Azaleas

Azalea - fragility

The smell of steaming just-made coffee floated in the air, the toast has just been made into a perfectly crispy texture, and the sound of orange juice being poured into a crystal glass created a soothing, comfortable sound.
"Good morning, yunbo!" A woman said cheerfully as she took off the pink rabbit apron that she had on. The woman wore a simple dress with her raven hair in a bun. She quickly placed some toast on a white ceramic plate in front of her husband who was busy fixing his red tie.
"This is good." He complimented and smiled at her. She beamed proudly and sat down across the table from him. She ate with him and smiled. These were the moments she married for: enjoying breakfast together and being in each other's company.
"Yunbo, what do you want to do this saturday?" The woman asked.
"I have a party to go to, would you like to attend it with me?" The man asked.
"Yes!" Ga Eul said happily and kissed her husband on the cheek good bye as he grabbed his suitcase and walked out the door.
Ga Eul washed the dishes and cleaned the house happily.

The party was at a fancy hotel decorated with beautiful vases of flowers. She looked around and saw everyone dressed in a fancy dress, she sighed in relief, she didn't overdress. She wore a dark blue full length dress with an off the shoulder design. It had a princess cut and she had an up-do to go along with the fancy outfit. She also wore her best pearls and put on a red lipstick with light blush. She carried with her a small black hand-held purse. She looked at all the other women's husbands and saw that her husband was the most handsome. Her husband was young and his hairline was not receding like many of the others. His physique was perfect and his height was tall. She was the envy of most women there. She laughed and chatted with her husband's coworkers' wives and sipped some champagne.
"Excuse me, I need to go freshen up." Ga Eul said politely and left the women to head to the bathroom. She awed at how amazing this restroom was, but then again, the person who owned this hotel was rich. The marble countertops, the white pillars and the clean mirrors. Was it odd of her to be jealous of how clean this bathroom was? She wished she had marble coutnertops. The scent of poppuri even made this room look less like a bathroom and more like a hotel room. She placed her black purse on the counter and was about to fix her hair when she heard some woman moaning and a few thumps against the bathroom door. She eyed the bathroom stall through the mirror with a confused expression. Finally after a few minutes, a woman stepped out, with her hair disheveled and she fixed her dress. She walked away without making eye contact with Ga Eul. What suprised her even more was the man who had exited the stall. He zipped up his pants and washed his hands at the sink.
"What are you doing in here? Sir, this is the woman's restroom!" Ga Eul said with a fluster. He leaned close to her face and she backed up until she hit a white tiled wall.
He smiled. "It will be our little secret." He pressed his fingers to his lips and walked away.
Ga Eul felt her heart pounding and she sighed in relief when he was gone. She glared at the entrance where he exited from, what kind of jerk would have sex in the bathroom.
She quickly left the restroom and rejoined her husband.
"There you are dear, I wanted you to meet the person who owns this hotel and who I will be doing business with." The man said. "Yi Jung-ssi, this is my wife, Chu Ga Eul."
"Nice to meet you." Chu Ga Eul looked up and said cheerfully. Her smile turned into a frown when she realized who the hotel owner was. It was the person that she met in the bathroom.
"Nice to meet you too, Ga Eul-ssi." Yi Jung kissed her hand and Ga Eul felt a twinge of disgust. "Soo Pyo-ssi, you never told me how beautiful your wife was." Ga Eul could feel eyes staring at her and she started to feel self-concious.
"Excuse me, I think I see Mrs. Lee, who I have wanted to talk to since the last party." Ga Eul walked off and bumped into a woman. She looked at the woman and found herself linking arms with her husband. Ga Eul looked away as to not shame the woman. She wondered if her husband knew what she was doing behind his back.

"What do you think of So Yi Jung?" Soo Pyo asked his wife when the party was over and they were in their black Mercedes.
"He's a...giving person." Ga Eul said after much effort.
"That's good, he says he wants to have dinner at our house tomorrow."
"What?!" Ga Eul shouted ad closed her mouth.
"You seem surprised." Soo Pyo commented.
"It's just so sudden." Ga Eul said to hide her surprise.

