Meical hesitated.
Just a moment.
But even a single heartbeat can betray the truth of a man.
"I did not say that.." he answered.
"You didn't need to." Min-jae's tone remained even, controlled in the way of someone who had learned long ago how to bleed without making a sound. "You think I stayed with him willingly? That I allowed this? That I wanted it? They called me names, threw fruits at me when I did nothing wrong.."
Meical reached for him, perhaps to apologize, perhaps to take back the words he had never fully spoken aloud.
Min-jae stepped back, not sharply, but with finality.
"I know our marriage was not born of affection.." Min-jae continued. "I know it was made of necessity and pressure. Even so, I believed that we could move forward with dignity. Respect, if nothing else."
His voice did not waver, but the quiet in it carried deeper wounds than shouting ever could.
"But the moment the world said something vile of me, you accepted it as truth."
