Unique | KNJ x OC

Part 2 - Chapter 8

Hyejin woke up slowly, eyelids heavy with sleepiness. She took a deep breath, sensing the traces of light peeking through the curtains by seeing shadows in her closed eyelids. The room was quiet, the air still, and she was calm. There was a heaviness in her, a glue between her eyelids keeping her in the dark, but then she rubbed her eyes and opened them.

She didn't need to feel the bed behind her to know that she was alone, and she didn't bother. She got up placidly, did her morning routine, and prepared a coffee; only then, under the buzzing sound of the machine did she touch her phone.

She cleared her notifications and answered her messages, then stilled. She expected an emptiness, a sense of nostalgia or melancholy, a pain to strike her heart after crying herself to sleep, but no. After so much frustration, so many tears and screams, she didn't have anything else to give.

Was she tired? Exhausted? Or was it that she just didn't expect anything better?

She mused over this while she drank her coffee and checked from a distance that there was, yet again, nothing a millimeter out of place. Which meant Nomin had not come home.

She sighed — they had fought the night before and she had kicked him out, but this was telling. For the fourth night in a row, he had chosen to stay away from her. To fix things through other means, to disregard his place next to her, or at least to relegate her to second place. Or last.

What husband acted this way? What husband didn't bother about his wife's emotional state? Wouldn't bother to try? What husband would with one hand boast about being a saviour to her family and her father's company, and with the other shame her and her brother?

"How could Producer Park have such children I'll never know," he had scoffed the night before with flustered cheeks after a few screams.

"Such children?" She repeated with a scowl. "What the hell do you mean?"

"What do I mean? You both expect the world to revolve around you! He sacrificed so much for you to just throw it away on a whim! Everyone else has to live with it and clean up after you! You don't deserve the privilege or the dad you have!"

"Are you fucking serious right now? You're comparing me to my brother?!"

"Yes!"

"Because you think I don't value my dad?" She was frowning in confusion and aversion.

"You sure would prefer I let his company fall just to hold your hand!" He accused, eyes sharp and fixed on her. "And when I refuse to do that, you call me worthless! Are you delusional?!"

She had been strangely calm then, "You're right."

He laughed, full of scorn, "I know I am."

"You're an invaluable producer. Your work ethic is a dream for any company, although a disgrace to your personal life. But you don't care about that. So you become a worthless husband."

"I'm busting my ass off to save your family's face!"

"You're the only one who cares about that," she replied dryly. She was tired of trying to explain to him all that he was lacking.

"Right," he sneered, rubbing his face. "Of course, a silver spoon like you wouldn't understand."

It was the way he laughed. She couldn't get it out of her head.

"Get out," she said.

"What?"

"Get out of my house."

His smile had derision again, "The house he gave to you?"

"You're right," she acknowledged without batting an eye. "The house my parents gave to me. So get the fuck out."