The doorbell rang and Ga Eul opened it to find a huge bouquet of flowers. "Thank you, yu-" She was about to say until she saw the face of the person holding the flowers was none other than the playboy. "Thank you, Yi Jung-ssi." She said in a less excited tone.
"I loved your cheery voice more." He whispered in her ear. She ignored him and welcomed him in.
"Please have a seat, dinner will be served soon." Ga Eul said and gestured to the white couches which were in her living room. She suddenly heard the phone ring and she went to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Ga Eul, it's Soo Pyo."
"Oh, yunbo, when will you be home?"
"I can't make it home today."
"Oh, I see." Ga Eul said. "Then what about our guest?"
"Just serve him dinner and talk to him. I'm sorry I couldn't be home."
"It's okay, you're working so hard." Ga Eul said. "Bye, I love you." She hung up and turned to her guest who was busy looking at the living room.
"Was that Soo Pyo?"
"Yes, he said he will not be home in time. Please come in to the dining room, food will be served soon." She said.
The woman set up a table and it was filled with many Korean dishes. Yi Jung sampled a few and smiled. It tasted like his mother's cooking. It had the perfect blend of sweet, spicy and salty.
"Do you like it?"
"It's delicious." Yi Jung replied with a smile and the woman was slightly flustered. It was the first time he had said something so genuine.
"Thank you." Ga Eul blushed.

"Is there something wrong today, Ga Eul-ssi?" Yi Jung asked.
"Huh?"
"Based on my first impression of you, I thought you would be telling me to leave by now." He sipped his coffee which she had poured for him after the dinner was over.
"Was I really that mean?" Ga Eul said quietly.
"Tell me, what's wrong?"
She sat down and drank some of her coffee. "Actually, today is our anniversary."
"Really? Happy anniversary." He said.
"You're not who I really want to hear it from, but thank you." Ga Eul said quietly.
"If you ever need someone to talk to, just let me know." Yi Jung handed her a business card. "Then I will take my leave before Soo Pyo comes back."
Ga Eul looked at the business card and tossed it in a kitchen drawer. She waited up for a long time until it was passed midnight and she blew out the cake she had secretly bought herself. She ate a few slices and it wasn't until two in the morning when her husband came back home.

"Oh Ga Eul!" The man stumbled in drunk and he reeked of alcohol.

"I thought you had to work late. Why do you smell like liquor?" Ga Eul asked as she helped him into their bedroom. He groaned and soon fell asleep as Ga Eul took off his shoes and socks. She helped him change into his pajamas and tucked him in.

"I can't believe he came home drunk." Ga Eul said to no one in particular and she checked his pockets for any valuables so she wouldn't place them in the washing machine. She felt some cloth and she pulled it out. "What's this?"

She un-crumpled it and looked at it. She didn't know how to react to the silky thong that had just been pulled out. She stared at it and sighed. She felt her heart throb and she threw it in the washing machine with the rest of the clothes. She didn't care if it got ruined, it wasn't hers. Ga Eul sat there for a moment, unsure of what to do. She checked her cell and looked for anybody that she could confide in, she really needed someone to talk to. She checked her contact list and realized that ever since she got married to Soo Pyo, she had lost contact with her best friends.

She was alone. She had no one.

Ga Eul shed tears and decided what she should do. She scrambled into the kitchen and opened the drawer for a knife and that was when she saw that white business card. She took it out and looked at the address. He had even put his home address on there...it must have been a special business card.

Yi Jung walked out of the shower with only a towel on when his doorbell rang. He opened the door to find a girl there wearing only a t-shirt and sweats. She looked like a mess and he didn't say a word, just let her in.

"Thank you."

"What's wrong?" He asked after he had changed into a t-shirt and jeans.

"He...cheated on me." Ga Eul said after a long pause.

He went into the kitchen and brought out two wine glasses and filled each one with aged red wine. He handed it to her and she sipped it, it felt warm and she enjoyed how it tasted.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I didn't have anyone else to go to. Isn't that funny? A grown woman having no friends – well I did have friends, I just lost them when I got married." Ga Eul continued to ramble.

"It's fine." Yi Jung said. "What I'm more shocked by is your reaction to him cheating on you."

Ga Eul set down her wine glass. "I don't know...I guess I expected it would happen sooner or later."

"You're a very interesting woman." Yi Jung said.

Ga Eul's eyes flickered to the man who seemed to have taken an interest in her. "Kiss me." She had said without even noticing what she had just uttered.

Without a word, he walked over and kissed her. It was a soft kiss at first but the spark that started ignited into flames. Their tongues did their own dance and Yi Jung began to slowly move his hand up her stomach. She felt the heat of his hands and she wrapped her arms around him tighter. They moved their way to his room where she took off her shirt as did he. She traced his abs with her hand and her soft touch aroused Yi Jung to the point where he began to ravish her with many kisses. She was unlike anyone he had ever kissed before. There was this unspoken physical chemistry that drew him to her so much that he never had the urge to be with a woman before. The taste of her lips made him beg for more and more.

