Woo Bin's POV
Woo Bin knew Hee Jin lied to him. He's been watching her like a hawk even when she didn't notice. He saw Jan Di approach her from behind and put a hand on her shoulder while sitting alone in the garden. She didn't even so much as flinch. But, she told him that that is what she hated the most. The one thing she couldn't stand.
He's been subjected beforehand to the hostile way she treated him when she was throwing up in that bathroom. Was it because he was the one to touch her? But if she hated him touching her so much, why didn't she mind him cutting her hair?
So many questions still floated around Hee Jin and what she's been through. He spent months trying to figure out everything about her, but many things remained vague. Her time at the orphanage wasn't much of a mystery. It was where he started his search for her, but when he found out she was missing and presumed as dead, he knew he had hit a dead wall.
It was after a thorough search and the use of multiple private investigators that he found out that she worked at the Jungs family house. But he was too late even then as she had already run away from that place. It took a bit of deduction to figure out what her next move would be. Someone like her needed a job to survive. But she didn't have any legal documentation. All her papers were at the orphanage where they believed she was most likely dead. So the logical step was to point down all illegal companies who hired people like her—ones with no identity.
It took a while, but he was able to finally able to pinpoint her. And again, her time in cleaning services provided no mystery for him. He was able to track down her activity easily from then on.
The mystery lies in the five years she spent at the Jungs family house.
They were a family of loan sharks. Their operations weren't wide enough for Woo Bin to ever take notice of them, but he had heard the name fleetingly. When he had started investigating them, he had learned they were a vicious bunch that used their punches to get their victims to comply. They were a bit more bloody than necessary, but they didn't overstep and kept in their turfs. That's why he never had a good reason to deal with them and didn't want to risk exposing information about Hee Jin.
No one knew anything about her, or what was in plan for them both except his grandfather, father and himself. Even they didn't know as much as he did. He tried to distance them from his search as much as he could to provide Hee Jin some privacy.
He knew well that her time at the Jungs completely broke her, but he didn't know exactly how far it ran. She was only a mere servant. She didn't have to get her hands bloody or run operations for them. He assumed she was involved in cleaning and housekeeping hence her career choice after leaving that place. But the anxiety inside her ran far deeper than what would be caused by seeing crimes happen in front of her.
It kept him up at night. He had told her it would be okay if she never told him, but was he truly that patient? He highly doubted when it concerned her. And he couldn't barge into the Jungs' unannounced, claiming revenge or trying to understand what happened there. He had worked hard to keep her identity well-guarded even after the wedding. A Song wreaking havoc and questioning an insignificant family like that would raise eyebrows and have the opposite effect of what he wanted.
All he needed was for Hee Jin to put a bit more of her trust in him. He might've told her he was okay with never knowing, but that didn't mean he wouldn't actively try to make her tell him herself.
For the sake of his sanity, he needed to know every detail. Every single thing that made her squirm or flinch. He had to know she was safe. This might've happened in her past, she was now safer than ever and there was no logical explanation to dig up the past, but it was driving him mental. She was driving him mental.
Despite how fragile and dainty she felt when she let him cut her hair, Woo Bin also noticed how resilient, sharp and quick-witted she was. He had been making a mental note of everything she was, what she liked, what she was afraid of and her habits. He told himself that it was to assess the situation better and make sure he didn't make mistakes, but when he was consumed with thoughts of her every day, he quickly learned that it wasn't the case.
There was a certain kind of ease when spending time with her. Outside of all the planning he did when he was alone and thinking about her, when it was time to be around her, Woo Bin found that he greatly enjoyed himself. The time they spent together inside their home, although riddled with silence most of the time, was still pleasurable.
And with his friends, Hee Jin fit right in. That put Woo Bin in a tight spot because Hee Jin was his wife. Someone who he thought at first would be an amicable business partner, but that wasn't the case. He was growing fond of Hee Jin, and he found himself wanting more of her company despite that making him a selfish bastard. She could only be entertaining him out of politeness and their promise.
He shouldn't have liked it that much that she was getting along well with his friends. He shouldn't have anticipated her opinion of them, and feeling relieved that she liked them as well. He shouldn't be doing many things including incorporating Hee Jin into his life. His job was to keep her safe and happy far away from him, not involve her more in his life.
But he found himself desperately wanting to be her friend. It was like an itch he had to scratch. He didn't know her nearly well enough which bothered him enormously. He was too curious for his own good. Maybe when he had relieved this curiousness, he would be able to do the sane thing and let her be.
