umbrella { sunjay }

26.

"are you dumb? did i raise you to be this incompetent?" the woman's voice held only malice as she spit venom through her teeth.

sena closed her eyes as she listened to her mother's harsh words.

"i told you to do one thing and you fuck it up. i told you to do this for you. for us!" her eyes were pooled with hatred as she stared through her daughter that sat across from her.

"mom- i don't want to do that to him-" the woman tried to reason to her mother but when the older woman's mind is made up, that's the end of it.

"i am the one who raised you. me! all alone! and this is how you repay me? i suffered every day just so you can eat." 

sena lowered her head and stared into her lap. it wasn't fair. none of this was fair to anyone.

"now, you are going to go to your husband. and you are going to tell him you don't want a divorce. and that you've been keeping a secret. tell him you're pregnant." the older woman crossed her arms over themselves and her face was stiff. indicating she meant every single word that left her tongue.

"what? no- i'm not doing that to him. that would crush him." sena soured her face and shook her head, refusing to do such a thing to someone she cared about.

"you will. call off the divorce. this instant, park sena. he is the perfect man and you will stay with him. he has a good job and treats you well. you will not do this to me. the only reason i encouraged you to marry him was for us. do not be ungrateful."

sena could do nor say anything more as her mother stood up with a scoff as her expensive earing dangled from her ears. 

sena knew this is wrong. she knew that the only thing jongseong has ever wanted was a family. 

she knew this would kill him. 

what would she do when the time comes and she has no baby to offer?

all these thoughts raced in her head as she wiped her eyes from crying. she never wanted to hurt him.

it was her mother that forced her to say yes, knowing he would propose. sena never wanted to use him either. 

he was the top professor at seoul university and was obviously wealthy. generational wealth coursed through his veins and as soon as her mother knew of this knowledge, she forced sena to say yes.

sena paid for the bill and sat in her car. she burried her face into her palms as she sobbed. 

as she cried, she heard a gentle knock on her car window and it startled her. her head popped up to see kim sunoo, holding the hand of the little girl that was at their home for dinner.

she stared in confusion before wiping her face with her sleeves and rolled down the window.

"sunoo?" the girl questioned if she was seeing things. 

"are you okay? we seen you crying and i recognized it was you." his face held empathy and a softened gaze.

sena thought for a moment. she had to do this.

she knew jongseong was forming something with sunoo and she didn't have a label for it but she knew it had to be something. whether either of them knew it yet, or not.

"i just came from the hospital. i'm pregnant." she almost flinched at her own words.

she figured that if she could tell sunoo, maybe the two of them would cut their 'situation' and jay would focus on her. she knew it was wrong but she had no other way. 

sena watched as sunoo's friendly expression suddenly became void of color. his eyes searched her face to see any hint of humor. 

"are you... serious?" his eyelids fluttered as he stood there and squeezed eunjoo's little hand ever so slightly.

"yes. i have to tell jay." she didn't want this conversation to last any longer because she knew she would break and beg for forgiveness for lying to an innocent person. 

sunoo had done nothing wrong to sena and she knew this. she had no grudge against him. but she also knew what her mother had said. her mother had so much control over her that there was nothing else she could do.

"congratulations." the male's tone was torn. sena could hear the break in his voice. almost identical to hers. she kept her gaze forward on the windshield and avoided eye contact.

"thank you. i'll see you around." she rolled the window back up without waiting for his response and started her engine to drive off.

as she kept driving, she replayed the look on his face. she knew he and jay must have something, anything between them. 

no friend looks that broken over another friend. 

when sena returned home, she found jay asleep on their couch. he looked exhausted. 

she began to question if she could really follow her mother's orders. 

during her childhood, she always wanted a normal and simple life. but that was almost impossible when having a money hungry mother as she did.

her mother would jump from man to man. whoever had the most money. she told sena that when she grows up, she'll be forced to marry rich and that love had no factor in marriage. 

this is another reason she didn't want to have any children of her own. she never wanted to be like her mother. 

her life had been dictated from the moment she opened her eyes to see the world for the very first time. 

as she watched him sleep, her inner dilemma continued. once this lie was out, there was no taking it back.

she stood up and walked back into her bedroom.

after readying herself for bed, she drew her final conclusion and thought about her plan.

she was a sheep in wolf clothing. 

 but she had to become the wolf in order to survive.

❀

uh oh...