Haein could feel Hyunwoo's eyes on her as she prepared the cured meat for their wine time and how he had on purpose slipped the glass from his hand only for it to fall on the marbled floor. Nonetheless, she jumped when the glass shattered.
"Are you okay?" She asked genuinely concerned.
"Oh..." Hyunwoo answered shortly.
"Move away, I'll clean it up." He pulls her away from the shattered pieces as Haein watched him clean up the mess he had on purpose did.
Her phone rang breaking her attention. Spotting her mother's name, Haein picked up the call.
"Oh, omma." She answered. While she hears her mom on the line, her eyes remained on her husband. Hyunwoo was behaving rather oddly for the past few days since the banquet at his parents' mansion.Also the fact that they were staying at his penthouse instead of their mansion for this long added up to the peculiarity. They were in a way prohibited from staying outside the mansion for safety reasons although most of the time Hyunwoo tend to abuse it.
Haein sighed and rolled her eyes as the same topic she dread was being repeated over the line. She thought she would get used to it after these years but the frequency this time around was beyond her.
She left the kitchen and walked over to the balcony of the penthouse, not wanting Hyunwoo to witness her arguing over the phone (despite the number of times he had witnessed the same over the years).
"Do you want to lose your life? Why aren't you pregnant with his child yet?"
"I said I'll take care of it didn't I?" Haein muttered in between her gritted teeth.
"They've taken over our assets. If you don't produce a heir soon, our family name will vanish. Do you even realised how urgent this is? Hyunwoo is already announced as the heir. You don't how or what he will do to you once he officially takes over the family."
"Let's be real omma. If even I was going to give birth to his child now, is anything going to change? They took over our family as soon as you sold me off to them. And what about his child taking our surname?" Haein scoffed in disbelief. "It's a fact that they're going to kill all of us regardless of whether the baby exist. It's only a matter of time." She hissed.
"You know so well and yet you're not making up your mind yet? It's been years!" Seonhwa spats.
"I'm buying time." Haein pressed.
"What time?" Seonhwa ridiculed her daughter. "Also, be honest with me. What is your relationship with Baek Hyunwoo? You're not in love with him are you?"
"Don't be ridiculous omma. Why would I be?" Harin shrugged it off. Her eyes however turned to look over her husband pulling out the vacuum cleaner from the storage room.
"Well, I need to be sure. Because clearly his head is over heels for you. Everyone was talking during the banquet!"
"Don't even crack a joke omma. You know we have to put up an act for that. He doesn't even know what my favourite colour is." Haein shakes her head but then got reminded of how he always knew what she prefers for dinner, her kind of perfume, how she hates the bathroom floor wet...
"Hong Haein." Her mother's voice resonates through the line sharply. "You have 3 months. If you don't take matters into your hand, your dad won't hesitate to pull the trigger first."
Her eyes met Hyunwoo who raised a pair of new glasses in one hand with a wine bottle on another.
"I'm busy." Haein cuts off the line with her mother.
...
"Omma called." Haein sat over the counter. Her hand reached out to the meat platter, she left but Hyunwoo slide it over instead.
"What did you spoke about?" He asked sitting across her from the countertop. Hyunwoo picked up a piece of the cured meat with a fork and fed her.
"Just..the usual. When is the heir coming...things like that." She shrugged, devouring the meat as she watched Hyunwoo popped the red wine open and poured the same for her and then his.
"I guess everyone's antsy with grandpa's announcement about me being heir. Even Jihyun noona is keeping me on her radar." He mentioned.
They clink their wine glass before each took a sip.
Haein watch him pop a cheese into his mouth as she contemplated her question.
"Is Jihyun noona after your place too?" She asked. Hyunwoo matched her eyes and nodded. "It seems like I'll be a widow sooner than I thought." Haein sighed making Hyunwoo chuckle. "Ever thought that I might be the widower instead?" He raised his brows taking another sip of his wine while Haein rolled her eyes.
"They said you're head over heels for me." Haein stirred the topic catching Hyunwoo's attention. "Who?" He appeared rather nonchalant annoying her from within but she kept her stoic face. "Just...people at the banquet." She shrugged. "Your acting improved." She added blandly before gulping down and emptying her glass.
She could feel his eyes on her but she refused to return the stare.
Haein wasn't ready to be disappointed. Again.
"Do you want to go for a quick dip?" Hyunwoo broke her trance.
