I Slapped My Husband

“That was all work-related.”

“Whether you met because of work or used work as an excuse to meet—how would I know?”

“…….”

Jeon Seongwon quietly raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose.
It was a sign that he had a headache, but I didn’t need to indulge him.
I silently turned to go to my room, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“I’ve told you countless times—it’s not like that.”

His voice dropped even lower, cold and hard.
Enough to make me feel intimidated for a moment.

“Then what is it?”

But I wasn’t the type to cower.

“I really met him for work. Weilin had some interest in me, sure…… but I turned him down.”

“Ha.”

I was speechless.
Was I supposed to believe that?
He could at least show the courtesy of using pronouns like ‘that person’ or ‘him’ instead of the omega’s name.

I tried to pull my wrist free, but Jeon Seongwon didn’t let go.
Rage flared inside me.

“Let go!”

“Listen to what I have to say.”

“Why should I listen to you!”

“Because I’m your husband!”

His voice, shouting with such overbearing authority, left me even more stunned.
Jeon Seongwon’s face was murderous—he looked like he was about to hit me.

It was true that he was my husband.
But the way he spoke wasn’t simply reminding me that we were married.
It meant only one thing: ‘Obey me.’

Jeon Seongwon was a primitive man who clung to the stale patriarchal notions from the era of ‘butterfly lady’ trends.
Whether the person he married was male or female, he probably would have demanded the same attitude.

His hand trembled.
His eyes behind the glasses were fierce, and a faint pheromone emanated from his body, enough to feel threatening.
He looked like he was restraining himself from striking me on the spot.
Ha, why hold back? Just hit me and get it over with.

Of course, I was furious.
Unlike this pathetic, coercive 21st-century Pinkerton, I was civilized.
So I stomped on Jeon Seongwon’s foot.
He yelped in pain and let go, and I stood on my toes and slapped his cheek as hard as I could.

A crisp jjwaak rang out as a stinging pain spread across my right palm and fingers.
It would definitely bruise, but I felt a thrill of exhilaration.
Watching that short-form video on ‘How to Slap Someone Taller Than You’ the other day paid off.

“Seyeon, you, you…….”

Clutching his cheek, Jeon Seongwon stammered like an idiot.
I shoved him aside, went into my room, and locked the door.
He followed and knocked a few times, but when I yelled at him to get lost, he actually did.

Idiot.

* * * *

“Ugh…….”

When I woke up the next day, the house was quiet.
I opened the door and looked around.
Jeon Seongwon seemed to have already left.
Apparently, the bad weather in China had cleared.

I went down to the basement, worked out for about an hour, then came back up and soaked leisurely in a tub full of bath salts for another hour.
Only then did I feel all the stress from yesterday melt away.
As expected, my palm was bruised.
Thinking that it was Jeon Seongwon’s fault made frustration bubble up inside.

‘Maybe I’ll watch a movie.’

Just as I got out of the tub and shook my wet hair—

The doorbell rang.

“…….”

Weekday, 2 PM……
Unannounced visit……
Doorbell……
A wave of ominous feeling crashed over me.
My eyebrows twitched as I pressed the intercom button.

“……Yes, who is it?”

This opening felt like the start of a disaster movie……

―Seyeon, it’s Mom.

A bad feeling never misses!

And next to my mother was his mother as well.
My mother and my mother-in-law, dropping in out of nowhere……
The moment I saw Jeon Seongwon’s mother, I immediately scanned the house with my eyes.
Fortunately, there was no mess.

I quickly opened the gate, and the two women walked up through the garden, laughing out loud enough to be heard inside the house.
As I waited at the front door at the sound of them climbing the stairs, they greeted me with bright smiles.

“We came too suddenly, didn’t we? I hope Seyeon isn’t too surprised.”

My mother-in-law said.
I wanted to retort that one should think about such things before barging in, but I just smiled and held my tongue.
Their hands were full of bundles—clearly food packages.

Sure enough, they went straight to the kitchen and began unloading the items they’d brought.
The table filled up in an instant.

“You have no idea how many phone calls we made to make sure our food didn’t overlap. Isn’t that right, in-laws?”

“Absolutely. We couldn’t very well create a situation that’s inconvenient for them.”

