The Fake Husband (A 2yeon FF)

27. Jaebeom pays a visit

I pass the box of tissue paper to Jihyo. She pulls out one and wipes her tears. I wait for her to get ahold of herself. She struggles to breathe.

"Is it funny?" I ask.

"I have visited him three times with Nayeon and each time he got my name wrong. And the one time he got my name right, he got the wrong person," she says, laughing so hard. I smile. My mood hasn't been good enough to laugh since my visit to the clinic with Nayeon yesterday.

"Koo Yongman-ssi," she rambles the name repeatedly as she laughs. She pulls out another tissue and wipes her face. I chuckle watching her condition. Jihyo can't help but shed tears when she laughs hard. Thank god she doesn't pee herself!

"I'll get back to work," I tell her and leaves her still laughing by herself.

My phone rings as I leave Jihyo's office. I see that it's Umji calling, so instead of heading into the kitchen I go outside to talk.

"Hey, Umji. What's up?"

"I see that you haven't patched things up with Nayeon."

She is right. Yesterday, while driving back home, I wanted to talk to Nayeon but my guilty heart was afraid that if I suddenly started to talk to her, she might catch up that I was eavesdropping. I put some thoughts into the issue and felt that it'll be better to apologize with a gift. Then I started to think about what gift I could give her. At first, I thought I would give her a pet because she's gonna get one, anyway. That's her homework from her therapist; to raise a pet. Then again, I thought just any gift would do. But I didn't know what to get for her. So I'm still in the making-up-my-mind stage.

"I am looking for the right time to fix things up," I reply.

"You live together and you can't even find the right time? Are you a dummy?" she scolds me.

"But why are you concerned to the point that you had to call me and ask that?"

"The girls met up today. They were talking about Nayeon behind her back. They made a wager for fun on who is at fault for the fight between you and Nayeon. They all bet on Nayeon unanimously. They-"

"Who are they to do that!?" I cut her off angrily. "It's a personal matter between a husband and wife. Why are they even talking about it?"

"Good to hear your angry tone. At least it shows you care. You should know this that besides being a capable candidate for the CEO, Jaebeom is an intelligent, handsome and successful bachelor. He has suitors trying to impress him and win his favour. The girls want to marry him. It's not like Nayeon is going to marry a girl and make them rich wives. She even lost some supports from male employees in the company and directors with bachelor sons since she is married now."

It stings me. Somehow, it does. "Why are you telling me all this?" I ask.

"I couldn't keep on ignoring the fact that my friend Nayeon is obviously having a hard time. She knows of people hating her but she had always had a smile on her face with a resilient spirit. That's her way of fighting back. But now she doesn't even fake being unbothered."

"Why doesn't she just leave those fake friends? You, too? Why are you friends with them? Why not just confront them? Won't you be happier without them?"

"They're tied to our corporate life too. If we confront them for personal reasons, it'll be hard to stay professional with them as well. Turning a blind eye to them actually keeps things easy although it's a little frustrating."

"I see."

"I guess how you treat Nayeon affects her. Be nice to her, please."

"Eyy~ how can you say that to me as if I am a stranger to Nayeon?" I say, feeling flustered.