"There's no one." Joon said with gritted teeth and stared down at her, not backing down or confessing to anything.
The air in the bedroom was thick with the smell of Ha-eun's sweet perfume and the bitter residue of Joon-Won's cold coffee. Every time she breathed, it was a jagged, audible hitch, her chest heaving beneath the black silk of her suit jacket. She looked at the bed, the ruffled sheets he had meticulously faked and then her eyes snapped to the nightstand.
There it was. Joon-Won's phone, sitting innocently next to a lamp.
"You're lying.." she whispered, her voice trembling before it escalated into a shriek. "You're lying through your teeth! If there's no one else, then let me see it!"
She lunged for the nightstand, her fingers clawing at the air. Joon-Won, his reflexes sharpened by years of being on the defensive, moved like a blur. He intercepted her mid dive, his hand slamming down on the device just as her nails scraped the screen. He yanked it back, tucking it firmly into the waistband of his lounge pants behind his back.
"Give it to me!" she roared, throwing her entire weight against him. She was hitting his chest with her fists, her ring catching the skin of his collarbone. "If you're so innocent, if you're just finding yourself, then why are you hiding it? Who's the last person you called? Who's sending you messages at four in the morning?"
"It's my private property, Ha-eun! This is exactly why I'm leaving!" Joon-Won shouted back, his voice booming in the confined space of the bedroom. He grabbed her wrists, trying to pin them, but she was a whirlwind of frantic, desperate energy. "You don't own my thoughts, you don't own my conversations, and you sure as hell don't own me anymore!"
"I own your name!" she screamed, her face inches from his, her eyes wide and bloodshot. "I own the last ten years of your life! I gave up my life, my youth, my body to give you a son, and you're protecting some slut on a screen? Let me see the messages, Joon-Won! Show me the pictures she sends you! Does she make you feel like a man? Is that it? Is she cheap enough to make you feel powerful?"
"Fuck!! There is no 'she' in this phone that you need to worry about!" Joon-Won roared, his voice booming as he shoved her back, his patience incinerated. He was a towering, shirtless wall of frustration, the muscles in his chest heaving. "The only person I've been talking to is my lawyer, and God, I don't know… Tae-Hyun from time to time! We're going through the same thing, Ha-eun! We're both just trying to survive our lives!"
Ha-eun froze. The name hit her like a bucket of ice water, but the chill quickly fermented into a dark, toxic heat. She blinked, her mind racing back through months of subtle, overlooked anomalies. She remembered the muffled whispers on the balcony at 2:00 AM, the way Joon-Won't face would soften when a notification chimed, and how he'd always dismiss her by saying Tae-Hyun was stressed about work or that they were just two husbands commiserating.
She knew Tae-Hyun was bisexual, it was an open secret in their circle that Seo-yeon handled with a shrug. But Joon-Won? Her masculine, rigid, traditionally straight husband?
"Tae-Hyun?" she whispered, a hysterical, jagged laugh escaping her. "Don't fucking tell me you're fucking men now, Joon-Won. Is that the secret? You've gone so crazy from this marriage that you're letting that pathetic, touchy feely little brat crawl into your bed? Is that why you were at work until dawn after our last fight? Asked for a break?! While I was crying, you were with him?"
"Don't you dare talk about him like that," Joon-Won hissed, his voice dropping an octave, becoming dangerously protective. "Tae-Hyun has been a better friend to me in these months than you've been a wife in years. He actually listens. He doesn't treat me like a trophy."
"He's a parasite!" Ha-eun shrieked, her homophobia boiling over into a vitriolic spray. "He's a deviant who's probably been grooming you because he's bored of his own marriage! I saw how he looked at you at dinners! like you were something to eat. And you're defending him? You're choosing him over your family?"
"I'm choosing my sanity!"
"I'm calling him." Ha-eun's eyes went wild. She didn't try for Joon-Won's phone this time, she fumbled for her own in her bag. "I'm going to ask him. I'm going to tell him that if he's the one ruining my son's life, I'll destroy him and Seo-yeon both."
"Ha-eun, put the fucking phone down!" Joon-Won lunged for her, his heart hammering against his ribs. Anxiety spiked through him like a physical blade. If she called Tae-Hyun now, in this state, the whole house of cards would come down.
They scuffled, a messy, undignified tangle of limbs. In the chaos, as they fought over the device, her finger accidentally jammed against the 'Call' button on Tae-Hyun's contact.
