Your Former Wife - Chapter 40

A moment later, the chicken and beer they had ordered arrived. Seo Yeon eagerly pierced the chicken with a fork. After taking a big bite and chewing, her face brightened.

“I used to come here often during college… It tastes exactly the same as back then.”

Seong Jun looked around. Aside from large groups, most of the customers were couples. After quickly assessing the atmosphere, he turned his gaze back to Seo Yeon’s face. Then he asked curiously.

“A man?”

What nonsense was this? Seo Yeon retorted incredulously.

“What if I say it was a man? It was before marriage anyway.”

“I was just curious how popular my wife was before marriage.”

“No comment. The past is in the past.”

What man? As soon as Seo Yeon entered college, she lived under her mother’s control. That life was aimed at securing an engagement with a good family at the prettiest and youngest age, and because of that, she couldn’t even have brief relationships.

But in front of her husband who could boast a colorful dating history, she felt somehow too proud to tell the truth, so she held her tongue.

Fortunately, Seong Jun seemed to have asked without much thought, as he didn’t inquire further about it.

Rather, it was Seo Yeon whose thoughts became complicated. In the past, during this time, he was seeing another woman separately. Would it be the same now that so much has changed?

“These days, they say there are many married people who have lovers on the side.”

Seo Yeon said to test Seong Jun.

She said that hoping he would feel guilty and be faithful to his family, or if he didn’t feel guilty, at least be a good father to their future child. Seo Yeon quietly waited for Seong Jun’s reaction.

“They’re crazy.”

Seong Jun frowned as if he had heard something unpleasant. Seo Yeon was slightly taken aback. This wasn’t the reaction she had expected. What did it mean? That it’s okay for him to cheat but not for the other person?

“What would you do, Seong Jun? If I were to cheat?”

Seong Jun’s expression hardened briefly at Seo Yeon’s words, then he looked into her eyes and said.

“I’d find the guy and beat him half to death.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“The crazy one is the bastard who messes with someone else’s wife. He must have done it prepared to be half-killed, so he shouldn’t have any complaints.”

Seo Yeon’s eyes widened at Seong Jun’s response, which was more violent than expected to laugh off.

“Why? Do you have a secret lover I don’t know about?”

“I don’t have anything like that.”

“If you do, you’d better be careful not to get caught. I’m serious about beating them half to death.”

“I didn’t know you were such a violent man.”

Seong Jun chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”

Seo Yeon, who had been glaring, nodded.

“Seems so.”

Seo Yeon thought that thanks to her husband’s personality and human side that she hadn’t known before, she felt more comfortable with Seong Jun.

The occasional gentle words or actions also stirred Seo Yeon’s heart.

But she felt that speaking her true feelings would make the atmosphere awkward in its own way.

So after keeping silent for a moment, Seo Yeon picked up the beer glass she had been fiddling with. As she gulped down the cold beer, it felt like the summer heat vanished at once.

Thinking that wetting her throat made her feel hungrier, she took another bite of chicken. The savory yet light taste suited Seo Yeon’s palate well.

But while Seo Yeon drank beer and ate chicken several times, Seong Jun only watched her with his handsome face, looking interested, without touching the food.

“What are you thinking about, staring like that without eating?”

“You look like you’re enjoying it. It’s fun. Watching you.”

“Don’t just watch, you should eat too, Seong Jun.”

Feeling self-conscious about eating alone, Seo Yeon picked up a piece of chicken with her fork and held it out to Seong Jun.

At that, a slight smile spread across Seong Jun’s lips. Without refusing, he took the chicken Seo Yeon offered into his mouth. Seo Yeon found her husband, who ate without complaint, somehow cute.

She used to think such actions were embarrassing, but now that she was doing it herself, she understood why couples feed each other on dates. Seo Yeon asked in a bright voice.

“Is it good?”

“It’s alright.”

“Let’s make a toast too.”

Seong Jun, who had probably spent his life drinking only expensive fine wines, readily accepted Seo Yeon’s suggestion.

And as Seong Jun drank the beer, Seo Yeon found herself unconsciously captivated by him. Her husband drinking beer looked not like a businessman, but like an actor who had come to a photoshoot for a beer commercial.

‘Come to think of it.’

