Something Unexpected with My Appetite
Hyun-seo had no idea what was wrong. Just yesterday he had been sitting there blankly while receiving reports. The image of Tae-yeon holding Yun-woo had passed through his mind. She had looked at him like a rabbit, but it turned out she had teeth too.
The way Min Tae-yeon would gently take care of Yun-woo while glaring at him as if she wanted to bite him hard.
Hyun-seo even asked his secretary Hwang In-seok what on earth was happening at home. Something big and influential must have happened. He had no clue that the aftereffects would be failing to communicate with Tae-yeon and not being able to sleep together.
People lined up to have a meal with Choi Hyun-seo. Customers, directors, and shareholders all begged his secretary to arrange a meal with the group's heir. Even Hyun-seo had been pushed to the limit by those powerful people, yet now he was forcing Tae-yeon to go out to dinner.
Tae-yeon looked at him with a bit of suspicion.
“Isn’t this a business proposal?”
“What? A business proposal? What do you think I am? Am I really your business partner, Min Tae-yeon?”
“It won’t work. How could someone like me become your partner? Please stop. Why suddenly want to eat out? Just say it here.”
Aigoo, that mouth of hers is causing trouble again. Hyun-seo pressed his lips shut at her words. With the living room window open, a fresh spring breeze carried the scent of roses.
“Yun-woo. Do you like flowers? Look, the roses are blooming.”
Holding Yun-woo and pointing, he made the child point too.
“Mommy. Koo-oot.”
His language development seemed amazingly fast. Wanting to capture Tae-yeon’s gaze while she only looked at Yun-woo, Hyun-seo leaned closer to her.
“That’s right. The roses are blooming. Yun-woo, roses. Try saying ‘rose.’”
“Yun-woo can’t say that yet. Don’t force something too hard on him.”
At that moment Yun-woo smiled brightly at Hyun-seo.
“Appa. Appa.”
“That’s it. I’m Appa. My son has a great voice for ‘Appa.’ Our Yun-woo was taught very well by Mommy.”
Everyone praised Tae-yeon. Every time Hyun-seo appeared, Yun-woo would point at him and say ‘Appa.’ Even when Mommy was praised, Appa would reply. Now it was just Yun-woo’s bright ‘Appa’ at Hyun-seo that was impressive.
Hyun-seo weighed his words and said,
“Anyway, let’s go out for dinner. I’ll buy whatever you want.”
“Today?”
“Yes. Tonight. Come to the company by six.”
“No.”
“No? You don’t want to eat with me?”
Hyun-seo’s quiet words made Tae-yeon shake her head.
“No. It’s not that I don’t want to eat. I don’t want to go to the company.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where I used to work. There are a lot of people I know, and since I was a company employee then became a mother-in-law, there are many things to talk about. I don’t want to go back there.”
Hyun-seo tilted his head at her words. His thoughts were quite different from Tae-yeon’s.
“So you don’t want to come to the company even more?”
“Huh?”
“You’ve clearly succeeded. You’ve climbed the ranks.”
To the eyes of others it might look like success. But didn’t ‘success’ mean something entirely different? Normally success meant advancing in the world. For Min Tae-yeon it meant being trapped in the house after the world had abandoned her.
Of course in today’s terms success meant higher status and more money. To outsiders it was indeed success. She had money and status. But in real life the only people she had to deal with were Yun-woo and Icheon-daek.
After living as a housewife for more than a year, he realized that a family without a housewife’s sacrifices simply could not exist.
Taking care of Yun-woo alone was a full day’s work. There was no opportunity to use past career skills. Sometimes it was really hard. Everything wasn’t solved with money.
“No. I won’t go to the company. Tell me where I should go.”
“No. That won’t do. I’ll send a car. Just get in when you’re ready. I’ll go out and think about what you want to eat.”
Want to eat? Yes. Something that can’t be eaten here.
“Fast food.”
“Really? That’s what you want to eat?”
Hyun-seo looked at her with disbelief. Tae-yeon nodded vigorously.
“Yes. I can’t eat that at home.”
