Nothing to Ruin

Chapter 3: The Way She Used To Look At Me

9:47 p.m.

It was Thursday night, and Wheein had come home earlier to realize that Hanmi had flown to the United States. Oh well. Hanmi being away was nothing new to Wheein. It was one of their silent agreements.

This silent agreement was that both of them don't keep the other in a certain place. They were free to go to wherever they wished to be. The one thing that they did deem as unforgivable was cheating.

As obsessed as Hanmi was with Wheein, the latter knew the former was never going to cheat on her. And Wheein knew better than being unfaithful. Besides, who would she even cheat on Hanmi with?

Sitting on her bed now, Wheein dialed Hanmi's number and called her. “Mrs. Jung?”

Shit.

Hyejin suddenly panicked. She thought it was the mysterious caller from the other day when she picked it up. Her heart became absolutely frantic, however, when she heard Jung Wheein's voice. She didn't even have the time to appreciate being called Mrs. Jung, as she was busy thinking about what to say.

“Hanmi Lee-Jung,” Wheein uttered her wife's married name. She was finding it strange that the other line wasn't saying anything.

Hyejin had to come up with something. She knew that this call wasn't meant for her. She gathered herself and spoke, “You called the wrong number.”

Wheein quickly hung up. She was sure. Dead sure about who owned that voice that she heard just now.

Hyejin was still processing what just happened. How did it even occur that Wheein called her? Was it intentional? Maybe. But then she changed her number. It would be impossible for Wheein to know. Plus, there was the fact that she has not heard Wheein's voice over the phone in a year. Listening to it just now brought back pain. The pain that she tried to bury. The pain that never went away.

Wheein examined the number. She was sure that she memorized Hanmi's number. She checked carefully, and soon wanted to punch herself upon the realization that she had typed in the last two digits wrong.

Wheein sighed. She concluded that Hyejin had changed her number and it just so happened to be almost the same as her wife's. She was hesitant to clear her call history, but she had to, for the same reason why she didn't add Hanmi's number to her contacts. If someone took her phone and accessed it, they wouldn't be able to find anything or call anyone.

A certain memory suddenly crossed Wheein's mind. She remembered being in Jeonju, that night she called Hyejin. She had a burning fever and she woke up from a bad dream. She didn't know about the lie back then. Turns out that it was the real nightmare. So much for being in love.

Wheein put her phone away and laid down. She glanced at the empty spot beside her. She felt lost and astray, far from anything that resembled home. If there was one thing that troubled her, it was the fact that she was cold. She was no longer used to sleeping alone, and ironically enough, she had been solitary for almost all her life. She closed her eyes and fell asleep with her own company.

The next morning, Wheein got up early. She hopped off the bed and reached for her phone. She contacted Hanmi, this time making sure that it was her number she was calling.

After almost a minute of ringing, Hanmi finally picked up the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Wheein briefly acknowledged her wife. She had a sudden intuition that something was wrong. Hanmi's breath was short and heavy as if she was panting. “Are you still in one piece?”, she inquired.