domestic (un)bliss || 18+

the stone folly

Kim Dojoo doesn't like the fact that Gaeun and Wook aren't talking. Or sleeping in the same room. Or taking their meals together. "It's barely been a month!" Gaeun hears the woman hiss at Wook from the other room, "What could you have possibly done?"

She waits to see what her fake husband replies and scowls when he says, "It may come as a surprise to you, Kim Dojoo, but women are troublesome."

Gaeun slams the door to her room shut with a loud noise and doesn't hear anything more from the two people.

In the evening, she dresses for the Lunar New Year banquet. It is annoying that she has to wear heavy coats now because, with Jooyong gone, she cannot keep warm for longer periods without feeling thaumaturgically exhausted. She forgoes her family's colours and picks robes of blues and greys that the Jang family is known for. She doesn't like it but it is her duty.

Wook is in midnight blue with his ivory overcoat, waiting for her at the gates. Under Kim Dojoo's orders, no doubt. He flushes when he sees her and blinks rapidly before pulling himself together. Gaeun rolls her eyes and he frowns.

"Kim Dojoo said we should leave together." This is the first time he has talked to her in a full sentence since the night in the kitchen.

"Of course."

He takes her hand as if he has never insulted her or hurt her, as if it is the most normal thing in the world, and leads her out of the front gates and down the wide stairs.

Gaeun suppresses a shiver when his fingers intertwine with hers. The memory of him is too fresh for her to be this close to him and keep her sanity. Is he thinking the same thing as well? Is that why his face is painted maroon and he refuses to look at her?

I wish you would just talk to me like you used to.

The stray thought takes her by surprise because it is almost marital of her to think that way. But she does believe that communicating honestly would detangle whatever mess they have made.

Gaeun has stared the Dowager in the eye while making demands. She has faced the cruellest, most foul criminals and warlords, and fought the most deplorable villains to walk the earth without feeling a flicker of fright. Yet, she is afraid of telling Wook, someone she has known for most of her life, how she really feels.

"I don't want to tie my hair," she blurts.

Wook pauses. His face contorts in confusion. "What?"

She touches her open hair and the accessories Kim Dojoo insisted she wear, and explained, "I'm expected to keep my hair tied after I married you." They both flinch slightly, still not used to the fact. "I don't want to keep it that way. At least for some time."

He turns to face her completely and hums in thought, tilting his head while observing her. "Huh," he finally says, "Do as you wish. I am no one to tell you what you can and can't do."

Oddly noble of him.

"You'd kill me if I did."

Spoke too soon.

"Besides," he rubs his chin, squinting at her as if imagining, "Don't keep your hair tied." He resumes walking down the path without her. "You'd look like a frog since you have a wide, oval face."

Gaeun doesn't follow him for a while. When she does, her footsteps are heavier.

Wook glances over his shoulder, to check on her, and lets out a panicked yell when he sees her pick up and hurl a stone bench at him. She doesn't even break a sweat or struggle to lift it over her head. It whooshes past his ear and hits the tree in the back. The bench goes through the tree trunk and gets lodged into it midway, making a strange cross.