The Bruises of Yesterday

pI woke up the next morning with my ears feeling even stuffier than before. Was it because of the stress?

pI opened my eyes but still couldn't get out of bed.

pIt was exactly like being underwater. I reached up to touch my ears and was about to sit up to look for the hearing aid. My whole body hurt.

p"Ugh..."

pA pained groan slipped out from the stinging, as if I'd been beaten. I lowered my eyes and saw the bruises covering them. I traced the marks with my fingertips.

pI had wanted to get angry, but it was he who got angry, and I had to bear it all over my body. Thanks to that, I could barely move a single finger.

pI hadn't been able to see him off to work. It was only natural. I don't know if I fainted midway and ended up sleeping in the same bed with him.

pGritting my teeth, I stretched my hand to the bedside table and snatched the hearing aid. The moment I put it in, the sound returned. It must have been temporarily out of reach.

pI guess it was really the stress, just like Choi Beom-jin had said. Yesterday had pushed me to my limit. With my body and mind so drained, the ears were probably sending me a warning to be careful.

pI slid my legs off the bed and the bruises bloomed like flowers all the way up my thighs and ankles. When had the bruises on my coccyx appeared?

p"...Hah!"

pTaking a deep breath, I tried to stand, but my legs gave out and I slumped back onto the bed with a groan.

p"...It really hurts."

pMy waist and legs ached too much. I thought I should take painkillers. Otherwise I'd be stuck in bed all day.

pI was about to head to the kitchen to get medicine when I remembered the housekeeper's time. I decided to take a quick shower first. If I saw me like this, he might think I had been the one to use violence.

pMy appearance was a disaster. The good part was that the bruises were only on the parts I could hide with clothes.

pBecause of the muscle pain, I gave myself a quick shower. I tied my hair neatly and headed to the kitchen. At the dining table, I saw the housekeeper serving breakfast.

pThe moment she spotted me, her expression hardened.

p"Eat your meal."

pAs I got closer to the table, my steps slowed. After all, the food smelled repulsive. I'd been sick for a few days, but this was too much.

pWithout realizing it, I furrowed my brows.

p"Aren't you eating?"

p"Ah... um... I'm sorry, ma'am, but... I don't have much of an appetite."

pI was going to say my stomach was upset and I couldn't eat, but instead I lied that I had no appetite. I didn't know why, but the lie just poured out.

pEven now, my stomach was churning. I couldn't even take a bite. Just standing here felt like an effort. Yet the housekeeper looked upset.

pThe housekeeper slammed a bowl onto the table with a clatter and glared at me.

p"I didn't set this up just because I wanted to, Young Miss. The chairman asked me to, and if I wanted to, I would have."

p"........."

p"Do you think it's easy to set a place for every meal?"

pIt was something I could have apologized for and let slide. The housekeeper hated me anyway. Having betrayed the person she served, it was only natural that I was hateful to her.

pSo I should just apologize and move on.

p"...From now on, don't set a place for me. I'll eat here."

pToday's emotions were too unstable. I couldn't just let it go. This was the first time in my life I had said something like that to someone.

pTears came, then anger, then calm. I didn't know why I was acting this way.

p"Don't pretend like you did before and fall down on purpose just to make the chairman worry."

p"........."

p"Is it because you want someone to take care of you? That's ridiculous. Feel free to throw away today's place setting."

pThe housekeeper stormed out with loud footsteps. The sound of the door closing made me collapse onto the floor.

p"Hoo... hup... snore."

pIt hurt that everyone hated me. My stomach twisted even though I hadn't eaten anything.

p"U... ugh!"

pI clamped my hand over my mouth and ran to the bathroom, grabbing the toilet bowl. Then I vomited everything I had in my stomach.

p...I was exhausted.

pAgain, my ears weren't working well, so I squeezed my eyes shut.

p"Eat well!"

pJin Yeon-a's cheerful voice brought my mind snapping back. The stepmother had called to say lunch was ready, so I had no choice but to come to the family home.

pI had been ignoring the stepmother's calls until then, but when my father said he would attend, I rushed over right away.

pMy stomach still wasn't feeling better, so I couldn't eat and just toyed with my spoon. The stepmother's gaze burned into my forehead as if she could pierce it.

p"Hey, you have some food in you but you won't even take a bite..."

p"That's enough,"

pMy father cut the stepmother off in the middle of her sentence. Thanks to that, I didn't have to force myself to eat. Looking like he had something to say, my father straightened his back and stared at me quietly.

p"When you come next time, bring your husband too."

pThe words that came out of my father's mouth always made me angry.

p"Where is Grandma?"

pI lowered my eyes because I couldn't bear to look at my father's face and asked. But my father didn't open his mouth.

p"Tell me."

pThe atmosphere instantly turned to ice. My father let out a sneer with a mocking face.

p"Did I go crazy? You think I'll tell you that?"

p"........."

pI glared at my father, my hands trembling. When I was little—no, until just two years ago—I couldn't even look my father in the eye because I was afraid of him. But not now. After he had betrayed me, it didn't matter whether he hit me or not. I wasn't afraid at all.

p"Tell me where Grandma is right now! Right now!"

pMy father looked down at me and clicked his tongue.

p"Bring your husband next weekend. Then maybe I'll tell you where the old lady is."

p"......It's a lie, it's a lie..."

pMy father's laugh echoed through the house. It was a cunning laugh so evil that I thought it would be better if my ears weren't working.

pA short while later,

pI went home with swollen eyes. He was in the middle of getting out of the car.

p"You're back?"

pI rushed over to greet him, but he ignored me like it was natural and walked past. I tried to close the distance we had built, but he headed into the main house instead of going to my grandmother's.

p"........."

pIt seemed he had gotten used to not even glancing at me. He didn't come back.

pEver since that day, he hadn't touched a single finger. Maybe because of the rain, he had been bedridden for a few days. Or maybe because of that, or maybe because he was now tired of my body—I don't know.

pI rarely saw his face except when he left for work.

p'Bring your husband?'

pIt sounded like my father's cunning voice was still ringing in my ears, so I unconsciously scratched my forearm.

pI let my shoulders droop in weakness and headed to the annex. No one would welcome me back at the main house, and since I had already greeted my grandmother in the morning, there was no reason to go there.

pSo I turned and crossed the garden when I ran into my mother and father climbing the stone steps.