Crossing the Line in Married Life - Chapter 39

Tae Sung’s office, where the pressure has been unrelenting since things started rolling again after being at a standstill for a while.

Tae Sung’s brow furrowed sensitively as he checked the calendar on his work desk.

The past calendar page that he hadn’t been paying much attention to, having thoroughly examined the scheduler and work reports he always carried with him.

On that calendar where he habitually jotted down his arrival and departure times without much meaning, there were hardly any times recorded for the past 3 months.

Given Tae Sung’s characteristic of strictly adhering to his daily routine, it was impossible that he hadn’t recorded his work hours for 3 months.

Moreover, it wasn’t that nothing was written at all, but seeing that he had properly noted it down about once every four or five days, this clearly meant he had spent many nights in this office.

‘Looking at just the records, there shouldn’t have been anything requiring this much time…’

It was unusual to be tied up to this extent.

Tae Sung checked the past work records several times in case he had missed something, but no matter how many times he rechecked, there were no traces of such extensive work.

Tae Sung picked up the internal phone to call Choi Sook Hyang, the administrative officer.

He thought she might know something about the past 3 months, as she took care of his every move.

“Yes, did you call for me, Prosecutor?”

Choi entered the office.

Tae Sung relaxed his furrowed brow and immediately asked the main point.

“Have I by any chance taken on any cases other than those remaining in this report over the past 3 months?”

“Other than the records in the report…? Well, I sent you all the cases that were even briefly handled, organized. Is there perhaps something missing?”

“That’s not it. I’m checking because there were excessively frequent night duties for 3 months. There’s no reason to stay here without work to do.”

Pondering Tae Sung’s words, Choi replied with a troubled expression.

“You did have frequent night duties for a while. But since you’re such a busy person, I didn’t think deeply about it.”

“Is that so?”

“Actually, I wanted to ask what’s been keeping you so busy lately, but since you’re the type to clearly separate work and personal matters…”

No matter how long they had worked together, Tae Sung never got unnecessarily close, even with Choi Sook Hyang.

That was due to his personality of not sharing personal matters, so it probably hadn’t changed much during the 3 years of lost memory.

“Then you don’t know anything about work that wasn’t recorded?”

“I suppose not. Why, is something wrong?”

“No. Forget about this issue.”

Tae Sung, not having obtained any particular answer, sent Choi back.

Choi turned around obediently, seemed to examine Tae Sung’s expression for a moment, then asked in a very cautious voice.

“Um… Prosecutor. Since we mentioned work and personal matters…”

“Yes?”

“There’s something I’m curious about personally.”

“What is it?”

“Did you like the daughter-in-law look I picked out for you then? I’m worried I might have chosen based too much on my own taste without considering your wife’s preferences… I was concerned you might have disliked it, thinking it was an ajumma style.”

As the one who had picked out the clothes gifted to Ji Wan, it was natural for Choi to be curious.

Ji Wan had certainly liked those clothes and even looked good in them, but somehow talk of her didn’t come easily.

‘Now that I’ve decided on an end, I should refrain from further mention.’

After a moment of silence, Tae Sung fixed his gaze directly on Choi Sook Hyang and answered.

“The clothes were well utilized for their purpose. I’m grateful for that, but I won’t have any more personal requests in the future.”

His voice had turned strangely cold.

He wasn’t the type to be warm originally, but there was a different sharpness felt from Tae Sung as he answered like that.

The quick-witted Choi immediately sensed that something had happened between them, but decided not to pry further.

If whatever happened was because of the clothes she had picked out, it would be extremely awkward.

“Ah, I see. Alright then. Good luck with the rest of your work.”

Choi left Tae Sung’s office as if escaping.

As the door closed and Tae Sung was alone again, his gaze stopped still in the empty space.

What’s replaying in his mind now is the image of Ji Wan, looking as if the two-piece Choi had picked out suited her like a celestial maiden’s winged robe.

The memory of all his peripheral nerves moving towards her then is still vivid, but…

He had to consciously erase it.

After all, we decided to end things.

* * *

Divorce papers and an in-depth interview.

Two homework assignments with very different natures, received on the way home from work.

Ji Wan’s footsteps halted as she headed towards her car parked in the basement.

Normally, she would have jumped right in, not wanting to linger a moment longer in the detestable company, but now her legs feel like lead weights due to the awkward situation awaiting her at home.

It was about 30 minutes ago.

Tae Sung, who hadn’t said much since mentioning divorce, did send one message.

[Let’s finalize the paperwork at home today. Should I pick you up on your way home?]

Her heart, which had sunk as soon as Tae Sung’s name appeared, began to tighten anxiously after confirming the message content.

If even communicating via text was this uncomfortable, sharing the journey home together…

That might be suffocating enough to kill her.

[No, I’ll go by myself.]

Ji Wan, who had sent a plain reply, hurriedly filled in her personal information on the divorce papers she received from him.

Then she firmly stamped her seal on the contract termination agreement as well.

With this, she barely finished the first homework, but the second one became even more difficult because of it.

Asking for an in-depth interview while getting the divorce Ji Wan had so desperately wanted…

No matter how she framed it, it would only make her look like a woman pursuing her own selfish interests until the very end, so Ji Wan is more than a little worried.

‘But wait, we’re going to be strangers now anyway. What does it matter if he sees me as a shameless woman, a bad woman, or a greedy woman?’

It’s not that she hadn’t thought about it that way.

