Ch 2. Eighteen-Year-Old Yeon Seonha
June 24th.
This day was Hongdan’s twenty-fourth birthday.
It was also the first birthday he was celebrating after marrying Seonha. Of course, it was a contract marriage no different from a strategic partnership agreement.
“Ugh…”
Hongdan stretched with a heavily furrowed brow. He wanted to buy more time, but he’d already woken up enough to hear the footsteps of the household employees drilling into his ears, so there was no choice.
The sunlight was barely illuminating his toes. He could roughly guess what time it was. Still, since his eyes were open, he turned his head toward the nightstand to check the time out of courtesy. Sure enough.
8:38 AM.
Thanks to the kind digital clock that didn’t require him to bother reading the hour and second hands, Hongdan’s mood could become unpleasant about 18 seconds faster. His brow, already forming a “川” character, narrowed endlessly.
“…Annoying.”
Did I get excited just because it’s my birthday?
“Hah…”
He woke up early. Way too early.
Even though the stiff feeling had long since disappeared, Hongdan spent a long time crumpling the sheets and fidgeting. He wanted to reduce the time he had to be active as much as possible. Since he’d never left any good memories on his birthday, today wasn’t particularly welcome.
When a bit more time had passed and the sunlight had wrapped around his instep.
Buzz—
A short vibration rang from his phone.
He had a vague idea of who the caller might be. No, he was almost certain. Nevertheless, Hongdan immediately checked the contents because this contact might be the only congratulations he could receive today.
[Jung Hyeonchan] Happy birthday Choi Hongdan
[Jung Hyeonchan] Have a good day today
As expected.
The protagonist of his only congratulations was his only friend, Hyeonchan.
Hongdan forgot that he’d just been self-deprecating about what fuss to make over a mere birthday, and the corners of his lips twitched. He knew it was truly a pathetic sight, but he didn’t try to forcibly suppress it. He just looked at the screen a little longer with joy shallowly settled on his face.
Ding. Just before winning the staring contest with his phone, one more message came from Hyeonchan.
[Jung Hyeonchan] Did you get anything from that bastard?
If his husband hadn’t changed, the ‘that bastard’ Hyeonchan was talking about must be Yeon Seonha. In the past, he at least called him enough to specify the target, like ‘that Yeon Seonha guy,’ ‘that Yeon Seonha bastard,’ ‘Yeon-fuck,’ but after Seonha declared he’d marry him, he mercilessly lost his name.
Hongdan looked around to give Hyeonchan an answer. He could quickly find a palm-sized box under his pillow. Inside was a luxury wristwatch so expensive he didn’t even dare want to know the price.
“Really. Is he Santa Claus or what?”
It was so very Yeon Seonha to just toss down the contents without even a single card. Every birthday he’d spent with him since sophomore year of high school had been like this.
He didn’t feel particularly disappointed or anything. Rather, Hongdan couldn’t help but laugh at Seonha’s straightforward attitude. He could send a reply more energetically too.
[Me] Yeah I got it don’t worry lol
***
“Hmm… where should I go?”
It was a title he didn’t like at all, but still, his supposed status was that of a 21st century Cinderella. Not wanting to spend this birthday miserably too, he just rushed out of the house. It was also the first time going out alone since becoming a married man.
Right now, Hongdan was dressed no differently from a peacock.
He tried awkwardly blow-drying his calm straight hair and put on new clothes Seonha had bought on a business trip. He also firmly fastened the watch that seemed more expensive than his kidney to his left wrist. Still feeling something was lacking, he even snuck into Seonha’s room to steal and spray perfume. It was a shame he couldn’t wear the shoes because they didn’t fit.
Despite coming out with such grand determination.
“Ah shit, I should’ve gone out and played normally to know.”
There was nowhere suitable to go.
With a frustrated heart, he disheveled the hair he’d painstakingly touched up. Then naturally his wrist rose and the unfamiliar perfume smell stung his nose. Unlike when he occasionally smelled it on Seonha, the scent coming from himself was just harsh. His clothes kept sticking to him because of the humid season.
Is this what it feels like to cram on ill-fitting glass slippers? It seemed he wasn’t Cinderella but more like one of her stepsisters.
“…Why is everything like this?”
Thud, thud— Hongdan just kicked the innocent sidewalk blocks. The sneakers getting marked with black stains were also the most familiar thing he was wearing right now.
