Camellia Tea

The sun stood high in the sky by the time Yun-seul finally pried her eyes open. A quick wash of the face was all she could manage before hurrying out the door, her sallow complexion and puffy features the sorry fate of every drama writer who had pulled yet another all-nighter.

Sliding into her car for the drive to the studio, she called her husband, Tae-kyung, out of habit. The signal tone rang long and was cut off yet again, as if in mockery.

It had already been years since Tae-kyung left for the construction site in Brazil. Between the remoteness of the location and the threat of tropical disease, they saw each other's faces only once or twice a year — and lately, even hearing his voice wasn't easy.

"...I miss you, Tae-kyung."

Just as she was swallowing her disappointment and reaching for the ignition, her phone screen lit up.

Merely reading the name glowing on the display made a corner of her chest ache.

Jung-hee had taken in seven-year-old Yun-seul — a child born to an unwed mother, who had then lost even her birth mother — and raised her like her own flesh and blood. Her benefactor, her beloved Mom, Jung-hee. But today, of all days, she wanted nothing more than to avoid that call.

Still, Yun-seul pressed the call button with a heavy sigh.

"Yun-seul-ah. Where are you?"

"I just woke up."

"You should get up earlier. And since you're coming anyway, at least make yourself look pretty."

"I told you I'm not going."

It was a celebration Yun-seul had no reason to attend — a party thrown to toast Sa-ra for stealing her screenplay and claiming the Screenplay Award with it.

Back then, Jung-hee's tearful pleading had left her with no choice but to stay silent, but she had no intention of clapping along as her sister laughed with a stolen trophy in hand.

Yet what Jung-hee said next forced Yun-seul's hand on the steering wheel.

"Tae-kyung will be there too. What am I supposed to do without you?"

The hotel reception hall glittered brilliantly beneath ornate chandeliers, awash in fresh flowers. On the huge screen, footage of Sa-ra's award played on a loop.

Dressed in a gown as glamorous as any actress's, Sa-ra stood on the stage dabbing at crocodile tears as she delivered her long acceptance speech. But in all the names that poured out of her mouth, not a single syllable of Yun-seul's — the one who had carved that script out of her own bones — appeared at all.

While Yun-seul stared blankly at the screen, Jung-hee came up beside her and gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"There's my daughter. Sa-ra's been so frazzled, she must have forgotten to mention your name. She knows deep down that everything she has, she owes to you. Don't be upset, all right? Next year it'll be our Yun-seul taking home the prize."

The warmth flowing through Jung-hee's patting hand slowly melted the bitterness festering in Yun-seul's heart, and she leaned into her embrace.

"If I ever win, I'll say your name first, Mom. Before anyone else's."

"That's my clever girl. Oh, but Sa-ra went up to her room a while ago and hasn't come back down. We have guests arriving — would you go check on her? Stop by my room on the way and change your clothes, would you? Pick out whatever you like from my spares. It's been ages since you've seen your husband; a hoodie just won't do."

Yun-seul glanced down at her outfit and nodded. I should touch up my makeup while I'm up there, too. It didn't matter how she looked to anyone else — she wanted to look pretty for her husband.

"Mom, when did Tae-kyung get in touch with you?"

"Oh dear, more guests. Yun-seul-ah, hurry on up."

Ducking the question, Jung-hee pressed two room key cards into her hand and shooed her off. So the man who can't even answer my calls still let Mom know he was coming back to Korea. But why did it have to be today, of all days...It's almost as if he came specifically to congratulate her.

Carrying that bitter feeling into the elevator, Yun-seul soon found herself standing before Sa-ra's door. No sooner had she tapped the card and pushed it open than a heated moan drifted out to meet her.

What the — Min Sa-ra. She brought a man into her room?

With a sigh, Yun-seul quietly shut the door and turned to leave — and then a familiar name pierced her ear.

"Ahh... hngh, Tae-kyung, oppa... that feels so good..."

Tae-kyung, oppa.

No... it can't be. There could be someone else with the same name.

Unable to trust her own ears, Yun-seul clung to a sliver of hope even as Sa-ra moaned her husband's name. But the familiar voice that followed shattered that hope without mercy.

"Ahh... Sa-ra, why are you so hot and soft? Every time I fuck you, it feels like my cock's melting."

"How can you be this obsessed with me? You do have a wife, you know. Be honest — you really never slept with Yun-seul?"

"You know how it is, babe. One look at her and my cock goes dead — even if it was already hard."

"Pfft. I suppose even a man wouldn't want her. You could scrub your eyes raw and still not find a shred of sex appeal in her."

Yun-seul clenched her trembling fingers into fists and walked inside.

"Y-Yun-seul!"

Tae-kyung, who had been kneading Sa-ra's bare breasts, went ghost-white as though he'd seen a demon and scrambled off the bed in a panicked crouch. Sa-ra, for her part, pulled on a silk robe with an irritated expression, as if put out at having her private time interrupted.