Three floors below, Tae-Hyun was staring at his phone as it vibrated on the duvet. Ha-eun calling. His breath hitched. He looked at the door, then back at the phone. He knew Joon-Won would want the suspicion diverted, if he doesn't answer Ha-eun would only get suspicious. He took a shaky breath, smoothed his voice into a mask of weary annoyance, and answered.
"Ha-eun? It's early in the morning, what—"
"You're a disgusting little snake, Tae-Hyun!" Ha-eun's voice screamed through the speaker, so loud he had to pull the phone away. He could hear the heavy thuds and rustling of a struggle in the background. "Are you fucking with him? Are you having my husband in your bed every night?! Did you convince him he's a fag just so you could have a new toy?"
Tae-Hyun's eyes narrowed. The fear in his gut was replaced by a sharp, defensive spike of malice the second he heard the derogatory words. He heard Joon-Won't voice in the background, a low, frantic 'Give me the phone!' Tae-Hyun realized they were fighting, and Ha-eun's voice was dripping with a disgust that made his skin crawl.
"Ha-eun," Tae-Hyun said, his voice suddenly dripping with a slow, provocative honey. "You sound hysterical. And honestly, a little narrow minded."
He paused for a moment, looking down at his hand as he thought for a second before he decided to continue, his tone dripping with venoms innocence.
"And you're asking the wrong questions. You should be asking if I've ever felt the weight of him on top of me, because a man that sexy, that powerful, that dominant shouldn't be wasted on someone who doesn't know how to handle his violence. So no, he's not in my bed. But if he were in my bed? the only sound would be heard is the bedframe hitting the wall. I'd be facedown on the mattress with his hand around my throat, letting him take everything he wants while he buried himself inside of me, reminding him what it feels like to be primal instead of polite and hear that deep, guttural growl he makes when he finally snaps."
"What? You... you little—!"
"But don't flatter yourself," Tae-Hyun cut her off, his tone shifting to a bored, lethal coldness. "I have my own wife and son, and Joon is my friend. Yes I'm bisexual, but don't drag me into your pathetic, toxic divorce just because you can't keep your man satisfied. Maybe if you spent less time being a warden and more time being a woman, he wouldn't be hiding in a hotel just to get away from the sound of your voice. Goodbye, Ha-eun."
He hung up, his hand shaking violently as he threw the phone across the room, he was hurt by her words but he was also scared he had fucked up by being this shady.
Back in the suite, Ha-eun was vibrating. Tae-Hyun's words had been a masterclass in psychological warfare, he hadn't admitted anything, but he'd planted enough seeds of doubt and sexual tension to make her brain melt.
"He... he's in on it, isn't he?" she whispered, her eyes unfocused as she spiraled and stared at Joon with wide eyes and parted lips, her phone falling onto the ground after the call had ended. "He insulted me. He spoke about you like you were... like you were.. a fantasy."
Joon-Won stood there paralyzed, the heat from the phone speaker radiating against his skin after he overheard Tae-Hyun's voice, a voice usually so soft and melodic, turning into a weapon of pure, carnal destruction. Hearing Tae-Hyun describe being facedown on the mattress and the sound of the bedframe hitting the wall sent a jolt of visceral, protective electricity through Joon-Won's spine. He felt his own blood rush, a dark thrill of pride warring with the absolute terror that Tae-Hyun had just signed their death warrant.
The silence in the room was deafening. Ha-eun's hand was shaking, She looked at Joon-Won, her eyes tracing his features, then down to his bare, heaving chest.
"He's... he's insane," Joon-Won rasped, his voice sounding thin and unconvincing even to his own ears as he tried to stabilize his breathing. "Ha-eun, He's just saying that to get under your skin. He's protective of me because we're friends, and he knows how you get. He's just... he's talking shit. You know him."
Ha-eun let out a jagged, hysterical bark of a laugh, stepping closer until she could smell the cold sweat on his skin.
"Talking shit?" she hissed, her eyes narrowing into slits of pure venom. "Joon-Won, your pupils are the size of saucers. You didn't look disgusted when he talked about you putting your hands around his throat. You looked... hungry. You're a terrible liar. You've always been too honest with your body, and right now, it's telling me that everything that little deviant just said is something you've already done to him."
