Jeonderstand? 3: Test Of Love

Coming Correct

Jung-Wook's POV

________

"So...sorting out the office? But it's already organized."

Seohyun smirked at my statement.

"Indeed. But I need help sorting the files alphabetically." She clarified.

My feet sauntered to the cabinet she was referring to. I opened it to take a look.

"Ahh, I see."

She had so many files, you'd think she was a lawyer, accountant or something of the sort.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

Seohyun nodded. With that, we got right to it, taking all files out and flipping through them all individually.

"Whichever ones begin with the same letter, put them in separate piles together."

"Right." I continued to follow her instructions while multitasking. I was thinking about Hye-Rin.

What was she doing downstairs. And was she okay?

"Auntie!", her distant voice faded in from downstairs. "I'll be cleaning the kitchen down here."

"Okay!" We both yelled in understanding.

A quiet ambiance took over the room while we worked. It wasn't an awkward silence. It felt comfortable and warm.

At least an hour an a half went by of us working until...

'Seohyun and Hwa-Chul Marriage Certificate' . Those words poked out at me.

"I didn't know you were married, Seohyun? Hye-Rin never told me."

"..."

She fell strangely silent.

"Oh, my bad. Don't mind what I just said. My deepest apologies."

Maybe he passed away?

Maybe he went missing?

I shouldn't have asked so openly like that.

Seohyun sighed and placed her hands on both knees.

"It's nothing, I mean...I was married but then we shortly divorced."

I continued apologizing profusely. 

"Don't. Actually I'll tell you because I have a gut feeling that you'll last longer here than he did." She joked half-heartedly.

I could hear the strand of pain in her voice then.

"Okay, but just remember that you don't have to tell me every detail. Do what's comfortable for yourself."

"Alright...so...we never worked out because we started out wrong for one. Surely, he was the perfect man for me and we loved each other deeply but...he was Hye-Rin's father."

A reflexed gasp chortled in my throat.

"So he was cheating on Hye-Rin's mom with you? But...why? She's your sister??"

"Well technically on the 'cheating' but no. She definitely is my sister but I never claimed her as one. She's always had a terrible attitude and outlook on life. It's honestly so depressing to be around her. But she used her "charms of reality" as she called it on her husband and he was absolutely drained. In just a year of being married to her, he couldn't take it and they divorced. In December, both sides of the family were involved in a Christmas party and needless to say, things went a little too well between the two of us. My sister left to go flirt with his brother actually, Hye-Rin's uncle on her dad's side. He later became her boyfriend that she keeps talking about. Hye-Rin was also 12 during this time. Anyway, after that party and various, gruesome arguments, our sisterhood was basically tarnished. Granted, what I did was wrong but it felt so dang right. And he felt that way too. The next year, around April, we got married as you can see from that document. Sadly, she retaliated and ruined our marriage by constantly tormenting us, especially Hwa-Chul. She eventually was put on house arrest and this was around the same time she began abusing Hye-Rin out of Jealousy. Which, she really did create all in her head, saying that Hye-Rin was trying to "steal her man". That was her uncle! Why would she do that? The truth is, he was treating Hye-Rin very kindly out of pity for what her mom was doing. In addition to all of this, she kicked her out and my niece became my daughter."