Life in their marriage went as it should be. Every night, Minji always touched her. Her passion seemed to never run out. But only at that moment could they be close.
Hanni frowned, realizing that she could only be close to her wife when they made love.
Minji did become a better person. She was never rough and forceful again. The woman only raised her eyebrows when Hanni began to argue with her words, then walked away, choosing to avoid confrontation.
Their marriage had been going on for almost two months and Hanni still felt something was bothering her.
Oh yeah, she realized that the foundation of this marriage was wrong from the start. Only based on a work contract covered in desire.
Not to mention the reasons that Minji did not want to admit until now: that Hanni was only a replacement for Hong Eunchae.
Hanni never visited the wing of the house that stored Eunchae's painting and Sunoo had not mentioned her first wife Kim Minji again.
Hanni suspected that Minji forbade Sunoo and everyone in this house from discussing it because Minji herself seemed never to explain it.
Hanni became increasingly confused. What would this marriage be like in the future?
Was she wrong to accept Minji's proposal back then?
And one more question that began to disturb her heart, did she love Minji?
The more Hanni tried to think about it, the more her head hurt. Ah, she had been feeling dizzy lately, strange dizziness that came and went without knowing the time.
"Hey, Hanni?" Minji suddenly appeared in front of her, "Are you ok?"
She frowned as she saw Hanni walking unsteadily while holding onto the corridor wall. Hanni tried to stand up straight, but this time the dizziness really hit her hard so she swayed. Immediately, Minji caught her.
"Pham Hanni!" Minji's panicked voice was still heard before everything was swallowed up in darkness.
***
"Mrs. Hanni is pregnant. Congratulations, Minji," the old doctor shook his hand enthusiastically, "Finally, there's a potential heir to be born for Mrs. Kim Minji."
Minji turned pale. The doctor kept babbling about the pregnancy and their potential baby, but all that was on Minji's mind was a nightmare.
A nightmare that she had been trying to forget, but now it came back to haunt her. Minji instructed Sunoo to see the doctor off. Then Sunoo came back and looked at Minji anxiously. The man must have known what was going on in his boss's mind.
"She's pregnant," Minji repeated the doctor's announcement even though she knew Sunoo had heard it. She just wanted to say it out loud to make sure that the nightmare had indeed become a reality.
"Mrs. Pham Hanni is in good health, Min."
"Good health, you say?" Minji snapped angrily, "She fainted in front of me earlier, looked pale and so weak!"
"But Mrs. Pham Hanni is not the same as─"
"Shut up!" Minji growled angrily, "Hanni cannot be pregnant!" she declared.
***
Hanni opened her eyes in the dim light of Minji's room. The first thing she found was Minji sitting gloomily in a chair next to the bed, she seemed to be waiting for her to wake up.
"What happened?" Hanni asked weakly, holding her head and frowning, still feeling dizzy. Minji looked at her sharply, seeming unhappy with the sight of Hanni frowning in pain.
"You're pregnant," she muttered flatly.
"Oh?" Hanni was startled, automatically holding her stomach and covering it with a protective gesture.
Minji followed Hanni's gaze and her facial expression hardened. "You have to abort it."
Hanni was taken aback by Minji's words, almost sitting down from the bed. But the dizziness hit her again, causing her to lie down.
"What did you just say, Kim Minji?" Hanni looked at her in disbelief. She knew this woman was cruel, but asking her to abort their own child was beyond her expectations.
"I don't want that child. You have to abort it!"
"No!" Hanni exclaimed.
Instantly, her face turned pale and her hands immediately protected her stomach.
Hanni didn't know anything, she had no experience. But as soon as she realized there was a fetus growing and developing inside her body, Hanni knew there was a bond between them, that a mother would naturally protect her child.
"You have to kill me first if you intend to do that, Kim Minji! I don't know what madness is in your mind, but you should be ashamed. This child is your own flesh and blood and you intend to kill it even before it grows?"
Minji looked at Hanni with a pained expression, "I can't, Hanni. I can't accept that you're pregnant!"
She ran her hand through her hair and stood up, pacing across the room, pouring herself some brandy and taking a sip.
When she slammed the glass down and looked at Hanni, her eyes were blazing, "Hong Eunchae, she was pregnant once, you know? Then she had a miscarriage."
Hanni was stunned when Minji finally brought up that topic. The name Hong Eunchae seemed taboo to mention when Hanni entered this house as the new Mrs. Kim, and now Minji herself brought up the topic.
"But my condition and Hong Eunchae's are different, I'm perfectly fine," Hanni argued.
"What people don't know is that Hong Eunchae got pregnant again after the miscarriage," Minji's eyes glazed over, lost in the past, seemingly unaware of Hanni's presence in the room.
"I don't know how she managed to catch me off guard and get pregnant again. I tried my best to prevent her from getting pregnant again. I even made an appointment with a doctor for a vasectomy, but She managed to get pregnant again and stubbornly kept it a secret from me and everyone else, afraid that we would ask her to abort it," Minji's breath caught in her throat.
"When she died in her sleep, the doctor only found out and told me that Hong Eunchae was already three months pregnant. Her pregnancy worsened her condition and made her weaker. That child killed her!"
"But I'm not like her!" Hanni interjected, trying to bring Minji back to the present.
"I'm healthy and strong, and this baby won't burden me."
"I don't want you to get sick because of your pregnancy!" Minji snapped, but when she noticed Hanni's face paling from her raised voice, Minji softened her voice, pleading with her eyes.