But what followed was needless resentment.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve gone along with everything he’s said until now. I postponed the divorce as long as he wanted, let him stay over when he asked, even met his parents. But just because I said I didn’t want to move, he suddenly changes his attitude? Ha, so he wants a divorce?’

The resentment strangely began to turn into feelings of hurt.

Then Ji Wan would realize that this wasn’t something to feel hurt about, and quickly change her mind.

‘Divorce… Right, now that even his family knows about me, we should get divorced. Seeing how he even had a fake marriage to avoid his family, that father or whoever’s personality is pretty obvious. If he has any conscience, he shouldn’t involve me any further.’

So the divorce had to happen.

If I can’t run away with him, I have to follow Joo Tae Sung’s choice.

The problem came after settling her mind like that.

‘So is he divorcing me right away because he’s worried about me? The culprit who attacked him hasn’t even been caught yet… Will Joo Tae Sung be okay alone?’

Her head knows that Joo Tae Sung is a man even a tiger starved for four days wouldn’t touch.

But her heart just can’t let go of worrying about him, so Ji Wan doesn’t feel relieved even looking at the documents she’s already completed.

The divorce papers she’s writing for the first time in her life are unsettling, but especially one clause written in the contract termination agreement.

[After this contract marriage ends, the party of the first part and the party of the second part will not have any form of contact.]

This sentence feels too cold to ignore.

Because he’s the type of person who would definitely keep it, and then some.

“Haa…”

Ji Wan, who let out a deep sigh, ended up putting away the car key she was about to take out.

Then she began walking aimlessly towards the exit.

She needs to buy some time until these useless thoughts disappear.

Otherwise, she’ll be endlessly swayed and might make a decision even she doesn’t understand.

* * *

“I’d be faster running with the car on my back than this.”

Hwa Young frowned, trapped in the completely jammed four-lane road.

His head was aching too much from the suddenly exponentially increased work, so he had taken the car out to enjoy a drive, but…

This was to the point where he couldn’t tell if he was moving forward properly or just parked on the road.

Hwa Young glared at the innocent car in front, his brows deeply furrowed.

It’s not like the road would clear up just by doing that, but he felt he’d go crazy from frustration if he didn’t vent his anger somehow.

The reason his stress has been skyrocketing lately is none other than Chairman Choi Yu Ria’s tyranny.

He thought her greed would subside a bit after she spectacularly failed to become the successor candidate.

But saying she would reclaim her lost position, she attached three or four important projects to Hwa Young.

Director Choi Min Jae, who had been chosen by Choi Maeng Ho, was very displeased with this situation, but Chairman Choi, whose eyes had gone wild for that position, didn’t stop the pressure.

Thanks to that, the only one dying in between was Hwa Young.

This was a case of a shrimp getting its back broken in a fight between whales.

If it were up to his personality, he wouldn’t have cared about this power struggle at all, but if he didn’t at least pretend to fulfill her greed, who knew what else Chairman Choi Yu Ria would use to torment him.

Hwa Young’s gaze turned to the car logo embedded in the steering wheel.

An expensive and rare foreign car, so much so that he had never encountered it in Korea before.

A magnificent exterior that overwhelms its surroundings as soon as it appears, a high-performance machine they say can endlessly speed on the Autobahn.

But in the end, it was stuck unable to move an inch in the heart of Gangnam.

Looking at that, I guess this car and I are in the same boat…

“Ha, even our Onyx has a miserable fate like its owner, huh?”

Hwa Young let out a hollow laugh and turned his gaze out the car window.

At the end of his casually moving gaze, a familiar face caught his eye.

Hwa Young’s eyes widened then quickly contorted upon seeing that face.

“What the, her? Why isn’t she in Africa and wandering around the middle of Seoul…?”

Hwa Young’s expression was far from pleased upon discovering Ji Wan.

Partly because their recent meeting wasn’t very good, but also because the presence of Joo Tae Sung that automatically follows whenever he sees that woman is unbearably unpleasant.

“May you step in dog poop on your way.”

Hwa Young was about to turn his eyes back to the front after casting this childish curse.

But Ji Wan’s expression, which came into view a bit more clearly then, caught his attention.

Before she had looked endlessly energetic and ill-tempered, but now what should he say.

She truly looked like death warmed over.

“Hmm…”

Hwa Young quietly observed Ji Wan trudging along listlessly.

Seeing her let out deep sighs here and there, it seemed something really bad had happened.

“And maybe… that bad thing might have to do with Joo Tae Sung.”

A mischievous smile crept onto Hwa Young’s lips as his thoughts reached that point.

On a day like today when he’s in such a foul mood, hearing some bad news about Joo Tae Sung might make him happy in an instant. Could such luck be coming his way?

Finally, the left turn signal changed once again.

It was Hwa Young’s chance to turn the steering wheel and move forward at last after waiting so long for the signal.

But instead of the left turn the navigation told him to make, Hwa Young chose a bold U-turn.

Screech―

His car came to a stop in front of Ji Wan.

Ji Wan’s eyes turned towards the somehow familiar foreign car that had appeared.

Soon the driver’s side door opened and a man even more familiar than the foreign car revealed himself.

“Do Hwa Young…?”

Ji Wan furrowed one eyebrow as she recognized him immediately and called out his name.

Hwa Young, with his good hearing, didn’t miss that small voice and shot back.

“Who are you to casually call Do Hwa Young’s name? You’re younger than me.”