-‘Happy birthday, Seo Ha.’

That day was Seo Ha’s twentieth birthday, when she truly became an adult.

Seung Oh, who had been coming home late for months saying he was busy, appeared after 10 PM even on Seo Ha’s birthday. With coal dust smeared on his face, and his hands thickly wrapped in burn ointment and bandages.

Seo Ha, without even opening the large shopping bag Seung Oh held out, grabbed his hands first, not knowing what to do.

-‘What happened to your hands? Are you hurt?’

-‘It’s nothing.’

Seung Oh awkwardly hid his hands behind his back and smiled sheepishly.

-‘Open this.’

Only then did she open the shopping bag to find a gift inside. An expensive handbag that must have cost Seung Oh too much, and a cute little flower.

-‘What is this? Such an expensive thing…’

-‘I’ve been working part-time at a meat restaurant. It’s your special birthday.’

Working all night, changing charcoal and cleaning hot grills, for just a few ten thousand won. Did you love me then, smiling proudly after barely buying one small bag by carefully saving those part-time wages?

-‘Happy birthday. My princess.’

I loved you who said that to me. I loved the breaths that tickled and mixed in the cool night air. I loved our young selves and our love.

Seo Ha hid all her emotions behind an elegant rose-patterned teacup and spoke to the woman sitting across from her.

“You look better, Lee Ji Soo.”

An unforgettable twentieth birthday.

More than the joy of receiving the gift, she was more upset about Seung Oh’s bandaged hands that day. The bag that Seo Ha had hugged and sobbed over alone in her room was now neatly placed on Lee Ji Soo’s lap.

“You were appealing with a modest and frugal concept. But I guess you still wanted a luxury bag?”

“What? This is, I…”

“I know. Seung Oh gave it to you.”

Lee Ji Soo’s wandering pupils suddenly became clear. She must have thought the moment had come.

Seo Ha was curious. Would she come out all righteous like a common adulterous woman cliché? Or would she cry and beg forgiveness? Or would she exercise her right to remain silent, which wouldn’t work anyway?

“I, I didn’t ask him to buy it for me.”

Lee Ji Soo shook her head. Had she decided to cry and beg forgiveness?

“I know that too. What fool in this world would ask for an outdated seasonal bag that’s barely being cleared out at outlet stores after the trend has long passed?”

“…”

She didn’t seem to know such details. Though this wasn’t a place to feel good, seeing Lee Ji Soo’s face harden made Seo Ha feel a little better. A little, really just a little.

“You should have just asked him to buy it for you. If you’d studied a bit, you could have gotten something much more valuable.”

“I’m not interested in things like this!”

Lee Ji Soo lifted her head sharply and retorted with a somewhat composed attitude.

“Women like you who can rattle off about seasonal bags and plaster themselves with luxury brands probably can’t understand. But what’s really important is the inside. What does it matter if the bag is a luxury brand? The person should be the luxury item.”

“Pfft!”

The tea she was drinking almost spurted out. Seo Ha wiped her mouth with a napkin and repeated what she had just heard.

“The person should be the luxury item?”

“Yes. Isn’t it because they lack confidence in themselves that they strut around wrapped in expensive clothes and jewelry with their noses in the air? A person who shines on their own without such things is the real luxury item.”

It was a moment that made her mother’s words ring true – that among people who say things like ‘the person should be the luxury item’, there isn’t a single truly luxurious person.

“Ahahahaha!”

She burst into laughter out of sheer absurdity. Once the laughter started, she just couldn’t calm down. Lee Ji Soo’s eyebrows furrowed in displeasure as Seo Ha giggled behind her napkin.

“What’s so funny?”

“No, it’s just so hilarious. Pfft!”

Seo Ha giggled again and then barely managed to swallow a sip of tea.

“Wouldn’t you laugh if you were Lee Ji Soo? I mean, if you were in my position.”

Seeing that she still didn’t seem to understand, Seo Ha had to add an explanation.

“I’m Yoon Seo Ha. And a woman who can’t do anything but fry bindaetteok is sitting in front of me saying things like ‘the person should be the luxury item’. Isn’t that funny? How can it not be funny?”

“That attitude of judging people by such standards is wrong!”

Lee Ji Soo snapped sharply, bristling.

“Then shall we evaluate by other standards?”

From Seo Ha’s mouth, where traces of laughter had not yet faded, poured out cutting remarks.

“Lee Ji Soo. You’re the other woman caught red-handed committing adultery with someone else’s husband. You know what ‘other woman’ means, right?”

Seo Ha spat out each syllable clearly towards Lee Ji Soo’s trembling eyes.

“Hu-man, gar-bage.”

“Hey!”

Perhaps not wanting to be called garbage even in pretense, Lee Ji Soo gritted her teeth.

“Why do some people get angry when they hear the truth? Explain, Ms. Adulterer.”

The word ‘adulterer’ was so out of place in a hotel cafe with classical music playing. Which means it was that much easier to draw attention.

As people sitting sparsely nearby paused their conversations and turned their ears towards us, Lee Ji Soo stiffened her neck even more.

“Isn’t Seung Oh, who turned his eyes to another woman while leaving you alone, more at fault first? It seems like you don’t have the courage to hold onto your husband, but you need to vent, so you called me out to do this. Get a grip. Instead of blaming others, blame yourself for being so charmless that your husband had an affair.”

