EBT Chapter 1.2

Even though others might call me a weirdo if they heard, I liked my suicide note. It felt like I was going somewhere on a trip, and in a way, I thought that was kind of nice.

But pondering how to die wasn’t quite the same as choosing a travel destination. Deciding how I would die wasn’t exactly healthy, fun, or pleasant.

If only it were up to me to decide the deaths of those who tormented me, now that would’ve been fun.

For instance… hmm, Mr. Shi Euncheol, who endlessly bullied and taunted me, I wished he’d die from food poisoning. Ugh, and please, absolutely not with Mr. Taerim as his partner. Instead, let him find someone else besides Mr. Taerim, so that he dies with a smile the very moment he realizes ‘Wow, so this is true love!’ – that would be a good death for both Mr. Euncheol and me. Kind of funny too.

And let’s see, next… my older brother. My brother Kang Ilhae has consistently bullied me since childhood, so I hope he gets cancer like me. That would probably cause quite an uproar in the world.

Given Ilhae hyung’s personality, he might detect liver cancer early even though it’s known to not cause pain until late stages. Even if he received a terminal diagnosis, he’s not someone who would give up. He would probably yell at the doctors to cure it no matter how much it costs.

Hyung is someone who’s extremely sensitive to his own pain while disregarding others’ suffering. Around age seven, even though he wasn’t the only one without a mother, he beat me nearly to death, saying I was the one who made us motherless.

He once put me in his ball pit full of toys and pressed down on my head, telling me to suffocate and die. From then on, hyung was both malicious and, in some ways, stupid. He knew how to drown someone but was clueless enough not to realize that you could breathe fine in a ball pit.

When hyung tormented me, I would pretend to be dead. Pretending to die from BB gun shots, pretending to drown in the ball pit, and later pretending to die from eating spicy snacks. This was around when I was four years old, but I remember it all clearly.

Maybe this time too,

‘Isn’t that bastard just pretending to be dead again?’

He might kick my corpse jusr to check. Hah… I don’t want that.

Thinking about the deaths of those who hated me and whom I hated, like writing a novel, slowly brought ideas about how I should die.

The answer was simple. Die without causing trouble to others!

At first, I considered buying one of those euthanasia machines as a joke, which supposedly cost around 100 or 200 million won. But I didn’t like how complicated the import process was and how it could take days, even at the fastest.

I didn’t feel that comfortable going abroad to rent that machine because others had used it, and there was quite a waiting list too. Moreover, using such a thing might stir up gossip, and Father would be absolutely furious.

So I chose a method that wouldn’t be complicated to clean up afterward. I chose to be Juliet rather than Romeo. If I went the Romeo route and injured myself, wouldn’t dealing with my corpse be too troublesome? Instead, I decided to overdose on sleeping pills and drink poison too.

I bought a drug that causes heart failure when mixed with water or alcohol, leaving no trace on the body. Since all I had was money, acquiring the drug was easy with just a few phone calls. The courier even delivered it directly—all very quick and efficient.

Those who received the service fee probably didn’t think the person would take it themselves, but whatever followed with the police investigation wasn’t my concern.

The location was better in the annex rather than the main house with the bedroom. Thanks to the overly designed large windows, the annex was poorly heated and brutally cold in winter, which would delay the decomposition of my body.

Besides, the annex was used solely as my studio. No one else had any attachment to the place, so there’d be no one to mourn when rumors spread about someone dying there.

Now, let’s die. I thought as I sat on the sofa in the annex. Then I remembered something I’d heard somewhere.

‘When people die,  their body fluids come out.’

I had no choice but to get up and search the storage room. Luckily, there was still one roll of waterproof plastic left. I often used it to protect the floor during painting sessions, and it proved useful one last time.

I covered the sofa with the opaque plastic and spread it as wide as possible on the floor in case fluids leaked.

Thinking it was my last labor, strength surged into my weak arms, but quickly drained away. By the time I was covering the herringbone tiles with plastic, I was on the verge of fainting.

I don’t know what state of mind I was in or how I prepared everything, but by the time I heard my own coughing, I was lying on the shiny plastic-covered sofa with a pillow.

I drank the water mixed with drugs not because I wanted to die, but because I was thirsty. Fortunately, the sleeping pills kicked in first. Sleep crashed over me heavily. I was exhausted.