"You two... what exactly is going on here?"

"W-well... what happened was..."

"Do you really have to explain? Are you an idiot? One look and anyone could tell what's going on."

As Tae-kyung stammered and fidgeted, Sa-ra cut in with a sneer.

"Well, since it's come to this, I'll tell you everything. Tae-kyung oppa never went to Brazil. He's been here in Seoul with me the whole time. How oblivious can you be? Even someone with zero instincts couldn't be fooled this completely."

Heh heh. At Sa-ra's mocking laugh, the corners of Yun-seul's eyes twitched.

During their courtship, Tae-kyung had said he wanted to treasure her; right after the wedding, he had confessed to erectile dysfunction and avoided the marriage bed. And years later, the husband who had supposedly left for Brazil on business and was so hard to even see had, in truth, been sleeping with her sister in Seoul all along.

The calls had come from a Brazilian number. She had even flown to Brazil to meet him once. She had never had the slightest reason to doubt.

It had all been a lie...

Rage boiled up through Yun-seul's entire body.

"...I gave you my screenplay, the thing I'd have traded my life for. Was that not enough? You had to take my husband too?"

"Take? Who took anything from you, you stupid bitch? Tae-kyung was my man long before he ever became your husband!"

The words Sa-ra spat out in heat made Yun-seul's eyes waver violently.

"Sa-ra! Why would you say all that!"

Tae-kyung grabbed her arm in a panic. And that signal — that something more sordid was still being hidden — made Yun-seul glare at him with every ounce of fury in her body.

"Why did you marry me at all? You should have just married Sa-ra!"

At Yun-seul's scream, it was Sa-ra who looked annoyed.

"Ugh, I don't know! If you're that curious, go ask the mother you love so much."

In that instant, Yun-seul went white as though drenched in ice water.

"Why is Mom suddenly part of this? Mom... she knew?"

A betrayal far greater than the two before her slammed into the back of her skull.

"Don't lie! If Mom had known, do you think she would have let you two get away with it?"

From now on, this auntie will be your mommy, Yun-seul-ah.

When my daughter hurts, her mother hurts worse. Hurry and get better.

You have no idea how happy you make me, Yun-seul-ah.

Memories of Jung-hee's loving smile flashed past, and Yun-seul shook her head hard.

They got caught doing something filthy, and now they're trying to drive a wedge between me and Mom.

You evil woman. Gritting her teeth, Yun-seul swung her hand toward Sa-ra's cheek.

Crack — Sa-ra's head snapped to the side. And in the same instant, Tae-kyung's fist swung mercilessly into Yun-seul's face.

Thud. With a dull, sickening impact, Yun-seul was flung to the floor without mercy.

"You crazy bitch, how dare you lay a hand on my face."

Caressing her own cheek, Sa-ra looked down at Yun-seul sprawled on the floor and smiled cruelly, whispering:

"Go ask Mom yourself whether I was lying."

Yun-seul was not in her right mind. Her face, swollen from Tae-kyung's blow, didn't hurt at all. Her head held only one thought: she needed Jung-hee to tell her it wasn't true.

"Oh my, Yun-seul-ah? What happened to your face? And you haven't even changed your clothes."

"Mom... sob... Mom..."

"What is it? What's wrong?"

At Jung-hee's worried, bewildered face, the tears Yun-seul had been forcing down burst out like a waterfall. Jung-hee pulled her into a warm embrace as she sobbed, unable to string her words together.

It was a lie after all. If Mom had known, there's no way she'd be this calm.

After soothing Yun-seul's back for a long while, Jung-hee led her into her room and seated her on the sofa.

"Take it slow, and tell me everything that happened."

Yun-seul nodded through brimming eyes and opened her mouth.

"Mom... Tae-kyung... he's been having an affair. I want a divorce. Sniff..."

What she couldn't bring herself to say was that the other woman was Jung-hee's own daughter, Sa-ra. She knew the shock of learning it would be far too great.

"You must have been so hurt, my poor daughter."

"Sob... Mom..."

At Jung-hee's comfort, Yun-seul wept bitterly, like a child who had finally found someone on her side.

"Here's some camellia tea. It'll help calm you down. Drink this."

Her throat was parched from all the crying, and Yun-seul gulped down the tea Jung-hee handed her. Then — whether from shedding too many tears or from the warm drink — a drowsy heaviness suddenly washed over her, and her vision blurred rapidly.

Why am I... so sleepy?

She rubbed her eyes against the rain-like wave of drowsiness, but it was useless. Just as she realized something was terribly wrong, a chilling voice burrowed through her dimming consciousness.

"What a bothersome little bitch."

Something's wrong. Her mother would never say such a thing...

It must be a nightmare.