Chapter 2. You Said You Wanted a Divorce
“…Wife?”
Kang Taejun’s voice fell low inside the hospital room.
Seoyoon couldn’t answer.
More precisely, she had no idea what she was supposed to say.
Just moments ago, she had been signing the divorce papers.
She had thought the only feeling left between them was sheer exhaustion with each other.
And yet the man in front of her was looking at her as if he were seeing her for the first time.
“Yes.”
The doctor answered first.
“Han Seoyoon is Kang Taejun’s spouse.”
Taejun’s brow slowly furrowed.
He looked like he couldn’t believe it.
Then he looked at Seoyoon again.
As his gaze slowly swept over her from head to toe, Seoyoon crossed her arms without realizing it.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m checking.”
“Checking what?”
“Whether I’m the kind of person someone would marry.”
Seoyoon’s eyebrow twitched.
Even after losing his memory, he still had a talent for getting under her skin.
“And?”
“…I suppose I was.”
“What?”
“Because you’re pretty.”
Silence filled the hospital room.
Seoyoon’s lips parted soundlessly.
The doctor cleared his throat awkwardly.
Taejun looked completely unbothered.
As if he had simply answered because he genuinely wanted to know.
Seoyoon let out a disbelieving laugh.
Three years of marriage.
Had she ever heard anything like that from Kang Taejun’s mouth?
No.
To be exact, she had barely heard it even during the first days of their marriage.
He had always been busy, brusque, and unwilling to say anything beyond what was necessary.
Even when Seoyoon wore a new outfit.
Even when she got a haircut.
Even when she spent hours getting ready just to stand beside him.
The words she got in return were always similar.
“Let’s go.”
Or.
“We’re going to be late.”
And now that man was staring intently at her face and calling her pretty.
It wasn’t even funny.
“Are you sure it’s amnesia? Maybe his personality changed instead?”
Seoyoon asked the doctor.
“He may temporarily behave differently from usual.”
“He may?”
“The shock of the accident could also be a factor.”
Taejun, who had been listening, suddenly cut in.
“What was I like normally?”
This time, he was asking Seoyoon, not the doctor.
Seoyoon didn’t hesitate.
“You were an asshole.”
“And you had no manners.”
“Was I that bad?”
“You barely answered when I talked to you, you only came home to sleep, and you forgot our wedding anniversary twice.”
Taejun’s expression gradually hardened.
Since she had started, Seoyoon folded down her fingers one by one.
“You went on a business trip on my birthday, too. Oh, and last year, you told your secretary to send my gift for you.”
“Wait.”
Taejun cut her off.
“I did that?”
“Yes.”
“To you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Seoyoon gave a baffled laugh.
“How would I know?”
“But you’re my wife.”
“That’s probably why you did it.”
Taejun’s expression turned strange.
He looked utterly unable to understand.
Seoyoon snorted softly.
It was ridiculous enough that she was tattling to a man with amnesia about all the terrible things he had done during their married life.
Just then, the doctor closed the chart.
“For now, the most important thing is for him to rest. His memory may return suddenly, or it may gradually come back in pieces.”
“And it might not come back at all?”
Seoyoon asked.
The doctor was silent for a moment.
“We can’t completely rule out that possibility.”
The smile disappeared from Seoyoon’s lips.
Taejun was silent, too.
“In his current state, familiar people or places may help with memory recovery. However, it wouldn’t be good to pressure him into trying to remember.”
After finishing his explanation, the doctor left the hospital room.
The door closed.
They were alone.
Seoyoon adjusted her grip on her bag strap for no reason.
Taejun was still looking at her.
“Why?”
“Were things bad between us?”
He had hit the nail on the head.
Seoyoon couldn’t bring herself to answer right away.
Her eyes naturally turned toward the inside of her bag.
The divorce papers were still in there.
Until she came to the hospital, she had planned to end everything today.
All Taejun had to do was stamp the last page.
But then the accident happened.
Of all days, today.
On the very day they were getting divorced.
“More or less.”
Seoyoon mumbled.
“Do couples who are ‘more or less’ okay curse each other like that?”
“I wasn’t cursing you. I was stating facts.”
“How long have we been married?”
“Three years.”
“And how long were we dating?”
“One year.”
“Did I like you first?”
Seoyoon hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because it sounds like I did.”
“What makes you so confident?”
“It doesn’t seem like you would’ve liked me first.”
She let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
This time, he was wrong.
“You liked me first.”
Taejun’s eyes widened slightly.
For the first time, he looked genuinely surprised.
For some reason, Seoyoon found it satisfying.
“A lot.”
“A lot?”
“You followed me around like you’d die if you couldn’t have me.”
Of course, she was exaggerating a little.
Very little.
