Sleeping With The Enemy

Gordion Knot

The days turned to weeks. Weeks transformed into months. Every single day was mind-numbingly dull. Seo Ryeong wanted to scream. Gone was the multitasking, the socializing, the endless scheming and improving of oneself. All that remained was the stark white walls of her room, her thin mattress whose covers probably didn't even have a thread count, and the same old routine. Awake by 7 a.m. Morning exercise and walks in the prison yard. Breakfast with other ugly people. There was no make-up routine in prison. Seo Ryeong held her head high. She was prettier than everyone else here and she knew it. Although it rankled her soul that everyone called her nose Plastic, she was glad that they generally left her alone.

From her morning walks in the yard, she could see the mountains behind Busan. Of course, her view was obscured by high walls and wired fences. The red leaves of autumn had given way to the light brown of early winter. The mountains looked as dreary as Seo Ryeong felt. She did, however, utter a quick prayer of thanks for Gyeongie's recovery. There was a short note this morning at breakfast – inmates were not allowed to receive calls directly from outsiders. There was probably some string-pulling involved by Min Hyeon and that's how Seo Ryeong knew that she had not lost her sister.

Against all odds, Koo Seo Gyeong had made it through her crisis. If Seo Ryeong's cheeks felt cold, it wasn't because she was crying. I've always had leaky tear glands, she told herself. I probably look like a panda. A skinny panda. It had been a long, sleepless night punctured with memories of her quarrelling with Gyeongie. Seo Ryeong's lips had turned up wryly at the sheer number of memories of her quarrelling with Seo Gyeong. Apparently, their sisterhood had always been one endless bicker.

Min Hyeon visited often, as acerbic as ever. He always had a lippy response to her quips and it amused her endlessly. Seo Ryeong knew what he wanted – Min Hyeon was open about it, but there was really nothing to push her out of this prison right into the role of subservient wife. Perhaps he could imagine her as a dutiful wife, but no matter how Seo Ryeong tried, she could not fit herself into that category. Still, that last confession after almost 12 years of knowing each other had rather shaken her. He had skipped the whole notion of love and went ahead with marriage.

Was he high handed about it? Damn right, he was. Did he annoy the hell out of her? Damn right, he did. But Seo Ryeong damned herself after that for considering momentarily the option of marrying Min Hyeon. She blamed the mundanity of life in prison for carrying her thoughts to that direction. First, there was the obstacle of his parents – chaebols did not want their children to marry nobodies. Seo Ryeong knew that she had been on the way to becoming Somebody in the Corean society, only to be cut down and sent to prison by her ex-lover. Her chaebol parents-in-law were sadly still alive. Min Hyeon was a good son all those years ago when they studied together in university. Seo Ryeong pursed her lips and mused that she had probably perfected his potential on being a rebellious son by now. Naturally, his parents would hate her. Seo Ryeong shrugged – Corea was a big country. There was no need to play the role of the good daughter-in-law.

There was also the obstacle of the COSDAQ. KU Group was listed in the global sharemarket and was prone to dips and bull-runs at the drop of any rumour. If Min Hyeon married her, it would probably make KU Group shareholders unhappy. Seo Ryeong sniffed. She had no problem making others unhappy. The question was more of, would I be unhappy being married to Min Hyeon? This question kept her awake at night as she calculated all her options.

Seo Ryeong knew with her prison record, there was only one option that she could pursue after life in prison – helping out her eomma at Jagalchi Market. Reentering into politics was going to be a long and difficult task. There was also the option of pursuing her studies overseas and becoming a lecturer. She knew she was smart and capable enough, but the thought of slogging through books again seemed like a huge waste of time. The long years of academic study was going to be a drag after the exciting life of political intrigue. She sighed inwardly. I've avoided fish all my life only to return to selling them. If this wasn't rock bottom, she couldn't think of what could be lower than this.