My Husband Asked His Affair Partner to Pick Him Up

―……I told you to watch your language.

“Do you think this is a situation where I can watch my language, you f*cking asshole?”

―Lee Seyeon.

“Didn’t you send that message to the wrong person again? You sent me a message meant for Weitu, didn’t you? Or shit, if you were in your right mind, you couldn’t possibly send a message like that!”

―It’s Weilin.

“Hey! I know!”

Did he think I couldn’t remember the two Chinese characters for Weilin, so I called him something different every time?
Jeon Seongwon sighed on the other end of the line.
Ha. A sigh?!
What did he do right to be sighing?!

“Fine, let’s hear it. That bastard was in China, so sending me a message asking me to come to the airport was correct. So then, what kind of nerve do you have to say something like that to me?”

―Can’t a husband ask his wife to come pick him up?

“I told you clearly to stop with that ‘wife’ crap. Do you want to become an ex-husband, just like a typical Jeon?”

―Lee Seyeon! Watch your mouth!

“You watch yours, you old-fashioned bastard!”

―Haa……. Seyeon……

Jeon Seongwon was probably pinching the bridge of his nose right now.
I was the one who wanted to pinch mine.
I had no idea how to rehabilitate this outdated Confucian man.
Should I give up?
Would divorce be easier?
Should I really make him my ex-husband?

And what was the reason for suddenly asking me to come to the airport in the first place?
It wasn’t like he needed a helping hand.
Unless all his many attendants suddenly collapsed from collective food poisoning.

―The meal I had before the flight didn’t agree with me. Everyone except the pilot stayed behind in China. They’ll come back on tomorrow’s flight.

…….
I was speechless.
What kind of situation was this?

“……So, no other attendants came to the airport?”

―They came. But…… I wanted you to come.

I stared blankly at the ceiling.
What was this…… Some kind of sudden desire to see his wife after cheating?

It was so absurd I couldn’t even speak.
I hung up right then.
He called a few more times, but I ignored them.

With my emotions boiling, I got ready and headed home as slowly as possible.
The house was quiet, but Jeon Seongwon’s suitcase was in front of the entrance.
I moved silently, but I wasn’t tiptoeing.
Half of me didn’t want to run into him, half of me wondered why I should avoid him.

It was quiet, so he was probably asleep.
He had a sensitive personality and could hardly sleep on planes, and he must have been busy during the trip, so he might be sleeping.

The fact that he alone had avoided the food poisoning while all the attendants got sick was surely because he had found something wrong with the restaurant and made a fuss, refusing to eat.
His attendants were so used to his pickiness that they were skilled at handling such situations.

I cautiously opened the door to Jeon Seongwon’s bedroom, but the bed was perfectly smooth, without a single wrinkle.
Then was he in the study?
The moment I closed the door and turned around, I nearly fainted and screamed.

“Ahhh f*ck! Aaaah!”

“…….”

Jeon Seongwon was standing right in front of me.
He looked incredulous, as if he’d suddenly become a burglar.

“Why did you open my room?”

“Oh, I wondered if you’d died in there or something.”

“Watch your mouth.”

“You watch your era.”

“Was I speaking in a historical drama dialect?”

“Your mindset is historical drama.”

Jeon Seongwon looked slightly shocked.
As if to say, ‘What did I do wrong?’
This was exactly it.
No matter how much I told him, he didn’t recognize his own faults and wouldn’t change.

His old-fashioned tendencies, his timidness, his subtle violence and coldness, his persistence, and the infuriating jokes he occasionally tossed out as if he’d thoroughly studied a joke book—and he was exactly the type to thoroughly study such a book—all of it.

“Where have you been?”

“…….”

I was speechless.
I hadn’t expected him to come at me so suddenly.
I had nothing to say.
I couldn’t exactly tell him I’d gone to meet my sponsored boy, made him study scripts, and slept like a log.

I tried to act as nonchalant as possible.

“I just went to a hotel to sleep, to change my mood.”

“On the very day I come back?”

Jeon Seongwon’s eyes narrowed.
I flinched for a moment but quickly regained my composure.
Did I have any reason to sit around guarding the house on the countless days he returned from business trips?

“Yeah. So what? Is the day you come back from a trip once or twice a year? Is it some kind of anniversary? Looks like you had a great time with that guy again this time.”

“All I did was contact Weilin about a modeling issue. What’s your reason for suddenly going to a hotel?”

Jeon Seongwon was persistent.
I’d thought he wouldn’t care whether I was there when he returned home or not.
I’d often been away for meetings or parties, and even when I was home, I’d often stay in my room until Jeon Seongwon went to his room and fell asleep.

So why was he being like this all of a sudden?
This annoying, irritating bastard……

The annoying, irritating bastard stared at me.
Fortunately, he didn’t seem suspicious of me, but he was clearly showing that he felt hurt.