When I took a long sigh with my eyes closed, I think I heard a dog barking. The dog couldn’t come in anyway since I’d closed the door. Instead, I’d left the main house’s front door open, so I hoped it would go in and eat the food I’d filled its bowl with.

And after quite some time,

‘Why haven’t I died yet?’

That’s what I thought.

‘…What went wrong?’

Expecting to see the high ceiling, I opened my eyes. But I wasn’t on the cold, waterproof plastic of the annex. Instead, I was seated at a table in an elegant restaurant, bathed in sunlight.

Only then did the orchestra music reach my ears. Startled by the gentle melody, I tried to stand, but my body wouldn’t move properly. I could feel my limbs stiffening.

And then I saw him. Mr. Cheon Taerim was walking towards me.

The moment our eyes met, I felt a vivid sensation of my whole body burning hot rather than death. Was it because I’d been thinking about Cheon Taerim all day? I thought it strange that I was seeing this man even in my final moments.

His face looked young as he moved his head either side, searching for his blind date partner. That’s right, when he was twenty-eight. He spotted me with that face that had never been angry with me yet, and slowly walked towards me.

Seeing him made me happy. Seeing his face as he recognized me immediately and smiled as if pleased… Something like a voice of conscience seemed to strike my ears hard.

There was one fact I’d never acknowledged and had postponed all my life. A fact my heart was revealing, a truth my heart insisted I couldn’t ignore even at the moment of death.

Watching only his face in the flashback as my consciousness grew hazy, I thought,

‘I actually liked you.’

It had been that way since the moment we first met. Not because you’re an Alpha, Mr. Taerim, but because you smiled at me… I never said it, but I really, truly liked you. And, because of that…

— Oh, crap! He just died, right now!

…Huh?

— That can’t be right. Why did he commit suicide?

Whose voice is this?

— Ah, the basic settings were wrong from the start – he’s not an Omega!

A chaotic voice, too clear to be considered an auditory hallucination, circled my ears. I shook my head, trying to find the owner of the voice. I wondered who the hell was shouting their frustration so loudly.

But the restaurant staff weren’t looking this way, and the two tables of customers were peacefully chatting among themselves.

— We can still make adjustments. What should we do?

— What else? We’ll just start over from the beginning.

Amidst the confusion, the voices drew closer to me.

— Well then… Sorry, Mr. Kang Hae-ah. You weren’t supposed to end up like this.

That strange voice calling my name now existed only inside my head.

— Let’s start over from the beginning.

My heart trembled at the ominous tone. It felt like something was about to happen. Clenching my eyes shut, I screamed inwardly,

‘No!’

I shouted loudly in my mind. But nothing happened.

Just,

“Mr. Kang Hae-ah?”

The twenty-eight-year-old Mr. Cheon Taerim had arrived at my table.

I stared up at him blankly. His gray jacket, navy tie, neatly buttoned collar, strong neck, and incredibly handsome face… and then I noticed something strange.

There was nothing wrong with Taerim. The problem was that the flashback wasn’t ending but continuing.

“…Hae-ah? Mr. Kang Hae-ah?”

Whether it was his voice or because I’d gone mad, my flashback had malfunctioned. Not only was it endless, but it was also distorted. Mr. Taerim had never acted like this toward me. He’d never waved his hand in front of my face with a worried expression.

He had never rushed to me when I staggered,

“Are you alright?”

He had never asked in such alarm.

The moment I drew in a sharp breath, I felt my whole body boiling like fire.

This wasn’t a flashback. This wasn’t like watching a theater of memories. The real Cheon Taerim was looking at the real me. Not the helpless me from the past, but me standing there now with a red face…

Mr. Taerim urgently reached out with both arms. Why are you trying to catch me like that? Before I could ask, I fainted.

***

The soft mattress warmed my back, and a thick quilt covered me up to my neck. The air purifier hummed, creating a cool breeze, while the sound of someone pacing back and forth in dress shoes and the faint smell of disinfectant tickled my senses.

Comfortable like a hotel room but dry and devoid of fragrance…

‘It’s a hospital.’

It wasn’t difficult to figure out where I was. What was really difficult was something else. It was confirming the situation of why I was lying in a hospital bed instead of in a coffin deep underground.