It was more inconvenient that they had to return to their normal lives soon, and he'd spend less time with Hee Jin. His family had been pestering him for a while about their return from their supposed honeymoon, and he knew sooner than later he had to face them again.
He already talked with Hee Jin about it, and they were ready to announce their return to his family and set a date for a family meeting in celebration of their marriage. Hee Jin wasn't very welcoming of the idea, nor was he, but they both understood they had to do it.
"I never asked you what you study." Hee Jin said on their final day of freedom before they announced their return.
"Not that difficult to guess." He replied, sitting on the couch and flipping through the channels mindlessly.
"Business?"
"Bingo."
"Do you like it?"
"Surprisingly yes."
"Good for you." She replied, on the side of the couch, curled up on herself with a book in her hand.
"Why do you ask?"
"Since you'll be returning to university soon. I was thinking about my options. Not that I think I'd be able to attend any university."
"You wound me. You think I couldn't set something up for you?"
"You can?" She asked, shifting in her seat.
"This is what impresses you? After everything you've seen me capable of doing?"
"You could be incredibly annoying sometimes, but that's beside the point. I was asking because I want ideas. I don't want to end up with too much time on my hands." She said.
"Calm down. You don't have to figure it out right now. I'll be busy with school, but we'd still hang out and we can discover together what you're interested in."
"I don't want to be too bored that's all. I always had something on my hands to do. And I can't keep reading books and watching movies all day."
"It's not going to last forever. You don't have to feel so restless." He said.
"But what if I can't find anything?" She asked.
"There has to be something that'll catch your eye. Don't worry too much about it."
"Let's say I did. What if I'm not good enough at anything? I lack a lot of things."
"You're jumping a lot of steps. If it makes you feel better, we can create a list of things that seem interesting to you. We could narrow it down to whatever seems more appealing to you. You could always start from scratch with whatever you choose. No one starts as a professional." He said.
"Do you think we could come up with something?"
"Positive." He smiled at her.
She seemed lost in thought despite his attempts at reassurance. Maybe she needed a distraction, he thought to himself.
"Since this is our last day of freedom, I thought it appropriate to commemorate it."
"How so?"
"How about we bake a cake?" He suggested.
"A cake? Were the pancakes not enough testament to how much we suck in the kitchen?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Come on, we have to do something special. Think about it, we might as well try baking. You won't give up on this small matter after we've tried everything else in the kitchen."
"Fine, but do we have the ingredients?" She asked rolling her eyes and walking up to the kitchen.
Woo Bin followed her, happy with his idea.
"There should be something if we raid the pantries and the fridge. I made sure we had everything we would and wouldn't need."
"You and your friends have money-spending problems."
"Better get used to it now." He chuckled.
"Hm, let's see what we have here." Hee Jin said, opening the pantries as he suggested.
"There's baking powder, vanilla and flour." She said, going through the pantry.
"We have eggs and some butter." He said, opening the fridge.
"I think that'll be enough according to recipes on the internet. I did my research. Oh, right! Cocoa powder. I want chocolate cake."
"Right here." She said, her back to him.
"Then, we're good to go."
Laying out all their ingredients and getting to work, he got Hee Jin to crack the eggs per their agreement. He hated its consistency and they'd known by now what each was capable of in the kitchen.
"I don't know how you do that. It's repulsive." He almost gagged.
"Stop making it disgusting for me too." She complained, cracking the last one.
"What does the recipe say is next?" She asked.
"Vanilla powder and sugar." He said, grabbing them and adding them to the bowl.
He got to whisk the batter, with Hee Jin adding milk and cocoa while he did so as he instructed.
They carefully placed their batter in a buttered tray and put it in the oven.
Hee Jin volunteered to make the icing since he did most of the whisking.
Watching her melt the chocolate on the stove, he acted on his words and left her momentarily to get his laptop.
He placed it on the kitchen counter and dragged a chair. He went through the internet, looking for job ideas. Anything that might inspire a spark in her.
"Would you say you have a strong of justice and defending the weak?" He asked.
"Huh? What brought this on?" She looked over her shoulder, confused.
"I'm racking up some ideas for you. Would you perhaps be interested in being a lawyer?"
"You spend so much time on the internet." She shook her head.
"That's rich coming from someone who admittedly stalked me on the internet and based their opinion of me on it."
"Hey, that's not fair. Both situations are drastically different. And to answer your question, I'm not particularly interested in this field. Nor do I have the brains for it. Let's aim for something lower." She said.
