AOA 102

“As I said earlier, if there is a story behind it, the price can go higher. Both Bae Jongho and Painter Kim Yeongcheol are famous, and they have a solid fan base. Many people will be interested.”

“Yes.”

I could not help putting strength in my voice. But Baek Mugyeong’s face had been stiff for a while.

“It was obvious Director Kim meant to take it, knowing who the artist was.”

“Ha ha. I did not know.”

“Good thing I followed.”

“Thank you. If it were not for Mugyeong-ssi, I would have had the painting taken from right under my nose. Ah, but are we really going to the department store?”

“Do you not want to?”

“It is not that I dislike it, but do you have something to buy?”

I did not enjoy shopping. I bought only the target item and that was it. Choi Jaeha had even told me I was a dull guy.

No matter how I looked, Baek Mugyeong seemed similar to me. He did not look like someone who would go to a department store for no reason when there was nothing to buy.

“Let us go have coffee.”

“Yes.”

There were many places to get coffee, but the department store was convenient for parking, so I nodded.

While we exchanged a few short sentences, the elevator reached the first floor. We gave the front desk staff a nod and went down to the underground parking lot.

We got into the car Baek Mugyeong was driving and headed for the department store. On the way, neither of us said much, and we kept quiet. Then, when the car stopped at a light at the intersection, as if something had just occurred to him, Baek Mugyeong turned toward me and asked,

“Are you going to leave the painting with Big Aunt?”

“Probably? If it is her, would she not buy it for a high price?”

As Baek Mugyeong said, a painting with a story was more expensive. Since two men called giants of the art world, and lifelong rivals, had submitted works under pseudonyms, Im Songyoon would pay a proper price.

“Right now she will not have the headspace for that.”

“Ah, that is true.”

It made sense that she would be swamped cleaning up the mess Baek Yeongseop caused not long ago.

“A painting gains more value if you hold on to it.”

“I know, but I need cash. I am going to the United States for a while after the divorce. I might settle there. I am not sure Grandma or my aunt will help, so I want to have everything ready.”

I still had one more stock pump left. If that alone succeeded, I would not have to worry about money for the rest of my life.

But that was only possible in Korea. If I settled in the United States, I would need more money. Even if Baek Mugyeong covered my younger sibling’s tuition, I could not be at ease.

Someone said the more money you have, the better. If you pile it up, there will be a time you need to use it later.

The future I knew had only a little more than a year left. I did not remember the winning lottery numbers, and I was in the dark about economic issues.

For now, the divorce came first, but it was time to start thinking about the future. People live to a hundred these days, so I still had many years ahead. And you never know even an inch ahead when it comes to life.

For later, I needed enough ability to take care of myself. I was freshly reminded why adults nagged me to learn a skill.

While I was thinking seriously about the future, Baek Mugyeong continued.

“Is divorce your first priority?”

“Um, yes?”

I hesitated a little, then answered. The divorce from Baek Mugyeong was already agreed on. Now what came after the divorce mattered more.

After I returned, divorce was not the goal but the means. To avoid being killed and stay alive, I had to keep my distance from Baek Mugyeong.

To be honest, even continuing to have sex with Baek Mugyeong felt risky. I kept taking birth control pills, but the chance of pregnancy was not zero.

If I got pregnant, it would put me at risk, and it would put Baek Mugyeong at risk too.

“Will you go to America with me?”

I had been thinking of something else, so it took me a beat to grasp his question.

Go to America together?

I heard him correctly, but I did not understand what he meant. I turned my head and stared at Baek Mugyeong. Feeling my gaze, he glanced at me.

Just then the light changed. As he started the car, he answered my unspoken question.

“I have a home in New York. I would like Jeong Minchae-ssi to live in New York as well.”

“Pardon?”

“I want us to continue our relationship.”

“No, why…?”

“Because I want to.”

I was so surprised I could not say anything. Saying he wanted to continue the relationship meant he wanted to keep having sex even after going to America.

No, seriously?

I wanted to ask if it was really because of sex, but I held it in. From the side of his face as he looked ahead and focused on driving, I could read nothing. His sculpted, handsome face stayed calm.

