Suck on Your Breast!
Now this was my house.
When she stepped out of the car, the driver who had come to pick her up and the housekeeper who had greeted her both called her "madam" or "madam."
Before entering the foyer, Tae-yeon took a moment to admire the beautifully landscaped garden.
In the center was a spacious lawn, and along the walls, trees and flowers were arranged in a neat row.
The garden was designed to make the space feel especially vast.
Along one side of the fence, a cluster of roses bloomed in soft, delicate colors.
Among them, something caught her eye. It was a Juliet rose.
Could that Juliet rose truly be growing right there, climbing the wall like this?
Among roses, the most expensive ones were so rare that even a small bouquet or flower arrangement rarely included more than one or two.
“Sigh, if you stand here breathing in the fresh air like this, it won’t be good for you. Please come inside, madam.”
An older woman spoke. She must be Icheon-daek.
“Shall we check on our young master? Oh my, he’s so handsome. He looks just like a Choi. You can just call me Icheon-daek.”
“Hello. I’m Min Tae-yeon.”
“Do I have to call you by your full name too, madam? Just call me madam. I’ll call you little madam.”
With a bright voice, Icheon-daek carried the child as they went inside.
The delicious smell spread as soon as they stepped in.
“When you give birth, your appetite will return. Drink this seaweed soup. I made it with meat that was simmered until it melted. It’s for you, madam.”
“I was hungry even without that.”
Though breakfast had been served in the hospital, because it was hospital food or because the hospital bed felt like needles, nothing had gone down her throat.
But the seaweed soup that Icheon-daek had prepared tasted wonderful.
She scooped up a ball of rice with her chopsticks and ate it with kimchi, and suddenly her mother came to mind.
Her throat felt tight, and she kept lifting rice balls out of the soup and putting them back down.
Then Icheon-daek spoke.
“Eat your fill and go rest. You’ve come a long way for the first time. You must feel out of place. Maybe that’s just how you are. Director Choi is really heartless. The chairman’s wife was shocked and had to lie down. Still, she’s happy. Young Master Yun-woo really does look just like Director Choi.”
Icheon-daek smiled brightly while holding the baby. She truly loved that child.
“Our Yun-woo is so handsome. Since he was born so small, the big madam must have been worried. His face is so fair and beautiful.”
At Icheon-daek’s words, Tae-yeon nodded.
“Yes, he really is handsome.”
“Oh my, little madam has fallen for our Yun-woo too? Well, there are many women who fall for their own children. The more you look, the prettier and more handsome he gets, right?”
But she had never actually held Yun-woo, even though she had come straight from the delivery room to this place.
Icheon-daek was about to feed the baby formula when Tae-yeon stepped forward.
“Let me have him. I’ll feed him.”
“Oh, please don’t, madam. Wrong postpartum care can ruin a woman’s body completely. You shouldn’t look swollen from having given birth, but don’t be careless either. I’ll feed Yun-woo milk and put him to bed, so just look at his face for a while. After all, you’ll be raising him for the rest of your life.”
For the rest of my life?
Tae-yeon watched quietly as Icheon-daek fed milk to the baby.
The way the infant’s hairline was divided and the soft strands fell neatly, the huge eyes that opened wide and looked like half the face was a sparkling pool, and the cute way it sucked steadily while drinking milk.
Why were people called flowers? It seemed that something even prettier than a flower was a baby.
Icheon-daek, watching the baby drink milk, asked worriedly.
“Go lie down. Is it that pretty the way Yun-woo drinks?”
“Yes. It’s pretty. The more you look, the prettier.”
The more she looked, the more she fell in love. Every movement and sound of the child tugged at her nerves.
This baby was pulling her heart.
On the second floor, there was a master bedroom.
No need to mention the bedroom itself. Next to it was a walk-in closet and a spacious bathroom inside.
Thinking about living here with him made her heart ache.
She wandered around, then lay down on the bed. It felt strange and awkward.
Until the darkness fell, Tae-yeon lay there, not sleeping but not doing anything else either.
At least to give the impression of a woman who had just given birth, she had to lie down.
Night fell, and Tae-yeon remained restless.
Choi Hyun-seo was coming.
Would they sleep together in this room?
Just thinking about sleeping with him made her lower body grow wet without warning. Her heart beat wildly.
She had said the baby needed special care and that he would sleep on the first floor with Icheon-daek.
Besides Icheon-daek, another person had come to clean and help with odd jobs.
She had not yet spoken a word to that person.
Hyun-seo did not come until late at night. He was busy, after all.
And what right did she have to wait like this?
Still, he was the director. If he came, she should greet him and go to sleep, right?
Lost in thought, she fell asleep.
She had lain in the hospital for days, and because her heart was uneasy and the bed felt like needles, she seemed to have lost even more weight.
