This Burns My Heart Page 0,84

Kang, the pharmacist’s mother, to put her name down next month in the ballot if she put her name down this month.”

“Some kind of backroom deal—that’s exactly what I thought she was doing,” Soo-Ja whispered back.

“I’m a little confused, though. I heard her offer Ae-Rin Bae, the bathhouse manager, the exact same thing. She told her if she put her name down in the ballot this month, she’d do the same for her next month. How can she do that if she’s going to put down the pharmacist’s mother’s name?”

So she had been going from table to table making deals with different women, and keeping each of them in the dark about the others! Soo-Ja tensed up. The voting would begin in less than fifteen minutes. There was no time to do anything about this. Eun-Mee was going to take home the pot.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she disappears next month and breaks the gye,” Soo-Ja said.

“What happens if the gye breaks?”

“Then all the money we’ve put into it over the past year is gone, pfft.”

“Say something,” said Hana. “Do something!”

Soo-Ja thought about her options. She could go speak to Hyung-Soon Oh, the organizer of the gye, and tell her what Eun-Mee was doing. But the thing was, she didn’t want to be a tattletale, and, more practically, if Hyung-Soon confronted Eun-Mee and the others, she knew they would all deny it and say it was just a slanderous rumor. Soo-Ja could go to each of them separately and reveal Eun-Mee’s plans, but there was no guarantee they’d believe her. Eun-Mee struck her as a smart improviser who could charm her way out of any situation. Finally, Soo-Ja could speak to Eun-Mee directly, and demand that she withdraw from the gye, or else she’d expose her. Would she believe her bluff?

Soo-Ja did not have a chance to make a decision, as out of nowhere Eun-Mee herself appeared in front of her. She pulled up a chair and sat next to her. She was fuming, her face pinched like a small ball, her gaze burning into Soo-Ja’s skin. She placed her hand on top of hers, like a lover, and she spoke with the clarity of stones being dropped into a river.

“Awfully sneaky of you to send your daughter to spy on me,” said Eun-Mee.

Hana pretended not to hear her, though she could not help occasionally shooting daggers at Eun-Mee with her eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Soo-Ja.

“What did she tell you, Soo-Ja?” asked Eun-Mee, with a sharp edge in her voice. “What did she hear?”

“You already know the answer to that, or you wouldn’t have come here to speak to me,” Soo-Ja replied, nonchalant.

“I’m oversensitive, that’s all, that your daughter—with her adorable ears—may have misunderstood what I said to Mrs. Kang. I simply wished my sincerest hopes that she should be blessed soon with the gye. She’s very deserving, you know.”

“Not as deserving as quite a few other people here,” Soo-Ja said, unswayed by Eun-Mee’s charm. “Like the woman whose shoes you were mocking earlier. Or Bog-yan Lim, whose tailor shop caught fire last month when her clerk left some candles unattended. If I don’t get the money myself, I’m hoping she will.” Soo-Ja pointed discreetly at Mrs. Lim, a serious-looking woman with long, permed hair sitting a few tables away. Mrs. Lim had not told anyone about the fire; Soo-Ja was one of the few people who knew.

Eun-Mee rolled her eyes. “She doesn’t dress very well for a tailor. I can’t imagine she has that many clients.” Then, Eun-Mee fixed her gaze upon Soo-Ja again, speaking barely above a whisper: “Don’t even think of saying anything about this to anyone, especially my husband. If you have to gossip, then do it after they count all the votes and hand out the money.”

Soo-Ja moved her hand away from hers and sat with her back very straight. Eun-Mee, however, remained leaning forward toward her awkwardly, as if she were frozen in the middle of a bow.

“Eun-Mee, you’re going to go to Mrs. Oh and tell her you’re withdrawing yourself for consideration this month. And then next month, you’ll compete fair and square, without making any deals.”

Eun-Mee stifled a laugh. “Hana’s mother, you’ll never get anywhere with that mentality. Half the room is making deals, and the other half are suckers.”

This made Soo-Ja snap. Was she one of the suckers?

“This is your first time at our gye! How can you expect to win the pot? Why don’t you just