Chapter 36: Chapter 36 – A Love Like War, Part 1

After finishing the meal, Lee JiHan sat me on the bed and instructed me strictly. “We will now start our dating orientation.”

Hugging my teddy bear, I looked up at Lee JiHan expectedly. He lifted his whistle and showed it to me.

“I will now explain the meaning behind this whistle,” he said. “This object represents your past desperation in regards to my brother.”

“What?”

“You have done everything in your power to abide by this whistle to gain my approval for this wedding,” Lee JiHan said. “You woke up in the middle of sleeping. You ran from all the way over there just because of this.”

“I did do that. But, it wasn’t because I was in love with JiKyung…”

“Yes, it was because of my brother’s money,” he said. “Whether the reason was money or love, you wanted to marry my brother. And, you reacted with such urgency to this whistle because of it.”

“That’s…”

“Whenever I blow this whistle, I will be reminded of how desperate you were for the sake of my brother, and you will be reminded of your lie to me,” Lee JiHan said.

“Then, I’ll make sure we never see the whistle,” I said. “I’ll clear it away every time I see it lying around anywhere.”

“Do you really think that’s possible?” he asked. “Don’t you know about Sleeping Beauty?”

“Of course I know that,” I said. “What do you take me for? It’s the story where the princess gets pricked by the spinning wheel and falls asleep.”

“It’s a spindle.” Lee JiHan couldn’t help but correct me. “How exactly do you get pricked by a spinning wheel?”

“Ah, that’s right, it was spindle,” I said.

“Anyway, the girl’s parents burned all the spindles because they thought it would kill their daughter, but she eventually gets pricked by one that was stuffed in a place they hadn’t thought of,” Lee JiHan said shaking his head and clicking his tongue. “There is no way you can get rid of every single one. Even the nobility in fairy tales couldn’t achieve the task. So, in real life, it’s literally impossible. Instead of giving me an unreasonable plan, find me a better solution.”

“Which would be?” I asked.

“Starting from now, you will react to this whistle in desperation on my account for a month,” he seriously stated.

“For a month?!” The color from my face drained.

“What is this reaction? You could do it for my brother but not for me?” he asked.

“No, it’s… It’s not that…”

I only did that because I had no choice! In front of a future in-law, what other option did I have? But, who would stand this while they are dating?!

Thinking that it wasn’t fair, I looked depressingly at Lee JiHan. He responded by blowing the whistle. The sound automatically made me stand straight. I was pouting like a baby who had her lollipop taken away.

No! My dating fantasy is not this! I screamed in my head.

Lee JiHan, in turn, lowered the whistle and asked, “Na AhJung, do you think I will make you do unreasonable things?”

“You did the last time,” I mumbled under my breath as I stared at the ground.

Lee JiHan’s voice sounded again. “It won’t be the same as last time. Before I was testing you on your capabilities as a wife to my brother. Now, we’re dating.”

I raised my eyes up to Lee JiHan, still unsure by the prospect.

Lee JiHan spread open my arms. “First, come hug me.”

I shuffled over nervously and wrapped my arms around his waist.

Lee JiHan wrapped his arms around my shoulders and softly said, “If we don’t go through this, I’m afraid I might get mad from time to time about the fact that you tricked me. I might be okay with it now, but as time passes, the grudge I hold may get bigger. Just think of it as a way to get rid of even the tiniest hint of a grudge and understand me.”

I couldn’t say I disagreed with him. It was a big lie that I had told, and to get that all waived without any retribution… There had to be a way to take responsibility for it, for Lee JiHan and for me.

Understanding where he was coming from, I nodded. I had been so excited about the dream of dating that I had unfair childlike thinking. Thinking back, I was embarrassed to even respond.

“So, the first month of us dating will be with the whistle,” Lee JiHan said. “With that, I end the orientation.”

Lee JiHan patted my back and unwrapped his arms from me. With both hands on my cheeks, he looked me in the eyes and added, “Now that the orientation has ended, it is time for the hearing.”

“What? We’re doing what?” I asked in shock.

“It is time to determine if what you said was the truth or a lie. We will discuss this thoroughly here at this tea table.” Lee JiHan had the whistle in his mouth again and he blew.

***

When we had finished the hearing, which took several hours, the sun was setting from outside the window. I was exhausted from the interrogation, so I staggered to my bed and plopped onto it.