But I couldn’t even find the courage to lift my eyelids. As my chest filled with fear, my mind became busy. I clearly remembered the feeling of my limbs going cold and the bright flashback. Even how strangely things had unfolded, and that I had fainted or passed out.

There were many possibilities. But there was only one story with a high probability of being true.

‘My suicide attempt failed.’

At that realization, my heart sank. It felt like my whole body collapsed into the ground, and bile rose in my throat.

Maybe the dog barked so loudly that someone called the police. If not that, maybe the helper I met in the afternoon came back because she had something to say, or if not that, then perhaps by some chance, maybe Mr. Taerim had come home and looked for me?

Had he opened the annex door before reading the note I left? The sight of me sprawled on the plastic-covered sofa must’ve been horrifying—eyes rolled back, foam bubbling at the mouth, skin turning purple. Did he panic and call an ambulance to take me to the hospital?

As if proving my hypothesis, I could hear Mr. Taerim’s voice from a distance. The faint muttering, when listened to carefully, was the sound of him talking on the phone with someone.

“Yes.”

The answer was short, and,

“I’m at the hospital now.”

The explanation was concise.

Suddenly I felt like crying. I hated Mr. Cheon Taerim so much. Everything felt unbearably bitter.

‘Why didn’t you just let me die? You could’ve moved on and found someone new. I had hoped you would find an Omega who perfectly suited you, matched well with you, and could communicate well with you, so that you’d remarry… But what is this?’

But I could only pour out my resentment to myself. I couldn’t find the courage to open my eyes and face him.

This was rock bottom for Kang Hae-ah. I had revealed how broken I could be and how weak a human I was, down to the bottom. I thought about whether there had ever been a more embarrassing and infuriating moment in my unlucky life. The answer was ‘no’. Not only had I held him back throughout our married life, but I was also a husband who even failed at suicide… I’d rather bite my tongue and die than confirm what kind of expression Cheon Taerim had.

Ah, what would Father say if he knew? He might slap my face and kick me. He would hiss like a snake, ‘How could you not live properly the one life that was completely planned out for you?’ He would shout, ‘why didn’t you die properly if you were going to die?’ He had always said that while it’s simple to secretly dispose of a corpse, you can’t hide a living person who’s been taken to the hospital.

I was troubled about how to handle the criticism that would come. Just thinking about it made my skin crawl and my blood boil.

“Are you feeling better, Mr. Kang Hae-ah?”

Suddenly Taerim’s voice came closer. My eyebrows twitched involuntarily in response to his voice. I felt his hand approaching me like a sudden heat. I startled and opened my eyes, trying to avoid it,

“Ow.”

I hit the top of my head against the bed headboard with a thud.

From my neck to my forehead, I could feel my skin turning red in an instant. I was half crumpled trying to avoid his hand, and Mr. Taerim looked surprised at my reaction. His shadow loomed over me as he leaned forward. Only then did I notice the blanket in his hand.

My mind went blank immediately. The shock of realizing that he was just trying to adjust my blanket was significant enough, but the fact that Cheon Taerim wasn’t like the Cheon Taerim I knew hit me like a blow to the back of my head.

“Mr. Kang Hae-ah?”

This man calling me that way was undoubtedly Mr. Taerim. Standing nearly two meters tall when rounded up, with broad, athlete-like shoulders, hands as rough as stone but a face as finely sculpted as if it were carved, large eyes with single eyelids and lashes that always seemed to point downward, and those inscrutable, pitch-black pupils… he was Cheon Taerim indeed.

But he wasn’t the Cheon Taerim I knew, my husband.

The literally close distance where I could touch his nose if I fell forward was uncomfortable, so I avoided him first. Rolling away in the opposite direction from him, I raised my upper body and looked around. As expected, it was a hospital room, and there was some kind of IV drip attached to my arm.

“What’s going on here?”

I asked, and,

“Don’t ask me. When I greeted you, you fainted.”

Mr. Taerim answered easily.

Now all I had left was confusion. That place, the strangely flowing flashback… and I remembered the voice. Clearer than anything was Taerim himself, even more than the direct and kind explanation saying ‘let’s start over from the beginning’. The twenty-eight-year-old Cheon Taerim who didn’t hate me, didn’t resent me, didn’t despise me, didn’t loathe me, and was trying to adjust my blanket.

Seeing me not moving with a serious face, he seemed even more worried about me.

“I was joking. I’m sorry.”