"Already done to him? For fuck sake the man told you himself that we're nothing but friends!" Joon roars out and groans in frustration, genuinely getting more angry. Not only because she's pushing it, but at how scary right she was too.
"Liar! Pathological, disgusting liar!" Ha-eun's voice broke into a sob, but the rage didn't fade. She lunged again, this time trying to reach around his waist to grab the phone again. They stumbled, Joon-Won's back hitting the dresser with a heavy thud, knocking over a tray of crystal glasses that shattered at their feet.
The sound of breaking glass seemed to ignite something even darker in her. She looked at him, after hearing Tae's words… shirtless, powerful, and completely indifferent to her pain and she saw the man who had checked out of their life long before he checked into this hotel.
"You're a monster," she hissed. "You're a hollow, selfish monster."
"And you're worst," he countered, his voice a low, lethal rasp. "You don't love me, Ha-eun. You love the status. You love the attention. You love having a dog on a leash, and you're just pissed off that the collar finally snapped."
The words hit her like a physical blow. The humiliation of being told the truth, Tae-hyun words eating her alive, the exhaustion of her sleepless nights, and the sheer, burning jealousy over a woman who didn't even exist culminated in a single, instinctive moment.
Her hand moved before her brain could stop it.
Crack.
The sound of the slap was deafening, a sharp, wet report that echoed off the high ceilings and the marble floors. Joon-Won's head snapped to the side, his hair falling over his eyes.
Silence followed. It was a thick, suffocating weight that filled the room, swallowing the sound of their ragged breathing.
Ha-eun froze, her palm stinging, her fingers still tingling from the impact. Her eyes grew wide, the frantic rage draining out of her face to be replaced by a terrifying, hollow realization. She had never laid a hand on him in ten years. They had screamed, they had thrown things, they had curdled each other's blood with words, but this was a line she had never crossed.
Joon-Won didn't move. He stayed with his face turned away, the red imprint of her fingers slowly darkening against the pale skin of his cheek. His jaw was clenched so tight the muscle was jumping.
"Joon..." she whispered, her voice trembling as she reached out a hand, as if to take it back. "Joon-Won, I... I didn't mean... you pushed me... you made me so—"
Joon-Won slowly turned his head back to face her. The look in his eyes wasn't anger anymore. It wasn't even the predatory heat from the night before. It was a terrifying, absolute nothingness. It was the look of a man who had just watched the last bridge of his old life collapse into the water.
He looked at her, and for the first time, he didn't see his wife, he saw a stranger he was exhausted by, his shoulders slumped and he let out a shaky sigh as his cheek stung.
"Ha-eun," he said, his voice a quiet plea. "Please. Just stop. Just sign the papers. I'm begging you. We are killing each other. We can co parent Eun-woo. We can be adults so he doesn't grow up in a house where the walls are sweating with hate. I love you, I'll always love you for the ten years we had and the son you gave me but it's not how it used to be. We are over. It's been over for a long time."
Ha-eun froze, her body shook as she hears him pleading for this to be over, not expect that.. she sank to the floor, her suit bunching up around her as she sobbed into her hands. The fight was gone, replaced by a hollow, jagged defeat. She stayed there for a long time, and Joon stayed leaning against that edge of the dresser with his head down staring at her, the silence stretching between them, louder than the sound of their fight earlier.
Finally, she wiped her eyes, looking up at him with a look that was hauntingly empty.
"Fine.. fuck.. fine, okay.." she whispered shakily. "I'll sign them. I'll let you go. I'll take the house, and we'll share custody. I'll stop the investigations too..."
Joon-Won eyes widen as he hear her finally giving up and he let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding for a decade, his heart beat picked up with hope of this finally being over and he placed a hand on the edge of the table to anchor himself up. Just as he opens his mouth to thank her for finally agreeing, she cuts him off.
"But I have a condition," she said, standing up slowly and wiping her face one last time. She walked toward him, her eyes fixed on his bare chest, her hand reaching out to touch the red mark she'd left on his cheek. Her voice was a ghostly, desperate rasp. "One last time, Joon-Won. Before the lawyers take over. Before you go back to whatever freedom you think you've found. Sleep with me. One last time. Make me remember why I fought for you so hard."
Joon-Won stood frozen, his heart dropping into his stomach. He looked at the door, thinking of Tae-Hyun just a few floors away, and then back at the broken, desperate woman who was holding his entire future hostage with a single request.