Whether because of the days of tension or because of the soft mattress, the tension slowly eased.
But the moment she thought she would stay here and live the rest of her life, a sense of relief washed over her.
Then, sometime around midnight, she woke up.
Looking at the empty bed, she realized it was reality.
Tae-yeon got up from the bed and went to the walk-in closet.
A long built-in closet stretched out, and in front of it stood a large mirror.
This walk-in closet also served as a powder room. While looking at her reflection in the mirror, a sudden large shadow entered, and she startled.
“Oh my.”
“Why are you surprised? Didn’t you know this room connects to the study?”
It was Choi Hyun-seo.
He looked different from usual in a comfortable sweatshirt.
“Ah, I didn’t know. Director, when did you come?”
“Just now. I thought you were sleeping, so I didn’t wake you. Go back to sleep. Why are you standing here?”
“No, it’s nothing. Today Yun-woo drank milk well and slept soundly.”
“I heard from Icheon-daek. The manager also ate seaweed soup and ate well. Have a good rest.”
“Yes.”
Manager. How awkward it felt that even when she was with her mother, he had called her “Tae-yeon.”
“I mostly stay in the study. The study has a bedroom attached too. I even sleep in the study.”
“Then I’ll use the study.”
As if it were strange that she would use the study, he looked at her.
“There are many confidential documents in the study.”
“Ah, I understand.”
She had made a mistake. He had said to sleep comfortably in the wide bed, but apparently the study was a space he could not share with her.
“It would be good for the wedding to be held about three months after the baby is born, as your parents suggested.”
“Yes.”
“Actually, we could do it right away, but officially, since the manager is a woman who has given birth, adults say three months of recovery time are needed.”
“Please speak more casually, Director.”
“Then you do the same too.”
“How could I…?”
“I’ll do whatever I like. To keep a proper distance, this is better, right?”
“Yes. I understand, Director.”
“Then go to sleep.”
He said that and went into the bathroom.
The sound of running water came with a whoosh.
Tae-yeon imagined him taking off his clothes and showering.
She wanted to see it, and without warning, her body grew hot.
Was it only her who felt this way?
In the middle of the night, a man and woman together, with no hesitation, entering and showering while telling her to come in and sleep.
But they were legally married.
Still, a line clearly existed. Employer and employee.
To outsiders, Tae-yeon was the madam, but to Choi Hyun-seo she was only an employee.
The job of wife required tension all the way until night, when she had to deal with her superior.
* * *
A few days later, Oh Jin-hee visited Tae-yeon.
To outsiders, she was the mother-in-law, but to Tae-yeon she was only the chairman’s wife.
As soon as Oh Jin-hee entered, she called for Yun-woo.
“Yun-woo. Is our Yun-woo asleep? Grandma’s here. Grandma came.”
When she heard Oh Jin-hee was coming, Tae-yeon, who had been restless since early morning and greeted her at the front door, followed the mother-in-law inside without even a single word of greeting.
Treating her as if she were invisible, Oh Jin-hee’s eyes saw only the child.
“Oh my, my baby. You’ve grown so much in such a short time?”
In just one week since birth, Yun-woo had become a different child.
He really ate well and slept well. Just from eating formula and sleeping, he had grown that much—it was astonishing.
“Didn’t the baby have a hard time with night and day?”
“Oh my, our young master sleeps and eats so well. He finishes an entire bottle of milk at night and sleeps soundly. When mealtime comes, he wakes up on schedule. Even though he only sleeps until four in the morning, being just ten days old, it’s truly amazing.”
Oh Jin-hee only looked at Yun-woo. She did not say a single word to Tae-yeon.
She was perfectly treating her like a ghost.
Icheon-daek, who could not stand it, spoke.
“Sigh, maybe our madam is also such a clean and neat person that I feel better with her right here.”
But Oh Jin-hee did not even answer.
Then, as if something occurred to her, she spoke.
“Are you producing milk well? I consider breast milk very important. I heard you don’t produce milk. Come on, let me see your chest.”
Tae-yeon tensed up and could not answer.
Her stiff, disgusted expression must have been obvious to Oh Jin-hee.
“What? You’re supposed to show me your chest. Even in front of me, let me see you suckle your breast. Let me hear our Yun-woo gulp down the milk.”
“…”
Oh Jin-hee’s fierce eyes fell on Tae-yeon standing there without a word of objection.
But Tae-yeon could not bare her chest and let her suckle.
Nor did it seem right to flatly refuse Oh Jin-hee’s words.
“Just a moment. Mother. Aunt, give Yun-woo here.”
Tae-yeon turned her back on Oh Jin-hee and reached out.
She held the child, trembling, and unbuttoned her shirt to expose her chest.
She put Yun-woo to her breast.
Yun-woo latched on tightly and began to suckle hard.