But the Kang Taejun at the beginning had definitely been different from the man he was now.
He came to see Seoyoon after work, remembered which bakery she liked, and drove through the freezing predawn hours whenever she said she missed him.
That was why she married him.
Because she thought she would be loved that way for the rest of her life.
Taejun fell silent, lost in thought.
“Then what about now?”
Seoyoon’s fingertips stiffened.
“What about now?”
“Do you still like me?”
This time, she couldn’t answer.
“What about you?”
He asked again.
Seoyoon looked away.
Taejun tried to sit up.
“What are you doing?”
Startled, Seoyoon stepped toward him.
“Lie down. You hit your head.”
“Just a moment.”
“The doctor said you need to rest.”
The moment she pressed down on Taejun’s shoulder, his hand closed around her wrist.
Seoyoon’s body went rigid.
“…Let go.”
“Because you didn’t answer.”
“What?”
“Do you like me?”
He was close.
Taejun was sitting half-reclined on the bed, and Seoyoon was standing directly in front of him.
They were a married couple.
There had been countless times when they’d been even closer than this.
And yet, strangely, this felt more uncomfortable.
No.
Was uncomfortable really the right word?
Seoyoon looked down at Taejun’s hand.
It was a hand that had hardly ever reached for her first, even before.
“I don’t like you.”
Taejun’s brow moved just slightly.
“Why?”
“Just because.”
“Because of the things you mentioned?”
“That’s part of it.”
“There are other reasons?”
Seoyoon pressed her lips together.
Only then did Taejun let go of her hand.
“Understood.”
He accepted it far too easily.
Seoyoon quickly took a step back.
And yet, a strange unease lingered in one corner of her heart.
Why was he giving up so easily?
It wasn’t as if she had expected anything.
“Then…”
Taejun leaned back against his pillow again.
“We can get divorced.”
Seoyoon’s heart dropped.
“…What?”
“If we don’t like each other, there’s no reason to continue our marriage.”
“That’s…”
He was right.
Painfully right.
It was what she had intended to do today in the first place.
Seoyoon gripped the divorce papers inside her bag.
All she had to do was take them out.
Whether he had his memory or not, if Taejun agreed, it would actually make things easier.
Seoyoon slowly pulled out the envelope.
“The truth is…”
Taejun’s gaze dropped to the white envelope.
“Today, we were going to…”
Get divorced.
That was all she had to say.
But the words wouldn’t come out.
It was strange.
She had agonized over this for months.
Every night, she had repeated it to herself dozens of times.
That things were over with Kang Taejun.
That she didn’t expect anything from him anymore.
But when she actually faced the look of a man who couldn’t remember her, saying those words proved harder than she had expected.
“What were we going to do today?”
In the end, Seoyoon put the envelope back in her bag.
“Nothing.”
Taejun’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re hiding something.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“You may not remember anything, but you’re awfully perceptive.”
Seoyoon turned away.
“I’m going home, so get some rest.”
“You’re not coming with me?”
Seoyoon stopped and turned back.
“Where?”
“Home.”
“You need to stay in the hospital for at least a few days.”
“When I’m discharged…”
Taejun said it as if it were obvious.
“Wouldn’t we go to our house?”
Seoyoon’s lips parted.
That house.
The house where she had lived with Kang Taejun.
More precisely, the house she had moved out of and been living away from for the past two months.
“We…don’t live together right now.”
Taejun’s expression hardened.
“Why?”
“It’s…”
“We’re married.”
“Married couples can live separately.”
“Did I kick you out?”
“No.”
“Did you leave?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
There it was again.
Why.
Why.
Why.
Kang Taejun with amnesia asked far too many questions.
He was the same man who used to refuse to answer no matter how many questions Seoyoon asked him.
Seoyoon finally sighed.
“Kang Taejun.”
“Yes.”
“I told you things weren’t great between us.”
“So we’re separated?”
“Yes.”
Taejun was silent for a while.
Then he asked very slowly,
“Then come back.”
“What?”
“Come home.”
Seoyoon wondered if she had heard him wrong.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Why would I go back?”
“You said I’m your husband.”
“That’s why…”
“I don’t remember anything right now.”
His low voice faltered.
For the first time, Taejun’s composure disappeared.
“My parents’ faces, my company, even where I live.”
Seoyoon’s lips stiffened.
“You’re the only person I know.”
That one sentence tightened something strangely inside her chest.
Taejun looked straight at Seoyoon.
“So…”
After a brief pause, he said,
“Please stay by my side, at least until my memory comes back.”
Seoyoon couldn’t answer.
The divorce papers, with the ink on the stamps not yet dry, were still inside her bag.
This was the marriage she had planned to end today.
And yet her husband, who had lost his memory…
was asking her to stay for the first time.