Taerim’s voice saying that scared me more than a ghost. Sorry? Sorry for me?

Following that, he poured a glass of water. When I didn’t take it, he put it down on the bedside table and handed me my phone, which he must have brought from the restaurant. I couldn’t even take that. I couldn’t bear it when he took care of me.

Someone like me, being cared for by Taerim. Making jokes to lighten the mood and even saying sorry. I had no value for that at all… but the twenty-eight-year-old Taerim didn’t know that. Back then, yes, that’s how it was. He didn’t know me. That’s why he was kind. He was a good person because he wasn’t aware that… Kang Hae-ah, who would steal his precious time, was a liar Beta from a trashy family.

I recalled the strange voice again. That ‘you weren’t supposed to end up like this’… Did they say to try again? If that voice was real, it might mean I should tell the truth now and let him go.

Maybe it was telling me to stop tainting Cheon Taerim’s pristine life, like mold seeping into perfection, before ruining his neat personality.

Well, if there is a God, he must have clicked his tongue every time he saw him and me. Having sent down a perfect Alpha to this narrow and crowded land of Korea, he might have pitied Taerim for having someone like me cling to him.

“Are you uncomfortable anywhere?”

Taerim tilted his head sideways. Every time he tried to check my complexion, my face turned toward the floor. I didn’t have the courage to meet that gaze. I feared how disappointed he’d look hearing my slow, stuttering voice.

But it wasn’t something I could just indefinitely postpone. Eventually, somehow, we had to have some kind of conversation. I had to separate him from me… no, remove this foreign object called ‘me’ from his life.

“I’ll be direct.”

Clenching my fists tightly on my knees, I took a short breath.

“I have no intention of marrying you, Mr. Cheon Taerim. Today… I came out to apologize to you in person. I’m sorry.”

“Are you rejecting me right now?”

As expected, Mr. Taerim’s response was quick. In six years of marriage, I had never once seen him at a loss for words.

“Th-that’s not it…”

It was always me who stuttered and stammered.

“I’m the one getting rejected by you. I’m not an Omega. I’m… a Beta.”

Still, today’s confession wasn’t difficult. It was a moment I had imagined countless times. If only I could turn back time to before I became Mr. Taerim’s husband, I thought. Then I would tell him like this. I would confess everything truthfully.

“Our side lied about the conditions. The trait test results we sent you beforehand are over 20 years old. The test from back then lacks credibility. Even in that unreliable test, my probability of manifestation was only 77 percent.”

Since Alpha-Omega issues were Mr. Taerim’s specialty, he would surely understand what an unreasonable gamble it was to suddenly marry someone like Kang Hae-ah.

“These days… don’t they say you need at least an 85 percent to be tentatively considered an Omega? Even then, if you don’t manifest, you’re treated as a worthless Beta. In my opinion, I think… I’m probably a Beta.”

It’s not ‘probably’ – it’s 100 percent. Now I know, having lived through it once. I’m not destined to be a loved Omega. Beyond issues of Alpha, Beta, or Omega, I’m destined to never be loved at all. Throughout my life, that was the one thing I wanted, but also the one thing I could never have, even if I died trying.

“So, Mr. Cheon Taerim, let’s not waste each other’s time. On our side, my father approached you because of Prosecutor Cheon Heejung’s connections.”

Only when the Prosecutor’s name left my lips he said,

“You mean, my father?”

Mr. Taerim finally reacted.

“Yes. Though we may have made it seem like we prioritized Cheon Taerim’s business first, to be honest, that was more like a secondary condition.”

My throat kept getting dry. It felt like my tongue was rolling back into my throat, choking me. I quickly grabbed and drank the glass of water on the side table. The slightly sweet mineral water went down smoothly.

“…Of course, I don’t look down on your company.”

“No need for such words. Since we’re still in the startup phase, I was honestly suspicious of the conditions when Hansung first proposed the collaboration.”

Mr. Taerim showed uncharacteristic humility. Well, it was wise to be careful with words since his company AOM’s achievements weren’t publicly known yet.

Just discovering the characteristic traits of Alphas and Omegas was a worldwide achievement, and in two years, they were planning to release a machine that could analyze imprinting and knotting probabilities with their own system. I vividly remembered how much buzz that created. And twenty-eight-year-old Cheon Taerim had designed and was creating such a business.

