“What’s so funny?”
His eyes quietly moved from his phone to the renovated bar on one side of the kitchen. At his rapidly cooling face, the woman haughtily sitting with her legs crossed and gave a thin smile. Aside from her hysterical response, she was full of classic elegance and dressed in a brown-toned tweed suit.
“You’re completely immersed in your phone screen.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you know what expression you have on your face?”
Regardless of the obvious ridicule in her voice, Shin Kwonjoo showed no interest in her words. He didn’t attach much importance to the text he received, but the subject of the message was definitely unexpected. Its content was even more so. That was certainly not a bad thing. No, if you were to delve deeper, the man was in an unusually good mood.
Her double eyelid eyes twitched slightly and immediately rose sharply. With that small movement, her elegant doll-like features sharply changed in a second.
“Are you ignoring me?”
At the obvious dispute, Shin Kwonjoo moved towards her with an irritated frown. There was determination in his firm, confident strides.
“Stop it. I’m not in the mood to let you vent your anger out on me.”
His lips twisted into a frown as he skimmed through the scattered documents. In an instant he left no room for compromise, his face indifferent and devoid of any lingering emotions.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Qtb lr la? Ktf qfgrbc sbe’gf vjalcu?”
“…”
“Lbk ibcu tjnf sbe akb yffc vjalcu? Qjr la yfobgf beg vlnbgmf? Qfgf sbe mtfjalcu?”
Ktf tjcv kglalcu bc j vbmewfca qjerfv obg j wbwfca. Llr fsfygbkr kfgf kglcxifv lc lgglajalbc. Rba wlrrlcu tlr gfjmalbc, wbgf rtjgq defralbcr obiibkfv.
“Qfgf sbe rb vfrqfgjaf atja sbe tjv ab mjii wf yjmx lc remt j teggs?”
The woman continued to ask as she poured more alcohol into the empty glass, despite the continuous silence. This was someone he had once called a spouse on paper. Shin Kwonjoo ignored her question, raising a hand to his temple with an annoyed look.
“Stop drinking and take a good look at the documents. These are the parts I’ll leave to you.”
At the topic-changing response, she glanced at him with even more ferocious eyes.
“I told you. Were you in such a hurry that you surprisingly wanted to rush through our Korean divorce?”
“Shouldn’t you correct the word ‘surprisingly’? You know well enough that the petition was submitted long ago and there are only differences in procedures and time between the U.S. and Korean courts for the final decision.”
“Are you perhaps dating someone at work?”
“What are you talking about now?”
At the rapid questions, a crack appeared on his mask-like composed expression. The once leisurely hand gestures halted, and his eyes sank into a depth of darkness that made it impossible to discern. However, the other was caught up in her own emotions and couldn’t be bothered to scrutinize him.
“Is that you didn’t want me at the office? It felt like you were chasing me away, too. You even brought me to the officetel you prohibited me from entering.”
“I don’t think I have to reply to that.”
“…I hope you end up being miserable.”
“It’s not like I have a lot to be happy about, that should be enough.”
“Take a good look at these.” At the short but clear instruction, the woman soon pouted and began to look at the papers. She poured out her thoughts as they came to mind, but it was a one-sided questioning as there was no reply or truth to be expected from him. At this point it no longer mattered whether her words were true or not. She was also well aware that it was her petty grudge and faded jealousy speaking.
“Do you think I’ll be satisfied with just that? I already got a portion but it looks like I’ll have to take more.”
The ill-natured words eventually made him chuckle through tightly closed lips. With a relaxed expression, he took the crystal glass full of alcohol.
“You won’t be satisfied with anything anyways so why pretend to be a gold digger?”
“Because I hate you just that much.”
“Forget about me and just be good to your lover.”
“What?”
“Have you forgotten? You’re the spouse at fault, are you not?”
The deadened whisper made the sharp edged conversation come to a brief pause. She gritted her white teeth. The woman nervously messed up her hair and replied coldly after a long while.
“…You were the one who gave me a reason to.”
“The end result is what matters most.”
No emotions were left in his calm eyes.
“Right. I forgot you’ve always been this way. What could I expect from someone who also treats marriage like a contract? …Still, don’t forget. We might be divorced on paper but we’re still a couple in public spaces. No matter how many lovers I have or who I have sexual liaisons with, you’re the one who suggested it, so don’t go saying something else.”
The hand collecting the documents came to a halt again. The man’s previously relaxed demeanor swiftly changed in an instant. His dark pupils shone like glass as he stared somewhere beyond the papers on the table. He was skilled at concealing his emotions, but the traces of his inner turmoil could be seen at times as they were too much to completely hide. With a habitual tap on the end of the paper, Shin Kwonjoo slowly nodded his head.
“…Okay.”
In the absence of a reply, Sunyoung stared at her ex-spouse for a while and soon began to glance through the documents in front of her with a twisted smile. All that existed between the picture-perfect man and woman was the silence they hid behind and the sound of a stark pen.