In the middle of the interrogation, Lee JiHan had bought me chicken soup for lunch. I had devoured it just the same as always. However, like a person that had only a bowl of gruel, I had no energy.

“How is this dating…” I said to myself with a huge sigh.

Lee JiHan, sitting next to me with a wide smile, replied, “We are now going on a date, so change your clothes and come out. You will now know how this is dating.”

Wow… He made me into this mess, and he smiles… And, what? Go out now? I even have to change?

“Mister… Can’t we just rest? I’m so tired…” I pleaded, unable to even think about moving.

Lee JiHan was still smiling. “Let’s go out and rest. Out.”

“I don’t want to move a finger…” I said in a dying voice.

Lee JiHan slipped his hands behind my back and lifted my legs up. He was still smiling ear to ear.

“What, what are you doing?” I angrily asked.

“I’ll take you out without you having to move a finger,” he said .”Just stay still.”

“But, my clothes! What about my clothes?”

“You don’t have to change,” Lee JiHan replied. “What you’re wearing is fine.”

I gave in and said, “Ah, it’s alright, OK. Put me down. I’ll go on my own.”

It’s not like it’s our first night of our honeymoon or anything. It’s our first day of dating, and I’m already in this sort of position?!

My face was burning, so I tried to get down as fast as possible. Lee JiHan continued to take long strides toward the door with me still in his arms.

***

Lee JiHan sat in the driver’s seat after carrying me all the way to the car. I almost cried in embarrassment the whole way there, but he just continued smiling. The moment after the hearing, his face seemed to be stuck like that.

So strange… Was the hearing funny? Is it because it was funny?

I thought back to the hearing trying to solve this mystery.

We went through each of the things I had said in the past, and he had asked, “Is that real? Is that the truth?” One by one, he had asked in detail and had remained shrewd and cool headed.

I didn’t remember everything. Certain circumstances put me in a tough spot. I tried to cover those by using those words. Once I did, I got an earful. Thinking about the hearing again is giving me chills.

However much I look back at it, there doesn’t seem to be any funny instances, so I couldn’t understand why Lee JiHan can’t stop smiling like that. Is it something other than the hearing?

Unable to figure it out, my head tilted back and forth in thought.

“Na AhJung, is something wrong?” Lee JiHan asked.

I flinched at the sudden question. How is he so observant? I looked at him surprise and answered, “Uh, it’s just… You keep smiling, and I was wondering why.”

“I’m happy thinking about how the hearing went,” he said.

So, the hearing was the reason. But why?

“Was there something to smile about during the hearing?” I asked.

“Most of the time, a lie is bad, but your lie made me happy,” Lee JiHan replied.

“What?” I was completely confused.

“You can keep going down this path,” he said. “It’s not too late. Everything will work out. All the things I thought my brother said first was a lie, and the love story with my brother was also a lie. You said you couldn’t stop your heart from beating with the love you had, so you wanted me to accept it, but all that was also a lie.”

My face turned red remembering all the toe curling lies I had told, but Lee JiHan continued on.

“Every time one of those lies came to light, my anger subsided. It became a thought that could make me smile. That’s why I’m smiling with a more loving feeling than before.”

Lee JiHan widened his grin even more so that his eyes were practically closed.

Was it crazy for me to think that Lee JiHan’s aura could be seen at that moment? I folded my hands together and looked at his smile, which was brighter than his golden hair.

Oh… Is this what they mean when they say you can find light in confession…

With this revelation, I regained all the energy I had lost. I had to do something. The me who had not wanted to lift a finger had been chased away by a new energy-filled version. I looked at Lee JiHan with sparkling eyes.

“What are we doing today? What should we do?” I energetically asked, wanting to do anything together.

“First, let’s eat,” he said.

“Then? Then what are we going to do?” I asked.

“We’re going to watch a movie,” Lee JiHan replied.

“Which one?” I asked.

His response was strange. “I’m curious about the ending, so we are going to watch that one.”

“Curious about the ending? Which one is that?”

I could have annoyed him with my incessant questions, but Lee JiHan just smiled at me, pleased by my excitement.

“The first movie we saw together,” he said.

“What?” I froze like a robot that had suddenly become unplugged.

Lee JiHan started the car without a change in expression and said, “I didn’t get to see the ending of that movie. I want to know what happens with the sister-in-law and brother-in-law.”

