Handshake in the Elevator

"Take our Jaein with you to America. I'll be fine on my own. That's how you get grandchildren, you know?"

"Mom! Don't ask things like that."

"Why not? Can't your own mother even ask?"

We're getting a divorce, that's why.

The words had risen all the way to her throat, but looking at Jiyoung's innocent, guileless face, Jaein couldn't bring herself to say them.

Taeha, who had been watching her quietly, finally spoke. "Actually, we were just about to head back. I'll be staying in Korea from now on."

What?

Unlike the stunned Jaein, Jiyoung broke into a delighted smile. "Really? It's better to have babies young. Ah, once the baby comes, Grandma will have to help out. Our Jaein works, after all — she won't be able to watch the baby herself."

"That's true. Well, since I'll be in Korea, her mother-in-law can take care of it."

At his sly addition, Jiyoung burst into peals of laughter.

Jiyoung never smiled that brightly for Jaein's visits.

It had been even worse since Dad passed away.

Watching her mother delight like a small child stirred something in Jaein she couldn't put a name to.

Her gaze slid across the room. It had always been just her and her father visiting this hospital room, so the beautiful fruit basket sitting there felt strangely out of place.

So did the sight of Jiyoung and Taeha sitting across from each other, chatting away.

To anyone who didn't know their circumstances, they would look like a perfectly happy family.

Why was he suddenly doing something he'd never done before?

Jaein curled her lower lip between her teeth and bit down.

"Mom, I should get going."

"Hm? Already? Not staying a little longer?"

"I have work to finish at home. I'll come again this weekend."

Jaein, who had been watching the two of them, pushed herself up from her chair. She knew that only if she left would Taeha follow her out.

Outside the room, she walked down the corridor — then stopped. Just as she'd expected, the footsteps moving alongside hers fell silent.

"Doing all this isn't going to change my mind, sunbae."

Jaein turned to face him. She had finally made up her mind. She would live without watching his family's every mood — a life as Seo Jaein, not as his wife.

Having let it all go, she finally felt at peace.

I only just got my heart settled. There's no way I'd go back now, sunbae.

"I'm going to live doing everything I actually want to do."

"……"

"I want to live as freely as your family can't handle. So give it up already."

Having said her piece, Jaein turned and walked back toward the elevator. She stepped inside and pressed hard on the door-close button.

But Taeha caught the elevator door almost immediately.

"I'm sorry."

At the voice that reached her ear like something breaking apart, Jaein's hand flinched. For a moment she stood rooted in place, as if time itself had stopped, before she lifted her head.

Facing the man, her eyes trembled violently. "…Sorry for what?"

Her face crumpled faintly. She couldn't predict, not even a little, what he could possibly be sorry for. Her heart kicked into gear, racing faster and faster.

"Making you wait. Not being there at your father's funeral. All of it."

Once more his voice melted into her ear. "I'm sorry. I mean it."

His gaze settled on her, and Jaein's mouth went bone dry.

He means it. The word sincere struck her harder than it ever had before.

"Seo Jaein, I need you. So trust me. Just this once."

With that, Taeha released his hand from the door-open button he'd been holding down.

Through the narrowing gap, she could still see him. Even though he'd seemed to say everything he wanted to, he looked like he had more left — his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

Just as the doors were about to seal shut, this time it was Jaein whose hand shot out toward the button.

The closing doors slid open again, and she faced him. "Are you really that confident, sunbae?"

At the question she tossed out, his gaze lifted. He hadn't expected her to catch the elevator, it seemed — those always-calm eyes rippled, just slightly.

"Do you really think keeping this marriage for one more year would mean anything?"

Their marriage had survived until now purely on Jaein's will. She was the one who had clawed and fought to hold it together. A relationship that would end the moment she let go — was he truly saying extending it by one year would change anything?

"Yes."

At the answer that came without a heartbeat of hesitation, this time it was Jaein's eyes that wavered.

"It will change. I'll change everything."

His gaze stayed steady, holding only her. It was so unswervingly direct that it made her want to believe. Maybe we could change. Maybe an ember could catch in a heart I'd already buried.

"Sunbae, I want a divorce. The marriage stays intact for one year at most."

The truth was, she had agonized over this the whole time. If I just endure one year, every problem gets solved. The cast member crisis that had landed on her desk, the money troubles, and — all the way to the divorce itself.

"A year from now, I don't want to be put in a difficult position over divorce again."

And above all, it was a proposal in which Jaein lost nothing. The one who had always been trying was her — this time, the one promising to change was Taeha.

