Love After Love...

Chapter 73: "Please, get out."

~Present~

Author's POV:
"Then what happened?" Dr. Lee asked.

~6 months ago, continuation of flashback~

Jimin's POV:
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" I yelled. "HOW DID YOU GET IN?!" I asked. "I made a copy of your key a while back. But is that what's really important here?" she asked.

I widened my eyes at how ludicrous this sounded. Was she absolutely crazy?!

"GET OUT!" I yelled. "Oof, much better than I imagined," she said, looking at my body, which I now realised was bare. I immediately covered myself with a towel and grabbed another for her. "Please, get out. My son is sleeping, my wife will be here any second. Please, go away," I said, trying to reason with her.

"You don't even love her, Jimin. Can't you see we'd be perfect together?" she said. I wish I could physically push her out of my house. "I do love my wife and no, we'd be terrible together. Please. While I'm asking nicely, please go," I said. She only smirked and inched closer to me. "Somi, I'm serious, go away," I said. "No one needs to know, Jimin," she said seductively.

"What. The. Fuck?!" I heard.

Oh, no. Jieun's home.

"GET AWAY FROM MY HUSBAND!" she yelled and dragged a naked Somi out of our bathroom. "It's not what it looks like-" I started but she cut me off, "Later."

I had never seen her so angry before.

She threw her clothes at Somi which were lying on the bathroom floor. Somi still was unfazed. She smirked and said, "Oops."

Oh my god, I so wanted to stab her.

Somi was kicked out of our home after she was fully dressed.

"Jieun, I swear, it's not what it looks like-" I started to explain. "It better not be, Jimin. I just spent almost an hour explaining to two very worried friends that I had nothing to worry about with you because there were limits and you knew them. It looked like my husband coming out of the shower with a woman that was not me. There better be an explanation which doesn't involve lies," she said.

I was silent.

"Oh my God. Oh. My. God," she said, clutching her hair. She fell on the floor and just held her head in her hands. "Jieun, I swear nothing ever happened! Okay, I admit, I hid the fact that she used to flirt a bit, but I confronted her about it and she assured me it was harmless," I explained. "Oh, that makes me feel so much better, Jimin! Thanks a ton!" she said sarcastically.

"Jieun, I didn't tell you because you'd worry-" I began. "THAT IS NO REASON TO HIDE SUCH A THING, PARK! You violated an unsaid agreement that we will not hide things from each other! I have a difficult time removing that image of you getting out of the fucking shower with her! I can't stop replaying it in my head! What is wrong with you?! Why did you even let her in?!" She yelled.

"I THOUGHT SHE WAS YOU! She apparently had keys to our house, she walked in the shower, I didn't turn around and thought she was you, in the shower with me!" I said. "First off, you have no right to yell at me. Jimin, you should've told me," she said, her voice breaking.

It broke my heart to see her like this. I did that.

"I know, baby, I'm sorry. But please believe me when I tell you that nothing ever happened. I swear," I said and walked closer to her and tried to hold her hand. She quickly jerked her hands away from my grip and said, "Don't touch me."

"Enough, Jieun. I'm trying to tell you that nothing happened and you won't trust me. It hurts that you won't believe it. This is really about your insecurities-" I started but soon realised how this sounded.

Oh fuck. I just made things a while lot worse. She realised it.

"That's not fair," she said. "Yes, I know. I crossed a line, I apologise-" I started. "I tell you about my inadequacies not so that you can fling them onto me during an argument. And plus, it sucks that you'd try to justify yourself rather than reassure me, knowing that I have insecurities which I have been previously clear about. That really fucking hurts, Jimin," she said with tears. "I know, Jieun, I'm sorry, that was uncalled for," I said.

She just said, "I can't bare to look at you right now without seeing her face. Don't even think about sleeping next to me for a while."

~Present~

Author's POV:
"So that immediately prompted therapy?" Dr. Lee asked the couple. "Not immediately, but yes. This incident was the hardest blow to our marriage," Jieun said. "Needless to say, I fired Somi literally that same night. Her agency understood my issues and had no idea she'd be like that," Jimin said.

"Why don't you take me to the day you decided you'd go to couples therapy?" Dr. Lee asked. "We pretty much fought constantly for the next two months. Didn't sleep next to each other until much recently. Our son had started to see that something was very wrong," Jimin said.

~Four months ago~

Jieun's POV:
"Mom, why is dad not sleeping in the same bed as you?" Sungho asked as I was about to tuck him into bed. "Mom and Dad are just having a bit of a hard time, sweetie," I said. "I wish you'd become like before again," he said. "It's a little more difficult than that, Sungho," I said. "Is it about me?" he asked. "Of course not, sweetheart. We'd never ever fight about you. You are single-handedly the best thing that has happened to both of us. Ever," I said. He smiled a little. "Aria, from school, says her parents fight over her. She feels bad. I thought I was the reason you two were fighting," he said.

It broke my heart to hear that. Also felt so good to think that Jimin and I raised such a thoughtful son.

"No, Sungho. We'd never do that. Your dad loves you very very much, I hope you know that. I love you just as much, too. We just need a little care, for now," I said. "I love you both, too," he said. I kissed him on his forehead and tucked him in.

I turned to leave the room, wiping a tear from my face. I found Jimin at the door of Sungho's room. He heard the conversation.

We walked into the living room. "Thanks for having my back there. I've not done much to deserve that," he said, barely being able to meet my eyes. "It's Sungho. I know you love him a lot," I said, looking down at the ground, my hands fiddling with the hem of my shirt.

"I don't want to fight with you anymore, Jieun. I love you," he said. "Why don't I feel that, then, Jimin? Why don't I feel loved by you? Why don't I believe you when you say you love me? I want to believe you so badly, because I do, of course I love you, too. But the past two months have been so difficult for me. Remember, when you said your vows at our wedding, you said it may not always be sunshine, but on the rainy days, we'd see a rainbow? It's been raining, Jimin... And I don't see the rainbow,"  I said, crying.

He shifted in his seat, and I knew his first impulse was to come hug me, but he was hesitant. It hurt so bad to see us walking on eggshells around each other.

"I do still love you, Jieun. I don't know what I can do to make you believe that. But I swear on my father, that I love you so damn much it hurts. I love you so much it burns me that you don't return home after work into my arms. It skins me alive that we won't talk to each other anymore. Please, believe me when I say I love you," he said.

"That doesn't make everything okay, Jimin! I guess, loving each other just isn't enough, sometimes," I said. "But it should be! We choose eachother, remember? Well, this is me choosing you. This is me choosing to reopen communication. This is me choosing to work things out," he said.

I had to do this.
For the way Jimin was looking at me now.
For our child, who loves us both so much.
For us, because I know, deep down, that we can still work through this.
For myself, because the man in front of me is the love of my life and my life is a shitshow without him.

So that's why, I said, "We should go to couples therapy."