Every day she ate only healthy food and prepared nutritious meals for Yun-woo, mostly the ones Icheon-daek made. She had no idea when she last tasted fast food.
“Amazing. Either way, I like it. Whatever you want, I’ll buy it. Come out and get in the car.”
“Okay.”
Tae-yeon smiled brightly. There was something naive about her. This was an unexpected reversal. Hyun-seo had never imagined that the diligent, duty-bound Tae-yeon would like fast food. If he hadn’t asked, he might never have known.
After more than a year of living together under the name of husband and wife, he realized he didn’t know much about her. Tae-yeon held Yun-woo and proudly said,
“Our Yun-woo has grown so much. He even burps on his own. There’s almost nothing I need to do.”
“Appa fed him, so he learned to burp on his own.”
Though the words sounded unconvincing, Icheon-daek chimed in.
“That’s right. Sometimes I pat his back. But now he drinks all his milk and burps by himself. It seems Appa is very good. Director, you sometimes feed him baby food too. That helps Appa bond with him.”
“I see. Of course.”
Hyun-seo answered honestly. Tae-yeon felt good about his change. She thought his feelings for her were a little bigger than she had imagined.
Days pass quickly. But today they seemed to flow more slowly. It must have been because of the dinner appointment. As Tae-yeon was almost ready to leave, a call came from her mother.
“Hello, Mom. What’s wrong?”
Her mother’s voice sounded quite weak.
“No. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
How many days had passed since the last call? How had things become so chaotic? Tae-yeon blamed herself.
“Mom, I’m sorry. I must have been busy. Was it hard when you came for Yun-woo’s birthday party?”
“It was hard. Seeing how well you live and watching Yun-woo made me happy.”
“But Mom, your voice sounds a bit off today.”
“It’s up and down. Don’t worry. What’s happening today?”
“Today I’m going out for dinner with Director Hyun-seo.”
“Really? Good. You two should get along well. Good marriage is the best education for the children.”
“Yes.”
Tae-yeon felt her heart racing and answered her mother’s words rather vaguely.
“If you feel bad anywhere, please call me.”
“Yes. I will.”
After hanging up with her mother, Tae-yeon sat at the vanity and carefully applied makeup. Not too heavy, but with definite points. Her makeup skill wasn’t great. She hadn’t worn much makeup before, and after marriage she had stopped on purpose because she was busy with the child.
Thinking about it, she only showed her bare face to Choi Hyun-seo. She was proud of her makeup skills but never showed her face, and she had her own problems too.
Tae-yeon focused on adding points to her eyes.
Kyung-ja let out a long sigh after the call. She had told her daughter she could no longer undergo dialysis and needed a kidney transplant. She had called to ask Tae-yeon about it, but the words stuck in her throat. She felt guilty giving her daughter, who was living well, an unnecessary burden.
Her body had been getting worse over the past year. Even while receiving dialysis she often had swollen days. She knew that if things continued this way she would eventually have to leave this world.
She was worried that Tae-yeon would be left alone in this world, yet she was also relieved that her daughter had gotten married. She had no desire to live like this any longer.
Tae-yeon’s life had become a burden even without that. Despite being discouraged by her poor hometown, she had raised Yun-woo diligently and supported Choi Hyun-seo without complaint. Kyung-ja was truly grateful.
“My daughter has helped me a lot. It won’t last much longer.”
***
Tae-yeon sat beside Hyun-seo in the car, staring blankly around her. Hyun-seo looked at his tablet for a long time, then turned it off and looked at her. Only after meeting her questioning eyes did he speak.
“You seem curious about where we’re going. Because you want fast food.”
“So there’s so much fast food out there, and we’ve been driving for so long?”
Tae-yeon asked quietly.
“Are we going far?”
They had already left the city. Looking at the car speeding away from the downtown area, it seemed they had passed all the fast-food restaurants.
“Is the fast-food place we’re going to right now?”
“Yes.”
“Where exactly?”
“You’ll know when you get there.”
The man didn’t answer and just smiled slyly. No matter how she looked, this was a road leading out of the suburbs. She had suggested fast food, yet they had driven for an hour? It was strange.