"Okay, something a bit more relaxed." He said to himself.
"How about cooking?" He suggested.
Hee Jin only raised her eyebrows and returned to her to the pan on the stove.
"Right." He muttered. "Kids?"
"What about them?" She asked.
"Do you like them? You could be a teacher to younger kids."
"I'm not fond of them. They're too breakable. And noisy." She replied.
"You're not very flexible, are you?"
"It's only that I have a limited set of skills and knowledge. I know what I can work with and these suggestions don't sound too great." She replied.
Feeling dejected, Woo Bin stopped looking for job ideas. Maybe they were jumping a few steps. It would be more reasonable to start with building a few hobbies for Hee Jin. Then, they could work their way around something or get inspired.
Instead, he started going through different courses and programs that seemed interesting until he found one that caught his eye.
"How about this? An oil painting course. I know it's not exactly what you're looking for, but I thought it'd be a good start to know yourself better. It's for beginners, too."
Hee Jin left her stance next to the stove and joined him, looking at the laptop screen over his shoulder.
"It looks interesting." She said, intrigued.
"Well, it starts next week and will last eight weeks. Do you want me to apply for you?"
"Could you? That'd be great." She said, her shoulders relaxing.
Instantly, he felt relieved. He didn't know why but seeing her discouraged affected him and knowing that he came up with a solution she liked made him immensely proud of himself.
"It's next to my university, too. If my schedule aligns with yours, I could take you to and from." He offered.
"That'll be great." She said, this time beaming and Woo Bin could feel his whole chest warming up.
The oven dinged, indicating that their cake was ready.
Hee Jin carefully spread the icing on the cake.
"It looks promising." He said over her shoulder.
"Right? I think so, too."
Hee Jin cut a generous piece and gave it to Woo Bin.
"You do the honour. You were the one who suggested making it." She said.
"No can do. This was a team effort. Both at the same time?" He offered her a fork.
They both dug in and grimaced at the same time.
"Oh, God. Too much sugar." Hee Jin spat out.
"The icing's too sweet."
"Really? The problem is only with the icing? The whole thing is a sugar coma waiting to happen." She said.
"This is inedible even for me." She pushed the plate of cake away.
"We need something to break the sweetness. Maybe unsweetened tea?" He said.
"That could work."
Woo Bin got out two mugs and slipped tea bags in each.
"Don't tell Yi Jung we're using tea bags." He smiled.
"Why?"
"He's a tea aficionado. He thinks tea bags are a heinous crime."
"He sounds fun." Hee Jin laughed softly.
"Yes, he was. He is." He corrected himself.
"Want to sit in the garden?" He asked.
"Sure." Hee Jin replied.
He took both of their mugs and urged her towards the garden.
Gliding the glass doors open, they sat on wooden chairs on the patio outlooking the whole garden.
"I'll never get used to how beautiful this place is." Hee Jin said, mesmerised.
"I knew you'd like it." He slipped up, before realising his mistake.
"Who's your favourite of your friends?" Hee Jin asked, taking a bite from their shared slice and sipping the tea.
"I wouldn't say I have a favourite. I love them."
"That's the diplomatic answer. Now onto the real answer."
"Fine, if you have to know, it'd be Yi Jung. I wouldn't say he's my favourite per se, but we're on the same wavelength more often than not."
"Do you miss him?" She asked.
"All the time." He shook his head.
"What is it?"
"It feels selfish to say that. He's in Sweden to get better. He injured his hand and is seeking treatment there yet here I am thinking about myself." He said.
"You miss him. That's not selfish. I bet he misses you, too."
"But sometimes I wish he was here. I needed him to talk to."
"You can try me. I'm sure I'm nothing like him, but maybe I could help." She offered.
"I appreciate your sincerity, but I don't think we'd see eye to eye on many things."
"Why? Is it because I'm not like you?" She retorted, angrily taking another bite of the cake.
"It's not like that, but my problems might seem trivial to you."
"Can you stop treating me like I'm some war hero? I know I went through some things, but it's over now and I want to have a life that's as close to ordinary as possible. Stop beating yourself down. You're not the one who hurt me, Woo Bin. And I may not know you well, but your friends do and they admire you. And I know we both go off on the wrong foot, but you made it up to me ten times over this past month."
"You told me on that rooftop that you didn't dislike me, only that you didn't know me. But what if that's the main problem? You don't know me well enough, so you're being nice to me now. Just because I was pleasant to you doesn't mean I'm a good person." He said.
