Sinful Passion

four

Mina's alarm clock rang, and in her dazed early-morning state, she slowly squirmed around in bed before quickly shutting it off to avoid waking Changmin up.  Now that she was a wife and mother, she had to get used to her new lifestyle, which meant being the first to wake up every morning and getting a head-start on the day's chores.

Mina got up and got ready for the day, carefully tip-toeing around the dark room.  Changmin was still fast asleep in their king-sized bed when Mina left the room to go downstairs.  In the kitchen, she prepared his breakfast, and he came downstairs just when Mina was finished.

"Good morning, babe," Changmin said, his voice hoarse from sleep.  He was dressed in his signature suit and tie. He sat down at the breakfast bar, placing his briefcase on the stool beside him.

"Good morning," Mina replied, placing the breakfast plate she made in front of him.

"Thanks," Changmin said as he began eating.  "This is really good!"

Mina smiled.  "Are you coming back for dinner today?"

Changmin nodded.  "Yeah, but after that I have to go out at night again.  I have a late-night conference call in the office with some international clients, and it starts at 3am.  So I'll probably be out all night."

"I see... make sure you eat something, then," Mina advised.

He nodded again.  "I will. You're taking Chaeyoung to her doctor's appointment later, right?"

Mina smiled.  "Yes, I have it all planned so don't worry."

After Changmin was done with his breakfast, Mina walked him to the door.

"Bye," he said, leaning in to give Mina a quick kiss on her lips.  Mina kissed him back, holding her breath and closing her eyes as she did so.  It wasn't because she enjoyed kissing her husband, but because she secretly hated it.  She didn't know why he was being extra affectionate today.

"See you later," Mina said, watching as Changmin went out the door to go to work.

Mina subconsciously felt a weight lifted off her shoulders once he was gone.  She then did some cleaning around the house, before going back into the kitchen to cook again.  Half an hour later, she heard gentle footsteps padding down the staircase, followed by Chaeyoung's soft morning voice.

"Mom...?"

Mina almost squealed at how cute Chaeyoung's voice sounded.  She turned around, and saw Chaeyoung standing at the bottom of the stairwell, staring back at her.  She was dressed in her school uniform already, but still looked sleepy from having just woken up.

A thought suddenly occurred to Mina.  If Changmin left early for work every day, before Chaeyoung woke up, and came home after she went to bed, that meant that Chaeyoung hardly got to spend time with him.  It was a depressing thought, and if Mina could somehow brighten Chaeyoung's home life by being there for her, she would try her best.

"Good morning, Chaeyoung!"  Mina smiled. "Breakfast is ready."

Chaeyoung shuffled over and sat down in front of Mina, who dished out a delicious-looking plate of breakfast spread: toast, scrambled eggs, and sausages.  Mina then came around the counter and plopped herself down on the seat beside Chaeyoung. She produced a cloth-wrapped box and placed it next to Chaeyoung's plate.  "I made you a lunch box too, you can bring it to school."

Chaeyoung sat unmoving for a while, before unexpectedly leaning over and wrapping her arms around Mina's waist.  Mina froze at the younger's sudden affectionate hug, but soon returned it and patted the top of Chaeyoung's head too.  Her hair was really soft.