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MC had always known that being in a relationship with Jumin Han would be difficult. If the days she spent at the penthouse while Elizabeth the 3rd had been missing were not pedagogical enough, his experience as a billionaire with parental issues should have been a clue. He is anxious, demanding, controlling and possessive, but she had been aware of all of those things when she agreed to start dating him.
This, however, was not something she had expected. It had been four days since she had last seen her husband, despite living in the same home and sleeping in the same bed. He has been pursuing a negotiation doggedly, of an acquisition of another holding, and has putting in hundred-hour weeks to get it through. While she understands somewhat the demands of his job, it feels like a slap on the face having the same controls placed upon herself, but instead of a loving hand yanking the chain, is a cold and bureaucratic system purposefully he set up to be vexing.
For four nights, she slept alone in that unreasonably large bed, feeling lonelier than she ever had when she lived alone. Over that time, her original disappointment at being thrown aside by that man had grown into frustrated annoyance, and then into anger. Why does she have to sit quiet and pretty at home, doing jack shit, waiting for him all day? Who does he think he is?!
According to the digital planner she had access to through sinister means, Jumin wakes up at four in the morning and leaves for the office by five, to catch up on with the closing of the markets in the US, then he turns to the documents that were backlogged from the day before, then it was time for a business breakfast at a nearby hotel. After that, his day is packed with frivolous meetings back-to-back until dinnertime, which then proceeds to the final orders to the Western markets, which then follows to him getting home by around eleven, at which time he goes straight to bed without so much as a word edgewise.
Tonight, however, she is determined to drag this man out of his insane routine.
She had managed to evade the bodyguards her husband put after her as surveillance and went to a mall not owned by his company to buy some clothes and cut her hair. She made sure to pay for it all on cash, so he would not know what she was up to, as she is certain that he controls the cards he has given her.
MC is planning on waiting in the bedroom until he got back from his third shift and demand that he talks to her. She felt a little guilty for ambushing him like this, but she knew it was the only way to force him into a proper conversation, hearing her feelings about his disappearance. It would be too convenient to find a meeting to go to early in the morning or a business lunch to attend.
When the large front door finally swung open at around 11:30, she was sitting upright against the headboard of the bed reading a book, a steaming cup of coffee on the bedside table. Her heart leapt when her husband emerged through the door.
Jumin looked terrible. Dark bags had developed under his eyes, heavy with remnants of dried-up drops to help with the burning brought by exhaustion. His skin was pale, or paler than usual at least, and sallow, and she suddenly realised how little he had taken care of himself over the last few days. The anger that had built in her chest quickly dissipated into concern as he noticed her sitting there and froze in the doorway like a deer in headlights.
“Hi…” She whispered, feeling a little breathless at his presence after longing for him for so long.
“What are you doing still awake?” He asked in his signature murmur that she had so missed.
“I wanted to see you, Jumin. It’s been four days since I last saw you.” She explained, her voice slipping into a whine at the end despite her best efforts to keep it steady.
The black-haired man averted his gaze from she immediately, crossing the room towards a large dresser and rifling through one of the drawers for clean clothes.
“I’ve been busy.” He said, suddenly stoic.
MC always hated when he got like this. It was as though he would slip into being the Corporate CEO whenever he did not want to talk about something. He would shut down and refuse to engage with she beyond a few blunt words. She understood that this is his default mode, that this word of jargon and numbers and normalised relations is where he felt most comfortable, but it is hard to get to the crux of their issues in these conditions.
“I gathered that much.” She replied, tersely.
When Jumin does not acknowledge his wife any further, she rose from the bed and padded barefoot to stand beside him, placing a gentle hand on his arm. He tensed when her skin met his, and she suddenly felt like crying.
“I missed you, and I’m tired of sleeping alone. Why did I move in here if I never get to see you? Why did you propose if you don’t care to spend time with me? At least before, you made more of an effort.” The woman confesses, her voice becoming lower and lower with each word.
Though the man did not meet her eyes, she saw his brows furrow a little. She let out a heavy breath, as she knew that look meant he was thinking over her words carefully.
“You’re right, my love.” He admitted, pulling a balled-up pyjama shirt from the back of the drawer. “But I’m working on a project. Once I’ve finalised this deal, then I’ll…”
“Then you’ll start working on the next big project for that company.” She cut him off, and he glanced up in surprise. “You do so much for C&R when they don’t appreciate you, but I do. Your father doesn’t care, the shareholders don’t care, the press don’t care. I appreciate you, but you don’t seem to appreciate me anymore.”
The words were pouring out of MC uncontrollably, and tears were beginning to spill from her eyes. Embarrassed, she brushed them away with an impatient hand.
“I do appreciate you…” He began gently, but she waved his words off.
“It isn’t even about that, really. I just… I worry about you, Jumin. I feel like you’ll never be satisfied, and that can’t be healthy. There is not enough money, there are not enough companies, there are not enough markets to fill whatever hole you have inside.” She confessed, and his hand twitched as though he thought about touching her but decided against it. “And I’m the one that suffers from you never being happy with what you’ve already accomplished in your life for that company.”
Her words hung in the air for a long beat, before Jumin took a step towards her, placing the pyjama he had picked out back on the top of the dresser. He tries to hold her gaze, but soon feels despondent and lets it fall to the side.
“I don’t do this for the company anymore, much less for myself…” He murmured.
Her eyebrows arched in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“The only reason anyone dares to speak ill of you is because I’m not powerful enough, that I’m not rich enough. The only thing I can do to make you happy and safe is to make money, and if… If anything ever happened to you…” He trailed off.
Her heart ached at his unspoken thoughts. The realisation that her husband was overworking himself in an attempt to protect she from the dangers inherent to their life together made she feel naïve, and ashamed for confronting him so bluntly.
“Jumin, I…I’m sorry. I didn’t think…” She whispered, slipping her hand into his and squeezing lightly.
“No, I’m sorry. I’ve missed you too.” He mumbled, his grey eyes meeting hers with that hint of warmth that he seemed to reserve just for her.
“I know.” She said, kindly. “I hope you someday understand that I don’t need any of it to be happy, that all I want is you.”
MC wraps her arms around his waist and pressing her body against his, relishing in the way his skin feels against hers for the first time in days. He nods against her shoulder and allows her to hold him, even going so far as to rest a hand against the small of her back, as if to pin her against him.
Pulling away slightly, she offered him her best doe eyes.
“Come to bed with me?” She asked softly, and a hint of a smile appeared on his lips.
Jumin beamed as if offered everything he could ever want. “Anything for you, my love.”