"I have been around bad people my entire life. Disgusting and vile creatures they could barely be called human. If you were as terrible as you claim to be, you wouldn't have been this good to me. Let's assume you were acting this whole time, you would've eventually slipped up, and I would've known."
"That doesn't make anything different. I am who I am." He said.
"No, it makes all the difference. Let's put all the cards on the table here. I'm easy prey, and I'm sure you know that, too. Yes, you were an asshole to me when we first met, but realistically speaking, that wasn't the worst you could've done and you know it. You've held the upper hand more times than not, and you've never made me feel threatened for my life. You could've caused me harm countless times and you didn't. Hell, you never even considered it."
"Just because I abstained from harming you doesn't make me a decent person. That's the bare fucking minimum. You don't get to praise me for doing so." He said.
"I'm not praising you, but anyone with power, not even an iota of what you have, is deluded and wild. It takes a solid person not to fall into that trap."
"Do you think that I don't like my power or what can I do with it?" He asked.
"Of course, you do. I'm not an idiot. Everyone craves power including me. I'm sure as well you've done some vile things, but maybe I did, too. Haven't you thought about that? I'm not the victim in everyone's eyes."
"What is it that you could've done that is wrong." He scoffed.
"I stole, lied and manipulated to get by. I was never considered a victim or looked at the way you do. People hated me, Woo Bin, back at the orphanage. Things were different at that house only because I couldn't help it, not because I suddenly developed a conscience. I did what I had to survive and that pushed me into doing things I'm not proud of. I'm not the victim you think I am. We all do things to survive, and you did too. That only means you're human."
"It's different for me. I never had to scrape by to survive."
"That's not true. Everyone struggles to survive. That's life and it blows everyone tough problems." She said.
"Everyone has a choice, and I chose more than once to be the bad guy. I chose to be the bad guy when I agreed to this marriage. You told me before that someone like me must hold some power to stop this marriage."
"But you didn't." She interjected.
"I did, Hee Jin." He looked at her with guilt brimming in his eyes.
"Tell me, then. What was at stake?"
"I'm the heir to the fortune, the name and the business. The good and the bad. But that would've been taken from me if I didn't agree to marry you." He confessed.
"It would've gone to someone else?" She asked.
"Yes, it would've."
"And you didn't want to give up the power?"
"Maybe. Ever since I was born, I knew I had duties and responsibilities to fulfil. I wouldn't call my distant relatives entirely ethical, and I knew I held a responsibility to the people working for our family to protect them. Let's say, I have given up the power. What would've become of them? I think of myself as the lesser of both evils, but what If I'm deluding myself because I can't give up the power?" He asked.
"Do you think someone power–hungry would doubt himself as much? Would someone greedy for control treat someone so far beneath with so much benevolence? You care about protecting everyone, so you chose to marry me. Your grandfather was dead set on me. I would've married whoever replaced you or anyone else in the family. And if I had to choose someone, it'd be you , Woo Bin. I don't feel any resentment or look at you like the perpetrator. You can either choose to believe me or not. I can't save you from yourself."
He looked at her, waiting for the catch. Why did she have so much belief in him? He didn't deserve any of it. But, she wasn't lying and she didn't have reason to. Surely, he'd given her more than enough reassurance that he wouldn't harm her if she disagreed with him or treated him with contempt.
He weighed the words carefully in his mind. She told him it was his choice to believe her and he desperately wanted to. Just like she promised to trust him, he'd be a hypocrite if he didn't believe her words and returned the same trust.
"I choose to believe you." He finally said.
"Good."
"What made you change your mind so drastically? Is it only because of the past month?" He asked.
"Your friends as well. I spoke to Jan Di about you." She confessed, biting her lip.
"And?"
"She put a lot of things into perspective. I can't lie and say that I completely trust you now, but her words made me realise that I keep blaming you because of things that happened to me by other people. It's unfair. This situation isn't ideal, but it wasn't you who put me in it. It was also hypocritical of me to look down on someone trying to survive when I'm not entirely innocent myself."
"I doubt what you did deserves all the guilt you feel."
"The same could be said for yourself." She smiled.
"Now, eat the cake." She urged him.
"It grows on you." He said, helping himself to a bite.
"It's got great texture. And with the tea, it's not so bad." She shrugged.
"We might have to reconsider cooking as a career for you again."
Hee Jin laughed and the sound made his heart skip a beat.