"I'm begging you, Hanni, please abort the baby.
There will never be a baby in this house.
There will never be a baby in our marriage.
I don't want a child."
Hanni's chest rumbled with mixed emotions. How cruel and selfish of her! No matter how much Minji felt traumatized and deeply disgusted by Hanni's pregnancy, she should realize that the child in her womb is her flesh and blood. Her child!
Was Hanni so worthless in Minji's eyes that she had to sacrifice the fetus she carried in the name of eunchae's memory to her?
"No, Minji," Hanni raised her chin, holding back her overflowing heartache.
"I will never abort this baby for any reason even if you only consider it as garbage!"
Hanni looked at Minji with a deep, wounded gaze. "Even though you forget that the baby exists because of you too. This baby's my child, and now she's growing inside me. Like I told you earlier, if you force your will on me, if I lose this child because of your intent, what you'll get is my death!"
Minji was stunned hearing this threat, and she looked at Hanni, realizing that the woman was hurt. Minji had been too hasty in revealing her feelings, and it hurt Hanni.
Frustrated, she ruffled her hair in anger, "Listen, Hanni, don't be childish! If you just want to oppose me─"
"I don't want to oppose you!" Hanni half-yelled, her emotions now breaking and spilling over, "I don't care about your feelings about your past with Hong Eunchae because I'm here now, Hanni Pham is alive and breathing at this moment. If you make me abort my child, what do you expect me to do other than protect my child with all my might? She's your child too!"
Your child too.
Those words pierced Minji's chest, making her frown. Her child too. That child could be a killer. Minji had experienced it once.
If she had to go through it again─ "Maybe you'll change your mind later."
"I won't, Minji!" Hanni touched her head, which was throbbing again.
Minji looked at her anxiously, "Are you feeling dizzy again?"
"Yes," Hanni groaned and massaged her head.
"I'll get you some water," Minji poured the water into a glass and sat on the edge of the bed, then handed the glass to Hanni, "Here, drink this."
Hanni took the glass and sipped it. After finishing, Minji placed the glass back on the bedside table. They stayed there in silence, locking eyes.
The atmosphere was usually not this awkward. Usually, every night, Minji would enthusiastically invite her into the room, and their passion would continue into an amazing lovemaking session, and they would fall asleep until morning. But now, things were different.
Minji couldn't break the silence with intimacy. The conversation earlier had drained both of their emotions.
Hanni was the first to break the silence, "Do you want to sleep?"
Minji looked at the empty side of the bed. Her side. And suddenly felt tired.
Hanni shifted her body to make it easier for Minji to lie down. The woman laid down next to her quietly, without a word, only the sound of rustling fabric as they moved.
They both lay there with eyes open, each lost in their own thoughts. Until finally, they fell into a deep sleep.
***
In the morning, the atmosphere was quite chilly. Minji seemed unwilling to discuss their conversation from last night.
However, Hanni remained vigilant. Knowing Minji's nature, it was not impossible for her to go to any lengths to carry out her desires, like putting abortifacient drugs in her drink, for example.
Who knows? Considering that she had once let her drink be drugged by Sunoo.
Hanni rubbed her stomach and frowned sadly. Even though this baby was not wanted by Minji, even though her feelings were now hurt because Minji prioritized her memories of Hong Eunchae over her, who was here and alive in front of Minji, Hanni had to try to be strong and resilient for this child.
"Will you protect the child?" Sunoo's voice startled Hanni from her thoughts. He was entering the same room as Hanni.
Hanni looked at Sunoo and tried to smile. He was very kind and polite to her when he entered this house. It was Sunoo who explained the truth to her and changed all her views of Minji.
"I will protect this baby with my life. You'll have to deal with me first if you want to harm this child."
A smile appeared on Sunoo's lips. "No, Miss. Minji never ordered me to harm the child. Even if Mrs. Minji did, I would refuse. That child is Kim Minji's descendant, whom I also must respect."
Relief washed over Hanni's heart. At least there was someone willing to defend her child.
Hanni looked at Sunoo hesitantly, "Do you know that Hong Eunchae died because she tried to conceive for the second time?"
Sunoo looked at Hanni carefully and nodded, "I know after her death. That's what crushed Minji, that she actually contributed to Mrs. Eunchae's death. She could have lived longer if she wasn't pregnant."
Sunoo sighed and looked at Hanni gently, "I hope you understand Minji's feelings."
"She always sees me as a replacement for Eunchae. She treats me the same way as her," Hanni closed her eyes in pain.
"This child is hers, but she tells me to abort it."
Sunoo looked at Hanni's stomach, his gaze softening there, "I'm sure Minji never saw you as a replacement for Mrs. Eunchae. If she only saw you as a replacement doll, she wouldn't show her emotions to you. She wouldn't treat you with such respect. All I can say is what Minji is doing is because she cares about you."
Care for her? How could it be? Minji even told her to abort their child. How could that be called care?
"Minji wants the child to be aborted because she is concerned about your safety. She's afraid you'll be in danger and die like Eunchae. She's afraid of losing you."
Hanni looked at Sunoo in disbelief, "She can't be afraid of losing me."
"Please trust me," Sunoo smiled gently.
"Minji has never been good at showing her feelings, but if you observe carefully, you will know," Sunoo bowed and then excused himself, leaving Hanni in silence.
***
Minji had just entered the room and looked at hanni. It was unusual for Minji to enter the room this late, and she looked tired.
"Have you changed your mind about your abortion last night?"