Sesame Couple, Live

Lights swam in front of her eyes, and a sultry heat pressed against her skin. They were inside a studio in the middle of a live broadcast. When Jaein lifted her gaze, the words floating on the monitor swam into view.

"Now we'd like to move on to the Q&A session all our viewers have been waiting for. Whoa, hold on—sixty-five thousand viewers! That's the largest audience in the entire history of the Sesame Couple live broadcasts!"

Even at the MC's exclamation, Jaein's eyes stayed fixed on the monitor. They were a somewhat dazed pair of eyes.

"Right, PD Seo?"

When she failed to answer, MC Hyeongsik blinked at her rapidly. "PD Seo?"

It was only then that Jaein felt the warmth wrapping around her fingertips and straightened up. A large man's hand had swallowed hers whole.

"Jaein."

A low voice brushed past her ear. The one tenderly calling her name was her husband, Woo Taeha.

"Hmm? Yes?"

"He's asking if this isn't a record-breaking viewership, Jaein."

At his words, her gaze slid back to the monitor. "Oh. Yes. Sixty-five thousand—yes, that's definitely a record. When idol couple Eunbin and Jeo appeared, they only pulled forty thousand."

The information poured out of her as naturally as breathing. Anything about the program came tumbling out at a single touch, like a drink from a vending machine—understandable, since Jaein had been working on Sesame Couple as its PD for three years now.

And yet, even as she said it, she was simply astonished.

S-sixty-five thousand people.

All those people came to a live broadcast just to watch me and Taeha?

"Oh! Eunbin and Jeo, I remember them. They were famous idols, so they were wildly popular. And now our Couple No. 3 has broken their record? Ho ho ho."

When Hyeongsik chuckled good-naturedly, Taeha answered him with a flashing grin. The moment he did, the chat window floating at the corner of the monitor began pouring down like a waterfall. Every time the man laughed, the chat caught fire.

Jaein's eyes flicked sideways. Bathed in the studio lights, Taeha had features sharper and more vivid than any actor's—a sweepingly high nose bridge, a jawline that fell away in one clean line, a thick neck and broad, square shoulders. He outshone even stage-made-up idols.

Well, I suppose. With a face like that, of course they call him third-generation chaebol.

It would have been stranger if he hadn't been news. Even to her own eyes he looked like a man not of this world—and yet, unbelievably, this unreal man was her husband.

"That's all thanks to everyone here loving our Couple No. 3."

At his flashing smile, the chat window surged upward like a tide rolling in.

"Hahaha! Exactly. One smile from you, Taeha, and the chat goes up in flames. Everyone's spamming that you're gorgeous."

Hyeongsik laughed, clapping his hands, then asked, "You two never fight, do you? Watching the show, you're still as fresh and sweet as people dating~"

Fight? Oh, we had plenty to fight about.

Until just recently, we were about to get divorced, actually.

Who would ever know?

"You said you wanted a divorce. Fine, I'll divorce you. In one year. In exchange, you appear on a variety show with me."

The whole reason they'd ended up on this couples' variety show was for the divorce. Staring at the man smiling so beautifully at her, Jaein's lips twitched.

The divorce was supposed to be the point...!

How on earth did it come to this?

But the Jaein of that time knew nothing of the future waiting for her.

Tap-tap. She raised her head at the sound of fingers drumming on a desk. Standing beyond the partition, hand braced against it, was her senior, Minseop. At his pointed look, she pressed the mute button on the phone she was holding.

"They're asking for a bigger appearance fee again?"

"...Yes."

"These lunatics. I'm so sick of it. The world's really come to this—now cast members are threatening to walk off the show."

Minseop pulled a horrified face. Beyond his shoulders, the office staff came into view. Lunch hour had just begun. So much for lunch again today.

"Go ahead and eat. I'll finish this call."

"Yeah, okay. Hang in there, PD Seo."

"Enjoy your lunch, everyone."

"Wrap it up quick and come down."

At her parting words, the staff filed out of the office, each tossing back a word of encouragement as they went.

"The same couple again?"

"Yeah. Total nightmare clients, right?"

The murmurs that followed them out the door wrung a sigh out of her without her meaning to. The nightmare cast member everyone in the office knew about—and handling their customer service fell to the youngest PD, Jaein. Five years into the job, it was long past time she shed the title of maknae, but every new hire fled before they could survive the place, leaving her the eternal junior.

Jaein unmuted the call.

I want lunch too, you know.

She'd been first into the office that morning, and it was now past noon and she'd been stuck on the phone the entire time. All because of the woman on the other end of the line.

The reality couple-observational show Jaein worked on: Sesame Couple. This season's nightmare was the ordinary couple cast for the newly airing Season 3.

