked for her before going back out for her slippers. “You think I look well enough for my abeoji?” she asked, standing in front of her best friend.
“Do I have to be honest or should I just continue to make you feel happy?”
“Honest.”
“You look bad,” Christine said. “Your eyes are swollen and you look pale, are you sure you’re up for this?”
Eun-Ae sighed, glancing at the mirror and back to Christine. “I have no energy left for make up.”
Christine made her way towards Eun-Ae before taking her arm. “It’s fine, let’s not make your abeoji wait any longer.”
She nodded, letting Christine to guide her out of the dressing area and back into her room where Uhm Ki-Do still waited.
“It’s probably best that I go first, I’ll leave you with your father, would that be alright?” Christine asked as she gathered her bag.
Eun-Ae nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
“It’s not a problem,” Christine said, kissing Eun-Ae’s cheeks before patting her stomach, receiving a strong kick from the baby. “I shall come again next time future god son.”
“He sends you his love as well,” Eun-Ae smiled, placing a hand on her stomach.