It seems she chose to come out all righteous like a common adulterous woman cliché. By the way, that line, I think I’ve heard it a few times in ‘Love and War’ or ‘Couples’ Club’. Is there some kind of lecture for adulterous women somewhere?

“Do you know how I know so much about your bag?”

“Because you’re obsessed with luxury goods. Like a rich girl with an empty head.”

Lee Ji Soo poured out what she wanted to say without even stuttering.

“I guess that’s how you want to think. Ms. Luxury Adulterer.”

Lee Ji Soo’s eyes narrowed.

“That’s mine. Seung Oh gave it to me as a birthday present.”

On my twentieth birthday, under the pine tree in the garden that turned twenty with Yoon Seo Ha.

“But he should have chosen something a bit more tacky. I received it, but it was too cheap-looking for me to carry, so did I wear it once out of courtesy? It was about to get moldy after being stuffed in the closet for years when Seung Oh stole it and gave it to you.”

My number one treasure. The twentieth birthday present you bought for me working all night.

“You think I’m lying to upset you? That bag has a lipstick stain in the corner of the inside pocket. There wouldn’t have been a warranty card or receipt. I threw those away long ago.”

The warranty card and receipt were neatly stored in another box along with dried and shriveled flower petals.

“Go ahead and show it off. It seems the garbage that was just collecting dust and mold, taking up space with me, has found a good owner.”

If only I could have taken it out. If only I could have borne hating myself for stupidly staining such a precious item with makeup when I was happy just taking it out and caressing it occasionally, afraid it might wear out or break.

Lee Ji Soo’s clear face suddenly turned red. She looked like a tomato just about to be turned into juice in a blender.

“So, so what?”

“I’m saying that’s all your proud charm amounts to. A pet dog that needs to be fed, but I don’t want to spend my money, so throwing the leftovers my wife ate is just right.”

Lee Ji Soo’s lips quivered as if she was about to say something again. Ignoring this, Seo Ha waved her hand towards the entrance.

“Honey, over here!”

Seung Oh, who knew nothing, spotted Seo Ha and walked over. It took less than a few seconds for his rather handsome face to be colored with embarrassment.

“Ji Soo… ssi?”

Seung Oh awkwardly looked back and forth between the two women, attaching an honorific that didn’t suit him.

“Why are you two together? Did you meet by chance?”

“You know that’s not true.”

He’s terribly smart in one way. With this one sentence, he would have completely grasped the current situation.

As Seo Ha expected, even the awkward smile on Seung Oh’s face instantly evaporated.

“What are you doing?”

“What about you?”

Seo Ha coldly stared at Seung Oh. My first love and first man, the husband I believed without doubt to be my eternal lover.

“What are you doing? Seung Oh.”

Seung Oh bit his pale lips. He looked more nervous than on our wedding day.

“Let’s go. Let’s go somewhere quiet and resolve this through conversation.”

“Let’s resolve it with this.”

Seo Ha took out a thick envelope from her handbag and slapped it down on the table.

“Divorce papers. I’ve already stamped mine, so just stamp yours and leave it on the dining table.”

The too calm tone, expression, and the stamped divorce papers must have been quite shocking. Seung Oh blinked his widened eyes rapidly.

“What did you say?”

“Divorce. I said let’s divorce.”

Seo Ha deliberately emphasized the word ‘divorce’.

Now Seung Oh will cry and beg for forgiveness. He’ll say he must be crazy, that this woman means nothing to him, that he was just momentarily swayed by a passing temptation. That Yoon Seo Ha is the only woman he truly loves and will forever.

And then she was planning to forgive him.

She knows it’s a foolish and frustrating choice. But that’s how the heart is. To cut it off cleanly like a rotten radish was too much for Yoon Seo Ha, who had loved the man named Seung Oh for too long and too deeply.

“Divorce…”

Seung Oh murmured softly and read the documents.

“Property will be kept according to each person’s name. Seung Oh will pay Yoon Seo Ha 100 million won in alimony. Both parties agree to the above terms.”

“Take it, stamp it, and leave it on the dining table when you pack your things and leave.”

Seo Ha believed there would be no agreement. Seung Oh would surely announce his breakup with Ji Soo here and live the rest of his life atoning to Seo Ha.

“Okay.”

But what is Seung Oh saying now?

“Give me some time to arrange the alimony. Let’s tell our parents after the paperwork is done. You wouldn’t want to hear them nagging about something that’s already over, right?”

If she hadn’t heard wrong, he just chose divorce, not forgiveness.

“… Is that all?”

“Do you have anything to add? I don’t.”

“Is that all you have to say? No ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘please forgive me’ or anything like that?”

Writing up the divorce papers and even stamping them was out of confidence that Seung Oh would absolutely not agree to the divorce. As even that belief crumbled, Seo Ha lost her composure from earlier and her voice shook.

“Of course I feel sorry towards you. But I’m not going to apologize.”

Seung Oh shrugged in front of Seo Ha and then grasped Ji Soo’s hand.

“Seo Ha, try to understand. If I apologize to you here, it makes my feelings for Ji Soo wrong.”