How is it that every single season has one of these people?

The show's whole concept was "sesame seeds pouring"—couples so drowning in love that others envied them. The problem was that even those lovey-dovey couples fought. And the moment a couple started balking at filming over some marital spat, Jaein, the one who'd recruited them, began to bleed out.

Exactly like now.

"I completely understand how upset you are, Mihyeon. But we agreed on an amount at the start, remember? Believe me, I'd love to give you more because I know your situation, but network policy is network policy. Of course I understand why you're frustrated."

That said, this season's nightmare was one for the record books. Couples refusing to film over fights were nothing new, but one demanding a raise in their appearance fee was a first.

Ha. The formula money. Every. Single. Time.

Pressing a hand to her forehead at the regular appearance of the fee-increase refrain, Jaein could already picture, word for word, what would come next.

Called it. She swallowed the sigh rising up her throat. These days, the mere syllable of "di-vorce" was enough to set Jaein's heart pounding.

"I'll send the formula money myself. Mihyeon, once this airs, the viewers are going to absolutely adore you and your husband. You'll get calls from everywhere, and as you do more programs your situation will only improve—so let's hang in there just a little longer."

The program the woman named was a couple-counseling show. If I'd known you two were this much of a nightmare, I'd never have recruited you.

...No, wait. Since when was casting ever my call?

The maknae who had to make the calls when told to. Once the higher-ups decided, Jaein was in a position to follow without a word of complaint.

"Oh, really? Then you should have just gone with them. Whew, a whole million won higher—how embarrassing for me. Why don't you give them a call right now, then?"

Drained by a call that had dragged on for three hours, Jaein played her card. She hadn't actually believed an offer had come in. If it had, a woman this opportunistic would have jumped ship long ago.

"I know exactly how you feel, Mihyeon. We'll talk about the fee again. But you know I don't have the authority. What power do I have?"

With that parting shot, the cast member hung up. That made the third round of gift vouchers. Still, Jaein sighed and told herself it was a mercy the whole thing had been settled with vouchers at all.

Divorce?

I'm the one actually doing that.

Jaein was in the middle of her divorce consideration period with her husband. No children, so the end of the one-month reflection period was now staring her in the face. At first she'd thought a month would fly by—for a working adult, a month passed in the blink of an eye. But the consideration period had turned out to be long. The house had always been enormous, and with her husband's things gone, the empty space loomed larger than ever. He'd barely been home even before. It felt strange, all over again.

Jaein rolled her stiff neck from side to side—hours on the phone had apparently knotted the muscles solid. She was stretching her arms overhead when her phone screen lit up, and a stack of missed calls swam into view.

Four calls from the same number. She tilted her head. She never answered unknown numbers—especially ones starting with an out-of-area code. Multiple calls, though... probably not spam.

She was reaching for the phone, puzzled, when—

"PD Seo, what is this? You're still in the office?"

Minseop, back from lunch, rounded on her with his eyes gone perfectly round. "Yes, yes. Just hung up. I was about to run to the convenience store."

Barely twenty minutes of lunch hour remained. She'd grab a quick snack and come back—that was the plan as she gathered her coat and rose from her chair.

"Want me to bring you something to drink?"

"Are you serious right now? Jaein, you need to get to the hospital! This is no time for errands."

The man who would normally have accepted the offer without a second thought came rushing at her, face stricken. And urgently, at that.

Hospital?

Before she could even ask why—

"Your husband was in an accident! Vice Chairman Woo Taeha! The internet's drowning in articles right now."

My husband?

The man who'd be my ex-husband in one week, you mean?

"My husband? An accident?"

"Yes, that's what I said! It was a bad car accident, apparently? This is not the time for this. Go, hurry."

Helplessly, Jaein's eyes went wide. She couldn't believe it; she blinked rapidly. "W-wait. Sunbae, you're sure it's my husband?"

"Yes! That's what I keep saying! You didn't know? Where's the hospital—they didn't say? Just go, fast."

Minseop's hands steered her out of the office. Standing before the elevator, Jaein's heart plummeted at the word accident. And then, a beat too late, she understood the string of missed calls—they'd come from the hospital.

But the moment the nurse's voice connected, it became real. The video playing on her monitor had long since stopped registering. The fingertip refreshing the news articles trembled finely.

Should I go now? If I took a half day, I could make it before the surgery ends.

She rolled her lips inward and bit down.

"And if I went?"

What would change? Seo Jaein—what could you possibly do?

She clenched her fists until the knuckles blanched. Strictly speaking, she couldn't even call herself his wife anymore.

Jaein closed her eyes.

...Because we—

decided to get divorced.