The capable CEO of AOM with its slogan promising to select perfect partners, a standout mascot even among the typically exceptional dominant Alphas – I was always an anchor in such a flawless life of Cheon Taerim. The fact that the husband of Cheon Taerim, Korea’s most successful dominant Alpha, was merely a Beta was a flaw people loved to gossip about.

“So, Mr. Cheon Taerim…”

My fingerprints touched the empty glass. My fingertips, pressed with force, turned yellow against the outer surface of the glass.

“Next time… I hope you find a proper Omega. Do those personality compatibility checks your company is good at, and well… find a good match like others do and get married… Better than ending up with someone like me, a Beta, by accident.”

Now, what will he say… as I listened carefully, unexpectedly, Cheon Taerim was silent.

‘Why is he quiet…’

Out of curiosity, I raised my head just slightly to peek, and our eyes met directly.

Those serious eyes were deeply contemplating something while taking in my face. His pupils were so black that my face reflected in them like the moon, clear and distinct.

I swallowed back a sigh that was about to escape my throat. Mr. Taerim wouldn’t know how much I had longed for just this, for him to look at me like this…

I let him observe and measure me. For now, I was grateful enough that he wasn’t cursing at my family, saying they were a fraud, or getting angry.

Ah, of course, he was too experienced on social interactions to reject me outright. Perhaps he was calculating the angle to gradually break off this arranged marriage, considering I was Hansung Group’s youngest son.

I was given a few seconds of respite while he formulated appropriate words of rejection. As I caught my breath and hid my trembling palms under my thighs, Mr. Taerim asked.

“Is that all?”

I couldn’t easily understand that question. Like that spring day six years ago when I faced an unexpected accusation,

‘Were you aware of this, Mr. Kang Hae-ah?’

My reactions were always the same in front of Cheon Taerim. I could only try to keep up with his tempo with a dumbfounded face. Mr. Taerim, who didn’t yet know this was Kang Hae-ah’s usual expression, was kind.

“I asked if that’s all your reasons for not wanting to marry me.”

He asked again, and,

“Yes. Because it’s a fraudulent marriage.”

I quickly answered.

“Because your life would be… pitiful if you married a Beta. I don’t like that. That’s the reason… And I don’t like people who would try to use and discard Mr. Cheon Taerim just because he married into a chaebol family. It’s obvious Hansung will try to use Prosecutor Cheon Heejung’s connections for political maneuvering, and I don’t like that either.”

And I don’t like the idea of you hating me again, and I don’t like becoming a husband that is worse than a friend, and I don’t like being bound to you like I’m ruining you life, and I don’t like pretending to be asleep while knowing you sigh every morning looking at my face, and most of all, it was obvious I would fall for you again, and I didn’t like that.

“Thank you for being so considerate.”

“Yeah, well…”

“But I’ll pretend I didn’t hear your proposal.”

“What?”

But Mr. Taerim responded with a no to my farewell.

“No, why? I just gave you a very important explanation!”

I looked up at him, forgetting to avoid those cold eyes. As I raised my voice in bewilderment, Mr. Taerim smiled.

“Thanks to you, I want to do it now. I want to marry you, Mr. Kang Hae-ah.”

Why are you smiling like that?

“And you’re not a Beta.”

Why are you saying such things?

“You manifested, just now at the restaurant.”

Now it’s one of two things. Either Cheon Taerim is crazy. Or I must be the crazy one.

“I’m telling you I’m a Beta.”

“Not as of today.”

There was no reason to listen to more nonsense. I pulled out the IV line from my forearm and stood up. As I fumbled for my coat, my lower abdomen hurt and my legs trembled. Mr. Taerim tried to stop me, saying “Hae-ah. Let’s call a doctor, please stay calm and sit down.”

“Calm? Doctor?”

“You still need to finish your medication.”

“Medication?”

My lips moved like a parrot’s beak, mimicking his words. I couldn’t form any coherent sentences, only repeat what he said.

“The sedative… Mr. Kang Hae-ah, please calm down.”

“Sedative?”

Bright red blood was trickling down my forearm. It was proof that I was still alive, and a sign that I was an idiot who couldn’t even properly remove an IV. As I just stared at the red liquid with my neck trembling, Mr. Taerim’s hand entered my field of vision.

He gently touched my forearm. It wasn’t grabbing or pulling, just a slight touch. It was like touching a machine’s touchscreen with his palm. But that machine was me.