Was it only in my memory that this was an erotic movie?

***

The movie was playing on the screen in the dark theater, but Na AhJung was looking down at the popcorn instead of the screen.

“Why are you like that? Are you not going to watch the movie?” I asked.

I had borrowed the entire theater, so I didn’t lower my voice since the only person that would hear it would be Na AhJung.

“In a few moments, that brother-in-law is going to, like, take off his uniform,” Na AhJung replied into the popcorn bucket.

“He wouldn’t, would he?” I asked pretending that something of the sort would not happen.

I stole the popcorn away from Na AhJung. She looked at me with wide eyes. “Would he? You watched this last time, so what do you mean ‘would he!’ They’re going to be, like, on the table, like, with the sister-in-law, don’t you remember?”

“We’ll see. That won’t happen,” I calmly said as I turned Na AhJung’s head toward the screen.

She jumped in surprise and put her hands in front of her eyes.

“Oh my! Oh my this is insane! How can I see this kind of stuff?” Na AhJung yelled not knowing what to do with herself.

She soon became quiet. Sensing something was strange, she slowly peeked through her fingers. For a long time, Na AhJung stared at the screen. As if she was having a hallucination, she suddenly turned toward me.

“Uh… There was a rated R scene at this point…”

“I erased that part and made it PG 13,” I said.

“What?” Her face was filled with surprise.

“I asked the theatre beforehand to edit out the erotic scenes so you could watch it in peace,” I said.

“What in the world? That’s possible?” Na AhJung asked.

“It’s possible for me,” I replied.

“Wow…” Na AhJung’s mouth dropped open in amazement.

“I’m not stupid enough to show you those kinds of scenes,” I said.

Na AhJung turned back to the screen with a sort of bitter expression on her face. She quietly muttered, “Had to not be stupid enough…”

What kind of reaction is that?

“You’re not offended by me editing it out, are you?” I asked.

Na AhJung flinched at my question. At this, she replied in a disappointed tone, “I’m just saying, as an artist myself, it doesn’t seem right. Personally, it may be offensive to watch, but it is still someone’s vision and work. And, you just chopped it up with your scissors. I just think it’s not right.”

I stared at Na AhJung surprised by this unexpected explanation. Still looking disappointed, she stuffed a handful of popcorn into her mouth. She chomped on it forcefully while shooting lasers at the screen.

***

The ending I had been curious about was as follows:

While the husband was away, his brother and sister-in-law fall madly in love. Suspecting something was amiss, the husband comes back early to the house without calling ahead. With his own two eyes, he finds the two of them doing the unacceptable and so…

Bang!

The sudden gunshot made Na AhJung turn and hug the back of the seat.

I frowned at the ridiculous conclusion. Seeing Na AhJung’s reaction made me frown even more. “Do you really think you should be hugging that now? With me next to you?”

Even at my reproach, she continued holding onto the back of the seat. With a shaking voice she said, “If I was to hug you here, and JiKyung saw, what would happen…”

“My brother is not in Korea right now,” I replied.

She hesitantly said, “He could have come back without us knowing…”

“Then what? Do you think I’d shoot my brother like in the movie?” I asked.

Na AhJung just looked at me.

“Really! There’s no way I would shoot my brother!” I glared at the screen with the ending credits. “If I was to shoot anyone, I would shoot the director of this movie. Why’d he make the movie like this? All of a sudden, the younger brother shoots the older one? It would make more sense if the older brother did the shooting. Plus, guns aren’t even legal in Korea, so why is there one in the first place? Why does that pop out of the drawer?”

I wanted to pull out all the director’s hair, but the only hair I could see was Na AhJung’s. I shot up from my seat unable to contain my anger.

“The ridiculous ending has nothing to do with our ending, so don’t go putting more meaning behind it,” I said. “Our ending will never be like that.”

I grabbed Na AhJung’s arm and lifted her up. “And, when you are scared, you grab this.”

I wrapped Na AhJung’s arms around my waist as if teaching her. Just as I had done with the teddy bear, I placed myself into her embrace.

“If I knew the movie was this junk, I wouldn’t have watched it. You probably won’t get a wink of sleep now,” I muttered as I patted Na AhJung’s back.

She still looked nervous as she glanced around her surroundings. “JiKyung is still on his business trip right? He is, isn’t he?”

My worry was definitely not something to overlook. I sighed deeply and shook my head.