"I'm going to think only of myself. After all, you were going to divorce me for your own sake."

She intended to act purely for herself, to the point it might look selfish. For the one new year she'd been given.

"What I mean is — don't expect me to play the daughter-in-law. Can you promise me all of that?"

She was done living with one eye on his family's elders. So — would it be all right if she went off the rails, unlike before?

Even in the face of that outrageous question, he simply nodded. "Fine. Seo Jaein, all you have to do is stay by my side. I'll do everything in my power to stop the divorce."

At the conviction ringing in Taeha's answer, Jaein found herself letting out a small laugh. The Taeha she knew had never once been this passionate about her. He'd lost his memories and come back a different man — and somehow, all she felt was a strange, wistful novelty.

"And what if you're the one who wants the divorce?"

Studying his face, she posed another question — one she'd been carrying this whole time. Whether his memories returned, or he decided later that he wanted to go back to his first love — what happened if Taeha was the one who wanted out first?

"If you decide to end this marriage before I do, do the conditions you just offered still hold?"

"That won't happen. But if I ever want to end it, I'll pay you everything in a lump sum."

Taeha went on, his eyes unwavering as they held hers. "Your mother's hospital bills. The apartment. Alimony — all of it."

Jaein swallowed a laugh that rose unbidden. He wasn't some proverbial tree that gives everything away, and yet — he'd give her anything, whatever it was. It was almost absurd.

"Isn't that an unfairly bad deal for you, sunbae?"

"Of course it's unfair. The one who doesn't want the divorce has to pay up. What choice do I have?"

Woo Taeha of all people, volunteering to be the injured party. It was something you'd have to live a long, long time to see.

"One more thing."

At her words, Taeha's eyebrow arched upward in a smooth curve — a look that said, what else could there possibly be?

"Your family's elders are not going to like us appearing on a variety show."

The single biggest reason Jaein hadn't wanted to appear on Sesame Couple alongside Taeha was Junhee and the rest of his family. These were people who already looked at her very existence with distaste. She knew perfectly well that the moment word got out she was joining an entertainment program, her mother-in-law and the whole in-law clan would froth at the mouth in opposition — appearance-conscious people like them, above all else.

But what if.

If they defied that opposition and actually made it all the way to broadcast, there'd be no taking it back then. Picturing her in-laws' stricken faces, she thought — that wouldn't be so bad either. No. Honestly speaking, maybe she was even looking forward to it a little.

"Frankly, I have no intention of climbing over these elders one mountain at a time, persuading each of them."

"……"

"I plan to do things my way, on my terms. Will that still be all right?"

At Jaein's bold question, the corner of Taeha's mouth curled. "Freely. Do exactly what you want. If you want to raise hell, go ahead and raise it."

"You said it, sunbae. You're the one who told me to do whatever I want."

"I'm looking forward to it. Seeing what Seo Jaein does next."

All he did was grin at that.

And what exactly does he think I'm going to do?

Watching him remain utterly unbothered, Jaein suppressed a wry laugh. "Fine. Let's do it, then."

With those words, she extended her hand to Taeha — a handshake that meant, let's work well together. Either way, if they couldn't find a replacement cast member, the show would get cut. What was there to fear in a year at most?

Taeha looked down at the offered hand for a moment, then took it. "Looking forward to working with you, honey."

H-honey?

At the endearment she'd never once heard from him, Jaein's face crumpled helplessly.

"We combine households right away. We have to live together to film."

Five years of marriage, and they were only now going to live together — yet not a flicker of his expression changed. Watching him, something stubborn woke up in Jaein.

"Sounds good. Then let's combine bedrooms first. We're married — shouldn't we sleep together?"

At the question she delivered with a perfectly straight stare, a subtle smile crept across Taeha's lips. "Even better. That's exactly what I was hoping for."

He leaned in close, held her gaze for a long beat, and said, "Let's do everything. Everything married couples do — no exceptions."

"Do whatever you like. I have somewhere to be — see you later."

With that, Jaein turned away. She'd said her piece boldly and walked off with her head high, so why did watching Taeha look so pleased make her nerves spike?

Barely keeping her scattered mind together, she shut the elevator doors.

Wow. What have I done.

She'd said she would, but — would she really be okay?

And as if to mock that worry, everything moved at breakneck speed. Barely half a day after Jaein made up her mind to appear on the show, a detailed shooting plan arrived on her desk along with a minute-by-minute schedule.

As if someone had been waiting for exactly this.