Wife [Harry Choi×Mc] [Eng] [The Ssum]

Chapter one

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. After an average eight-hour fast during which your cells and entire body continue to maintain vital functions to keep you alive, recharging energy with a good breakfast is crucial. That's why, when I go to the supermarket, I take a good amount of time reflecting in front of the cereal aisle, the dairy fridge, and the coffee section. It's not an exaggeration; my great-grandmother taught me this. She lived a vibrant life for ninety-five years, embodying what anyone would call a kamikaze. She was a devoted cyclist until an accident at seventy-nine, which she considered minor. After getting up from the ground and hitting the driver's window with her bike, she cycled to the nearest emergency room to ensure everything was in place. The doctor revealed she had a hip fracture, amazed that she could retaliate against the larger vehicle and then continue her bike journey to the clinic.

When she was discharged, my mother and I stayed at her countryside house to assist with her various tasks, including preparing the best coffee for breakfast. At six years old, I didn't drink coffee, but that summer, I learned the vitality secret lies in having a good breakfast—not necessarily a gastronomic feast, but something friendly to your taste buds, in a place that brings you joy or, alternatively, with company that does.

Frustration overwhelmed me that morning as I couldn't even enjoy my coffee. Two factors interfered with my quest for vitality for my future self; I brushed my teeth before drinking my coffee, completely distorting my sense of taste, and secondly, I was in an unpleasant place, early at the hospital, accumulating hours for enough money to make the tough and vile residency years worthwhile. On this second point, I'd like to add a special mention to my residency chief, Dr. Cheon. She approached my desk where endless medical records awaited organization. While this level of organization and perfection demanded by her wasn't wrong, it's crucial to be organized when the quality of life of multiple patients depends on your vigilant mind. But, I was unaware of what released a rush of adrenaline to my limbs every time she was near, the fact that she was so perfect in every way, her structured and meticulous way of working, the way all my residency colleagues had the freedom to assist her or her colleagues in surgeries to gain experience and skills, but she left me with all the paperwork. I remained expectant, thinking she would assign me a task, but she didn't utter a sound, simply leaning her left arm on my desk exactly at 8:25 am. What felt like a few minutes later, a tall male silhouette slid through the door of the hospital ward's office, his imposing posture crowned by short gray hair took my breath away for a moment, and who would have thought that the aroma of those beautiful dying flowers in pastel pink cellophane would give me a heart-squeezing sensation? Unconsciously smoothing my navy blue scrubs, I observed the scene in silence, wishing to become invisible.

Harry handed a bouquet to his wife. She took it, sniffed it, and planted a kiss on his lips, leaving a slight stain of soft pink lipstick. She murmured something like, "You're late; I have to go to the operating room in two minutes." I arched an eyebrow, somewhat dissatisfied as I expected her to thank him for the gesture, and I'm sure he did too. I saw him fiddling with the ring on his hand, realizing he didn't even look at me, making me feel somewhat small and inferior, and I sought refuge in typing trivialities on the computer, pretending to work.

"It's just a few minutes; even if I arrived exactly at 8:25, we would have only seen each other for 5 minutes, which isn't a big deal. I don't understand what the problem is," he said.

I heard her snort, and although I didn't see them again, I felt her challenging gaze through her glasses.

"We'll see each other tonight. I'll buy whiskey, and we'll spend a night like two people in love," she whispered. Their eyes met, he nodded after a silent moment, and they said their goodbyes, disappearing from the scene.

While she would never let it be seen, I had noticed how insecure she was about us when she invaded our chat, emphasizing that we were just messages, and outside of that, we were nothing. Because of that, and because the flower scene happened right in front of me in this huge hospital, I assumed she had planned to set up a sweet scene to crush any illusions I might have with her husband, but it went wrong, very wrong. I already knew she was controlling in everything that surrounded her, but I didn't know that this control extended to her husband, that they were attending couples therapy, and that today they would have a well-deserved intimate evening fueled by whiskey, phenomenal. I shook my head a bit, trying to get rid of all this information that had come to me against my will. I didn't want to think about all the dilemmas they might have as a couple. I could rejoice and boast that this happened to him for choosing her and now he would suffer karma. But God, no! It just hurt me to know that he was probably not having a good time, that he was not very autonomous in choosing her, knowing that it was a marriage of convenience and that initially this situation made him very unhappy. I was not only hurt and harbored some hatred, but I was also disappointed because when we met through that app, he sold me a person who only did what pleased him, who was firm in his desires, and who also had no plans to get married due to the fear of having a marriage like his parents'. But here we were now.