Seo Yeon looked around. She had felt gazes on them for a while, and sure enough, women sitting at other tables were sneaking glances at her husband with flushed faces.

It certainly wasn’t just her eyes that found him attractive. The gazes clinging to her husband in fascination were very familiar to Seo Yeon.

Both in the past and present, Seong Jun didn’t seem to pay any attention to other people’s gazes, as if used to such reactions, while Seo Yeon was always sensitive to those looks.

Seo Yeon thought. It would have been better if she had accepted those gazes as natural back then, like she did now.

Seo Yeon asked casually.

“What about you, Seong Jun?”

“What about me?”

“Did you date a lot of women before marriage?”

Seong Jun responded as if dumbfounded.

“You refused to answer earlier saying ‘no comment,’ and now you’re curious?”

Seo Yeon retorted primly.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I was just asking.”

Seong Jun tilted his head to meet Seo Yeon’s eye level.

“What do you think?”

“I think you were probably popular with women.”

Seong Jun chuckled as if he found Seo Yeon’s answer amusing.

“You said there were a lot of negative reviews and compliments would only come a day later. Your score is quite generous now?”

Seo Yeon pursed her lips.

“That was half a joke. And objectively speaking, you are handsome… I can’t lie about that.”

Seong Jun fell silent for a moment, as if Seo Yeon’s answer made his thoughts complicated.

With his eyes lowered, tapping the table with a serious face, Seong Jun suddenly raised his gaze to look at Seo Yeon. The playfulness and light smile had disappeared from his face.

Seo Yeon was flustered when he suddenly looked at her with serious eyes. She had an ominous feeling that she might have asked the wrong question. Seong Jun asked.

“What about subjectively?”

“Pardon?”

“How do you see me? As a man.”

To come at her so suddenly like this. Seo Yeon, who had been moving her lips silently at the unexpected question, slowly opened her mouth.

“I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure?”

“I know you’re objectively handsome. Sometimes I feel fluttery around you too… My heart races at times… But I’m not sure if this is a momentary feeling or a lasting one.”

Seo Yeon conveyed her honest feelings as best she could. Having returned to the past, she had vowed not to be swayed by Seong Jun this time.

This time, she wouldn’t expect anything from her husband and would just fulfill their marital duties. She believed that was the way to happiness for both of them.

But the husband she met again didn’t move according to Seo Yeon’s plans.

She learned that the husband she thought was cold had a cute side, and the one she thought was brusque had a mischievous side, trying to tease her at every opportunity.

He also encouraged her to start again the dream she had given up on, told her she had talent, got angry on her behalf, and listened to her stories.

It would be nice if she could say she had no feelings for her husband as she had initially resolved, but that wouldn’t be the truth.

When she thought of her husband, she felt like she was walking on clouds. Sometimes her heart raced uncontrollably.

When she heard her husband say he thought she was pretty from the beginning, she found herself doubting if it was true, while also hoping it was.

Her intuition was instinctively warning her. That if things continued like this for a bit longer, she might fall for her husband in an instant…

But if asked whether she could fully trust her husband, she couldn’t answer that she could either.

For Seo Yeon, who had experienced her most beloved family turning their backs on her all at once for no reason, it was practically impossible to completely trust a husband whose inner thoughts she couldn’t know.

Deep in her heart, she was crying out that she hoped it was just a temporary wavering of emotions. Then she wouldn’t get hurt anymore.

Seong Jun’s eyebrow twitched at Seo Yeon’s silence.

“To be honest, I don’t understand why you say you don’t know your own feelings.”

I’m sure you don’t. Seo Yeon nodded as if she understood. She knew well that her answer would seem frustrating and selfish to Seong Jun.

“You don’t feel any aversion towards me?”

Seo Yeon looked at Seong Jun in surprise. Aversion? She should answer no, but somehow the words wouldn’t come out, as if there was a thorn stuck in her throat.

“…I’m not sure about that either.”

Seo Yeon felt sorry for Seong Jun after giving such an ambiguous answer. However, instead of being disappointed by Seo Yeon’s response, Seong Jun rather looked at her with meaningful eyes.

“How about we test it?”

“A test?”

“Let’s test whether you can accept me as a man, whether you have any aversion.”

“How?”

Without taking his eyes off her, Seong Jun slowly opened his mouth.

“Sleep with me tonight, Seo Yeon.”