“Phew… huh?”
While lamenting his difficult situation where nothing came easy, there was a sign that caught Hongdan’s eye.
‘*Outback Steakhouse’
It was a common family restaurant.
For some people, a place to visit to casually set a mood; for others, it played the role of ‘that kind of place’ in ‘let’s try going to that kind of place once,’ making that day special.
Mainly on anniversaries like birthdays.
“…”
Hongdan, who had lived a life far removed from either category, entered that place as if possessed.
Even though it was a weekday afternoon, was it because it was Friday before the weekend? The restaurant was busier than expected. Among them, Hongdan was the only one occupying a table alone. When the employee standing at the entrance asked ‘Will there be other members of your party?’, he felt a bit embarrassed and his head naturally bowed.
Hongdan first opened the menu. It wasn’t that he couldn’t read English, and Korean was kindly written too, so figuring out the identity of the densely packed pictures wasn’t that difficult. However, there were too many types to know how to order.
Whether salad or soup had to be ordered, how much pasta there was. Whether you had to specify how the meat should be cooked here too.
No matter how many times he read through the menu, there was no explanation about such things. Eventually, Hongdan timidly raised his hand, aiming for when an employee came close. The employee holding an order pad approached with a pretty smile.
“May I help you order?”
“Yes. But um…”
When the customer hesitated without continuing easily, the employee directly opened the menu and showed the part marked lunch set. It was very natural, as if dealing with country bumpkins like him wasn’t their first or second time. At that kind gesture, Hongdan’s face newly flushed. From then on, he said nothing and just nodded along with whatever the employee explained.
The employee who had been diligently checking the order pad each time Hongdan’s head shook soon bent down to meet his eyes. Straight eyebrows lowered pitifully.
“It might be a bit much for one person to eat. Will that be okay?”
Ah. What did I think again?
He’d been nervous that she might be pitying his ignorance. Only then could Hongdan respond to her kindness with a smile.
“Yes. I eat well.”
Of course, the answer was a lie.
After the employee left, waiting a bit, the empty table began to fill one by one. Starting with pre-meal bread, salad, pasta, and rib-eye steak were placed in order. But what stole Hongdan’s gaze wasn’t the food he’d ordered with difficulty.
“Happy happy birthday to our son—”
“Thank you for being born as mom and dad’s son, our Jihoon.”
This place had fairly high partitions installed at each table, a space where individual privacy was guaranteed. However, those sharing an emotional conversation were unfortunately located diagonally from Hongdan. From that angle, even partitions as tall as an average elementary schooler were meaningless.
“…”
Hongdan stared at that table, not even noticing his food was getting cold. The child who appeared to be about five or six years old was wearing a hat with shoddy candle decorations. That crude hat looked more sophisticated than the tens-of-millions-of-won watch on his wrist.
Why…
Envy suddenly tried to surge up. Hongdan hurriedly lowered his gaze. Then he hastily shoved the appetizing food into his mouth, whatever was visible. But it had already lost its warmth long ago.
The utensils easily settled down.
“It’s not good…”
He’d definitely spent worse birthdays than this.
There were days when he received congratulations from no one, days when he heard abusive language he couldn’t bear to speak aloud. Today might actually be the most uneventful birthday.
Strangely, it was hard to hold back the sadness. Every situation seemed staged to mock his circumstances. Coming into a place like this alone because of needless inferiority complex was truly the worst choice.
Hongdan didn’t want to go from being a social misfit with no one to spend his birthday with to a crazy bastard who suddenly shed tears while cutting steak.
Clatter. Holding his stomach that had only become unpleasantly bloated, he just got up from his seat. He thought he should stop by the library he always went to and sit planted there all day.
Buzz—
Just as he finished paying and was about to leave the store, he felt a short vibration from his back pocket. Thinking it might be his particularly worrying friend again, Hongdan quickly took out his phone to check the contents.
“Oh…”
But the name shown in the preview was quite different from his expectation.
[Yeon Seonha] Where are you?
[Yeon Seonha] I’m home
Just two sentences seemed so magnificent in that moment.
Even though it wasn’t certain whether he’d really called for him or was simply curious about his whereabouts, Hongdan changed his destination. He thought it would be less miserable than now at least.
[Me] On my way
The gesture to catch a taxi became urgent.