My trembling legs collapsed instantly. I was too shocked to even scream. My eyeballs felt like they would pop out and my heart was racing, but only hot breaths escaped between my teeth. I couldn’t properly control my body.

Mr. Taerim easily supported my body as it collapsed like a doll. He was quick to hold me with both arms and move me to the bed. He clearly knew I wouldn’t be able to stand when he touched me.

And there was one more thing that was clear. My body was no longer the same as before. At first my forearm was hot, and during the few seconds he moved me, my whole body became feverish.

“Let me go.”

My voice leaked out pathetically weak.

“Please let me go…”

When I pleaded repeatedly, Mr. Taerim released me. Right after, he neatly laid me back on the bed and covered me with the blanket. He pressed the nurse call button twice, tap, tap. Is he annoyed? He pressed the button with some emotion behind it.

“…I’m sorry.”

Then he apologized again, but this time his apology wasn’t so shocking. It was because of the abnormal symptoms occurring in my body. My whole body was so strange that it was difficult to react to strange things happening outside my skin.

To be honest, I needed to pee. And my lower abdomen hurt terribly. My eyes wouldn’t open well because of the fever, and suddenly Cheon Taerim felt unfamiliar. Now he seemed neither a simple businessman nor the man who had been my husband.

He was an Alpha. A dominant Alpha born knowing how to control Omegas. And I was… as he said, no longer the same as before.

“Still, Mr. Cheon Taerim, no-nothing changes.”

I said, clutching the blanket.

“I won’t marry you. I, I… I don’t believe in arranged marriages. I like being free. I like dating however I want, but a loveless marriage? How does that make any sense?”

I could list a thousand reasons why you shouldn’t be with me. Nine hundred would be true and I would make up a hundred more to reach a thousand.

But these words I was spouting now weren’t meant to convince Mr. Taerim. They were just words I was blurting out randomly to draw his attention and keep my own mind anchored.

For some reason, it felt like a major accident would happen if I stayed quiet in the silence. Before, I had worried that he might curse at me, push me away and get angry again, or leave. But this anxiety was different from such worries. It felt like if I stayed still, the Alpha named Cheon Taerim would devour me.

“And, and I heard somewhere that I have a high chance of getting cancer. Do you want to marry someone who might collapse from cancer at any time? But being rich means I won’t die easily either. And…”

“…”

“I’m speaking Korean right now, right?”

“You are.”

“Then… then you’re listening to everything I’m saying, right?”

“I am.”

So what’s your answer? I tried to convey this with my eyes. More precisely, I just looked up at him pleadingly with my pathetic face, but Mr. Taerim seemed to understand my feelings.

He let out a short sigh, then took a much longer breath in. And spoke.

“It’s natural for you to feel this way now. You just manifested and you’re not in good condition, so you can’t trust an Alpha, and you’ll need time to think.”

That still wasn’t the answer I wanted. Suddenly, Mr. Taerim’s tone discussing my condition sounded as if I currently lacked rational and sensible judgment. I felt a surge of anger.

“Hey, are you really just going to ignore everything I’ve said until now?”

“I heard your words well, Mr. Kang Hae-ah.”

While I was this frustrated and desperate, Mr. Taerim was even calmer than before. He no longer smiled. He didn’t say sorry to soothe my feelings, nor did he make jokes. He didn’t even blink his black eyes.

Like a stone statue, he spoke,

“You’re telling me to find an honest Omega who isn’t interested in my family’s connections, doesn’t eye me just because I’m a dominant Alpha, and wants to live quietly without political schemes.”

His gaze moved slowly from my forehead to my cheeks, then to my chin, and back to my eyes. It was the first time in my life someone had examined my face this closely.

“Aren’t you exactly that kind of Omega, Mr. Kang Hae-ah?”

My lips parted silently. Before I could find words to say*, ‘knock knock,’* the nurse knocked on the hospital room door.

“You want to date first. I understand your conditions well.”

Mr. Taerim stood up, gathering his coat. The neatly folded coat draped perfectly over his arm as he rose.

“Then let’s make this not an arranged marriage. Once you stabilize, I’ll contact you for an outing.”

The towering, solid, beautiful man who was my husband looked at me. I hadn’t realized until now how young twenty-eight-year-old Taerim truly was.