They laughed heartily and started unpacking their respective bundles.
Ribs, bulgogi, japchae, gujeolpan, mung bean pancakes, cod pancakes, seasoned raw crab, palbochae, various types of jelly, namul, kimchi……

“…….”

Plus small containers of assorted fresh juices, sikhye, sujeonggwa, and even desserts.

I wondered just how far their definition of ‘creating an inconvenient situation’ extended.
This food was easily enough for ten people.

“Seyeon, this namul was all seasoned with freshly pressed perilla oil and sesame oil. It’ll be delicious.”

And the vegetables were homegrown, the ribs were specially sourced 2+ grade Korean beef, the pork was from acorn-fed free-range pigs……
Anyway, they were busy emphasizing how high-quality and lovingly prepared the food was.

Of course, all those explanations simply drifted in one ear and out the other like a performance.
I had to constantly express four phrases—”Wow, really?”, “That sounds delicious”, “This is my favorite”, “Mmm, smells so good”—in different tones.

After all, my mother and mother-in-law had only supervised—each dish was surely made by their respective head chefs.
The skill was naturally guaranteed, but I was already worried about how I’d deal with this enormous amount.
Clearly, neither of them had given that a second thought when they packed it all up.

“How about it? Looks delicious, doesn’t it, Seyeon?”

My mother-in-law said with a bright smile.
I managed a smile and scratched my head.

“Yes. But…… Seongwon is on a business trip, so I’m not sure I can eat all this by myself.”

“Oh my, a business trip?”

“Seongwon went on a trip? For how long?”

“A week.”

My mother and mother-in-law spoke in turn.
With faces showing they’d had no idea, they looked at each other, sighed, and started whispering again.

“Imagine going on a business trip without even telling your mother. Honestly, Seongwon is like this. Just who did he inherit that stoic personality from……”

“Hoho, Seongwon is just serious—that’s a good thing. Still, he’s certainly different from the rest of your family’s personalities.”

“He certainly is, isn’t he? Hohoho.”

‘He certainly is.’ ‘Hohoho.’
Just because Jeon Seongwon was like that didn’t mean his family was the same.
Rather, Jeon Seongwon was the mutant of the Jeon clan.

As they chatted, my mother suddenly turned her arrow toward me.

“Oh, right. Seyeon, now that your husband’s away on a trip, don’t cause any trouble, you hear? Behave yourself. Got it?”

“What kind of trouble would I……”

“Oh my, in-laws, really. Where would you find a child as well-behaved as Seyeon?”

They looked at each other and laughed again, hoho.

Well…….
It was true that compared to the rest of his family, Jeon Seongwon was exceptionally stoic, held outdated beliefs, and was timid.
My father-in-law was quiet but laughed easily and was unpretentious, and my mother-in-law was as bright as you could see.
His younger sister was a bit cynical, but as long as you didn’t provoke her needlessly, she was calm, quiet, and had a sense of humor.
His older brother was, needless to say, a gentleman with a serious personality.
Only Jeon Seongwon.
Only Jeon Seongwon was the problem.

Since the chef wasn’t in, I roughly shoved into the fridge only the items they told me needed refrigeration and brewed some coffee.
With three cups of coffee before us, we talked about how we’d been doing lately, shopping, hiking—I don’t hike. If I went to the mountains with them, I’d fall behind in ten minutes—and then, at some point, the atmosphere subtly shifted.
My hair stood on end with tension.
This atmosphere……
That ‘topic’ was definitely coming.
The moment I glanced at them nervously, my mother let out the words she’d been worrying over.

“So…… still no news?”

“Cough, cough.”

I pretended to spray out my coffee, hacking away.
They handed me handkerchiefs and water.
My mother had cautiously brought up ‘no news.’
For a married couple, that kind of news was obvious.
A baby.

I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief, then deliberately sighed heavily and dropped my head.
I must have looked sufficiently depressed, because my mother-in-law quickly nudged my mother in the side, signaling her to stop.
Apparently, my performance looked quite impressive to my mother-in-law.

‘Hoo…….’

The reason a child hadn’t appeared between Jeon Seongwon and me?
Needless to say, it was because we almost never had s*x.