At the same time, frustration bubbled up.
His explanation about Weilin was just that, and I had to give a detailed account of why I’d slept out?
I crossed my arms and glared at him.
Jeon Seongwon’s hardened face showed a faint trace of bewilderment.

“Before you ask me that, don’t you have something to say first?”

“……About what?”

“‘Wei, this is the Chinese factory. Isn’t it charming?'”

I didn’t know if those were the exact words or how my Chinese pronunciation was, but he probably understood well enough.
Jeon Seongwon sighed again with a cold face.

“Seyeon. This is a massive project launching three models simultaneously. Among them, the sports car model absolutely has to be Weilin.”

“What, is he your muse or something? Since when did you become a designer who needs inspiration?”

Jeon Seongwon was the technical director, not a designer.
I sneered to the fullest, but he answered seriously.

“No. He’s China’s muse. Do you know how much the Chinese people love Weilin? This sports car was developed with the Chinese market in mind, so I absolutely need Weilin—symbolic and beautiful. That’s why I’ve been in contact with him. There’s no other meaning.”

For once, Jeon Seongwon’s words stretched on.
While listening, I felt deflated.
It would be more accurate to say I’d lost the energy to deal with him.

Just listening to the explanation, Weilin was a very valuable model.
Valuable enough for Jeon Seongwon to take the risk of a near-scandal to keep using him.
Plus, it seemed like Weilin was playing hard to get.

“Fine, I understand. Then I have nothing more to say. I don’t want to hear any more from you anyway. Why would I listen when you’ll just repeat the same thing like a parrot?”

“Then tell me why you went to the hotel.”

“Ah! I just went! Just because! Because I felt like shit! Because of you!”

Unable to hold back, I slapped Jeon Seongwon’s chest with my palm.
His solid body swayed slightly.

“……I’ll go change.”

It was a perfect excuse to escape.
Just as I was about to move past him, Jeon Seongwon grabbed my arm.

“Now what?”

“I heard there was a party yesterday. Yet you’re in casual clothes.”

“Are you crazy? Would I come back wearing the same clothes? Of course I changed at the hotel!”

Then Jeon Seongwon’s grip loosened.
I spun around and headed to my room.
As I entered the dressing room, smoothing my racing heart, my expression suddenly crumpled.

‘Wasn’t this whole thing meant to get back at Jeon Seongwon? To make that bastard feel like shit…… So why do I keep getting nervous?’

The human heart was truly hard to understand.
Anyway, I changed into comfortable clothes and lay down on the bed.
It was still broad daylight, but I didn’t care.
Maybe I’d take a nap.

Just then, I heard a knock.
Was it the chef?
When I answered shortly, the door opened halfway and Jeon Seongwon leaned in.
He avoided my gaze and mumbled.

“……Seyeon.”

Whether he’d finally realized he was wrong, or not quite that but wanted to have some kind of conversation with me.
We weren’t a couple who never spoke a word to each other.
When both were in a good mood, we sometimes talked like a normal couple.

Jeon Seongwon seemed to be in that mood now.
No, maybe he’d felt that way from the moment he asked me to come to the airport.
Maybe even from the moment he realized he’d sent the wrong message to Weilin.
Honestly……

“So? Either come in or leave.”

“Do you always have to talk like that?”

“Then how much more warmly should I speak in this situation?”

“You’re always like that……”

Jeon Seongwon’s voice trailed off as he became dejected.
I let out a frustrated sigh.
This was the moment Jeon Seongwon’s timid nature surfaced.

“So? Are you coming in or not? Either come in and talk, or don’t stand at the doorway.”

“……Never mind. You must be tired. Rest.”

In disbelief, I jumped up and approached him.
He hurriedly hid something behind his back.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing.”

“I said what is it.”

We tussled for a moment to figure out what was in his hand hidden behind his back.
Jeon Seongwon’s movements were careful, which made it easy to find out what he was hiding.
Chinese baijiu.
He’d apparently bought it on purpose.
Baijiu was my favorite alcohol.

“What. Just come in.”

It wasn’t necessarily because of the baijiu.
I’d called him in because his passive attitude bothered me.
But we tussled again at the doorway—come in, don’t come in.

“Come in. Just come in. If you leave like this, you’ll just stop talking to me again.”

“…….”

As if he had no choice, Jeon Seongwon came into the room.
Whether she’d been waiting and watching outside, the chef quickly brought some snacks and glasses and set them on the table.

Day drinking—that was quite a decision for Jeon Seongwon.
He was so rigid that even though he drank often, he had a principle of only drinking in the evening, before bed, every three days.

In the end, with glasses and a bottle before us, we sat face to face.