Taetae
Hesitation wasn’t inside her but the fear was. The unpleasant emotion build inside her with all the thoughts of Taeng would rant at her or shout any words that would strike her in the heart.
But what was she thinking? She was just being sentimental about it. It clearly showed that she was some sort of traumatized. Tiffany didn’t want the drama scene to rewind by itself again. She wanted to find peace. So did Taeng.
“H-hello Taeng..”
“Hi Tiffany”
His voice. Oh his voice. She missed it. But.. but why didn’t he call her like the way he used to? Why didn’t he use Fany?
She didn’t respond. She didn’t know know what to say. It felt awkward. She even had to pull her car to the side to focus on her phone conversation with him.
“What are you doing?”
“Driving.. don’t worry I pulled over” knowing that Taeng always put safety arrangement first.
“Good.. so how are you?”
“Me?.. have not even smiled once since we fought”
She heard him sigh.
“Tiffany”
For some reason she didn’t fancy him calling her that way, by the full name. Had she become like Jessica?
“..yes?”
“Would you like to come home? And talk things out”
Come home? Come home!!
Yes of course she would love to. But to talk things out? Why all of a sudden she had a bad feeling about it? To come home was already a good news, but to talk things out? What did he mean by that? To solve things? To clear all the problems? But why was the bad feeling occupying her mind?
***************
Tiffany stepped out from her car after arriving. Arrived where? Her house of course. Her house, Taeng’s house, their house. Oh it’s good to be home.
She proceeded to the front door. But she stopped.
Why did she stop? Well, she had the keys to herself. It’s her house too. But thinking about it again, should she just ring the doorbell? But what if when she enters and what was she supposed to do? Act all normal?
Busy having multiple thoughts in her head, the door swung open suddenly.
“You’re here”
It’s Taeng. It’s her Taetae! She felt like wanting to jump on her feet and threw herself at him but she couldn’t. He wasn’t even smiling. Not even a tiny curl. Wasn’t he content seeing her?
“Welcome home” he made way. “Come on in”
Tiffany obliged. She stepped into her own house. But she felt like awkward and strange. Like that wasn’t even her house.
He closed the door and extended his hand out towards her.
“What?” she asked with her eyebrows jumped
“Your cardigan and handbag” he replied
Oh. She got what he meant. She removed her cardigan and handbag, and handed it to him. She watched him went to hang her cardigan at the coat rack and her handbag placed firmly on the table. Why was he acting like that?
So they headed to the living room. Her sensitive nose caught an aroma. It was inviting. On the dining table, there were two plates of kimchi fried rice. But what caught her eyes more was the colour of the plates and its utensils. Pink colour.
“I made your favourite” he spoke. He pulled the chair, “Come sit. Let’s have dinner together”
He sat the opposite her. He took his fork and spoon, and feasted himself.
“I just want us to have a normal dinner together. Let’s push things to the side first and eat” said Taeng without looking.
She blinked her eyes twice before joining him. Food was extremely delicious. As expected, from his hands, everything is delightful. Even thought the highly pleasant taste in her mouth, but yet her mind was occupied with thoughts.
What is he going to do?
What did he mean by talking things out?
..break up?
********************
Tiffany was happy, because Taeng cooked her dinner. Despite all the problems they were facing, he willingly pushed everything aside and just have the main meal of the day with her.
She was in the living room, he went upstairs. He said to her that he will be back in a minute. She had no clue for his reason.
Tiffany observed the living room. A little messy. No one had done any cleaning in the house yet. So she started organizing some magazines on the table to kill her time.
Not for long, he came down. He had something in his hand but he hid it.
“Let’s sit” he said
She ensued. They sat on the sofa beside each other, with a little gap in between. She held her hands on her thigh with full of curiosity.
“As we know, a lot of things have occurred lately. And it gave us an impact” he had his elbows on his knees while holding something tightly.
Taeng resumed, “In between the chaos, I took the time to think and to consider the situation we’re having. Trust me, Tiffany. It has been hard for me. This is something that not everyone faces in reality. At first I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know how to react. But anger boiled inside me after seeing the pills. You understand why I was angry don’t you? I was mad because you betrayed me. I thought we both were on the same page to have kids but you were not. You were enjoying yourself with the drug while I was stupidly waiting for you to say ‘I’m pregnant’”
“At first I did suspected you to take any protection but I decided to just push the thoughts away because I trusted you. I didn’t wanna have any doubt on you but actually I was right. That is why I snapped, Tiffany. Because you lied to me”
“..Taeng..”
“I’m not done yet” he breathed in and revealed the content his hand.
Tiffany dropped her jaw slightly when she saw the Contraceptive Pill bottle in his hand. He set it on the table.
“T-taetae, what are you doing?”
“That’s why I said it was hard for me to make a decision, Tiffany. And I’ve come to a conclusion that I shouldn’t just think about myself and care only my feelings. As a husband my role is really important. I must make you happy and love you till death do us apart. If that’s what my vow was to you when we got married, then I’ll not break my vow. I don’t want you to be sad or worry about anything. I want you to have the peaceful life, the way you want it to be. If your career is really important to you, then I shall let you just continue taking it if you want to. This time, I won’t object”
He pushed the bottle towards her, “There are still some left in the bottle. Not all of them were spilled out”
“Stop it Taeng just stop it!” she cried. “What changed you?”
“I’m just giving you permission so that you can take the pills”
Tiffany didn’t blink her eyes not even once. What exactly is going on? Why is he acting like this? How come he can agree the fact that she doesn’t want kids but he does?
“But Taeng..”
“Just take it Tiffany. I know how much you love your career”
Tiffany grabbed the bottle, opened the cap and spilled out all its contents. The leftover pills fell out heartlessly dropping to the floor. She threw the bottle to the side and shot him with her teary eyes.
She cupped his face, “Look at me Taeng. Don’t change your mind, please. Why must you do this?”