Ga Eul felt something that she never had in a long time, that feeling of lust which evaded her when she was with her husband. Sure she was a great wife but she never knew if she was a great lover that is until now. She then thought back to the woman who had sex with Yi Jung in the restroom, she now understood why that woman would do such a degrading thing, he was amazing. The kissed on her neck and body still burned; the trace he had left clung on and it made her desperate for him to just do it already. It was this surreal feeling – this sense of euphoria – this exhilarating ordeal.

He rolled over onto his back and panted. Ga Eul rolled on top of him and gave him a few kisses before getting up.

"You should take a shower before you leave." Yi Jung said as he laid in bed. She started to gather up her clothes which were scattered all over the bedroom floor and got dressed.

"My husband will wake up any minute."

"You wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

Ga Eul gave him a deeper kiss this time. "I'll call you."

"Wait." Yi Jung got up and opened a drawer where he pulled out a necklace the color of Azaleas. It was a beautiful pink diamond strung on a silver necklace. He placed it on her and kissed her neck in the process.

"Stop I have to leave." Ga Eul said breathlessly and pulled away from his grasp.

Soo Pyo woke up with a groan. He opened his eyes to find his head pounding hard.

"Good morning, yunbo." Ga Eul smiled and held a tray full of hangover soup.

"Morning, was I really drunk last night."

"No, you weren't really drunk." Ga Eul leaned down to place the small table on the bed. The necklace dangled in front of his eyes and he noticed that it was new.

"Where did you get that necklace?"

"Don't you remember? You got this for me for our anniversary."

"Oh right, happy anniversary dear." Soo Pyo said and gave his wife a small kiss on the cheek. Ga Eul was about to leave the bedroom when Soo Pyo called out to her. "Dear, how did the dinner with Yi Jung go?"

Ga Eul stopped at the doorway and turned around with a small smile on her face. "It went well, I look forward to having him over for dinner again."

"I guess you two are comfortable with each other now." Soo Pyo smiled.

Ga Eul smiled back and walked out of the bedroom door, her hand touched the sparkling Azalea colored necklace.

Chapter Two

"Stay." Yi Jung wrapped his arms around her tiny waist as she struggled to slip into the black Vera Wang dress she had worn before she came over.

"I have to go, my club meeting would have ended by now." She gently released herself from his arms.

"Stay here forever." He got up and wrapped his arms around her firmly. He kissed her neck and ravished her with more kisses as Ga Eul closed her eyes. She watched her dress slowly slide back down to the floor.

"How was your book club meeting?" Her husband barely glanced up at her. He was in his office with the laptop open and furiously typing into it.

"It was wonderful, we discussed a romance book where the woman has an affair." She said as she walked into the restroom.

"Sounds great." He replied back half-heartedly. He was busy working on the project that had been started a month ago with the president of the hotel also known as the man who Ga Eul was having an affair with.

Ga Eul took a shower and closed her eyes as the conversation she had with Yi Jung overtook her mind.

"You should get a divorce." Yi Jung had said when she was lying next to him.

"Mmm." She just closed her eyes and heard the pounding of his heart. It was so surreal that she would ever be in bed with another man that wasn't Soo Pyo. She had never thought of herself as an adulterer but a perfect housewife and trophy wife. All she was missing were the children but that could have came later if only Soo Pyo was willing to have kids. However, their marriage wasn't exactly a happy thing, it wasn't sad either, it was just there. With Yi Jung, there was passion, something that she had with Soo Pyo before they got married. If she was divorced from him and strictly Yi Jung's girlfriend or whatever they had going on, that passion might disappear. As selfish as it sounds, she didn't want that to happen to her again.

She didn't bother answering Yi Jung, she made an excuse of having to go home or Soo Pyo would find out something was up. He had no other choice but to let her go.

"Ga Eul." She heard a knock on the wooden door.

"Yeah?" She turned off the water so she could hear him clearly.

"I have to go meet up with the board of directors."

"Alright." Ga Eul was slightly disappointed, but what else did she expect. They mostly made small talk nowadays or just talk about the company.

She stepped out of the shower and put on her robe where she went to her vanity set to put on a face mask. In front of her vanity, hanging from the small miniature Eiffel Tower was the Azalea colored necklace. She held it in her hands and gingerly touched the gem that seemed to sparkle when she laid a finger on it.

She went under the covers where she laid down peacefully. She slept for a long time before she heard someone slip under the covers as well.

As usual, she made breakfast, but her husband didn't eat it. Instead, he just rushed out of the house in a busy flurry. But the doorbell rang and there was someone there to eat her food.

"Hey babe." Yi Jung kissed her on the cheek. "He's not here?"

"He left a while ago. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah." He sat down and watched her cook. He was always mesmerized whenever she cooked