He had put up a wall, saying he did not do men, yet if he was willing to go as far as suggesting we keep doing it in America, the sex must have satisfied him.

Once we started, it was so good it made me lose my head. Even now, remembering how our bodies pressed together last night, a little heat pooled below.

I could accept that. But apart from that, I felt strange. Is it not absurd to ask a former spouse you divorced because of sex to live in the same neighborhood for the sake of sex. It also felt like I was being used.

“I will think about it. But since I do not know which school my younger sibling will attend, … it probably will not work.”

“Understood.”

Whatever my mixed feelings, reality was reality. We had not yet decided which school my brother would attend. The study abroad agency recommended a homestay, since my sibling was still a high school student. They also said the best plan was for my sibling to do a homestay and for me to stay nearby with my aunt.

My first wish was family. More precisely, to live happily with my family.

No matter how good the sex with Baek Mugyeong was, so good it made me lose my head, going to New York for that reason was impossible.

Baek Mugyeong answered that he understood, with an indifferent tone. It seemed like if it worked, good, and if not, that was it.

For some reason I felt slighted. The feeling got stranger. Disappointment added to it.

I consciously held back from pouting. It would be silly to react to every offhand thing he said.

Even so, compared to the early days of our marriage, we were on better terms, so I decided to take it positively that we could have this kind of talk naturally.

He had just taken my side in front of my biological father and stepmother. More precisely, he had squarely shut my stepmother down.

A spouse in a strategic marriage who delivers that kind of satisfying moment is rare.

You treat a rare person as they deserve. I set aside the disappointment, and the strange feeling.

*

We went all the way to the department store and really did have coffee. Making light conversation, we found our movie tastes were similar.

We disliked horror and liked mysteries.

We each had one drink, an iced latte and an Americano, and then went home.

“A gift.”

I was just about to go up to the second floor when Baek Mugyeong held out a paper bag. I took it before I thought and felt puzzled. A luxury brand logo I only knew by name was printed on the bag.

He had not bought anything at the department store a little earlier. I had no idea where this had come from.

“When did you buy this?”

I stared, wondering if he had pulled some kind of magic. He glanced away and coughed.

“I bought it a while ago. I brought it to give you earlier, but I forgot.”

“Thank you.”

“They are handkerchiefs. People lose handkerchiefs more easily than you think, so it is good to have plenty.”

“Yes. I will use them well.”

Feeling a bit dazed, I bowed, went back to my room, and took a neatly wrapped box out of the bag. I knew the contents were handkerchiefs, but I still opened the wrapping with a little excitement.

Inside were three handkerchiefs. White, with only the edges in color, which was Baek Mugyeong’s taste.

Looking down at them, I felt odd.

Was this a return gift for the handkerchiefs I gave him before?

The more I thought about it, the more that seemed right. Otherwise, why would he deliberately give handkerchiefs. I liked getting practical things I could use every day.

I let out a small laugh and took them out one by one, then something a little odd caught my eye. Embroidery on one edge, the letter J.

It was probably the J for Jeong Minchae.

“Initials, huh…”

I could not remember whether Baek Mugyeong’s own handkerchiefs had initials stitched on them. Either way, it was my first time seeing initials embroidered on a handkerchief.

A plain handkerchief became special with a single initial. Maybe this is why people put initials on things.

“At least there will be no mix ups.”

Since the design was similar to Baek Mugyeong’s handkerchiefs, they could end up in the wrong section of the dressing room. With initials, the housekeeper would not get them mixed up, I thought, and I dropped the handkerchiefs into the laundry basket.

Smiling to myself, I changed into comfortable clothes and picked up my laptop. It would be simple to outsource my assignments, but since I was attending university, I decided to actually learn some advanced material. Even so, I still hated assignments.

I wrote a line and glared at the monitor, wrote a line and fiddled with my phone, and repeated that several times. Then I searched New York on my phone.

In the northeastern United States, the most populous city in the country, the largest city in the United States.

I checked New York’s location on a world map and frowned. New York was very far from Korea.

“I should not be thinking about it this much.”

Going to New York just to have sex with Baek Mugyeong was out of the question. I had already refused, saying it would not work. Even so, I kept weighing the possibility in my head.