This Burns My Heart Page 0,96

had no doubt that Jae-Hwa would lend her the money. In fact, she imagined them investing together, buying adjacent acres of land, calling each other with news of each year’s favorable jump in value. Jae-Hwa would never say no to her. That, in essence, was Soo-Ja’s mind-set before she saw her friend, and it may, in the end, have been the thing that got her in trouble.

“You look exactly the same! Not a day older than when we were in college.” Jae-Hwa gasped at Soo-Ja, her arms outstretched, coming into the hotel. Soo-Ja quickly moved out from behind the counter and embraced Jae-Hwa.

“You look wonderful, too!” said Soo-Ja, directing her to the chairs in the waiting area, where they sat down.

“How old are you now?” asked Jae-Hwa. “Thirty-six? Thirty-seven?”

“Jae-Hwa, you know we’re the same age—thirty-four. But thank you. You look wonderful, too.” She did: Jae-Hwa had a well-rested look on her face, pleasantly plump, with that paleness that was in fashion at the time, one that indicated not a day spent laboring under the hot sun. Jae-Hwa wore a light pink suit-jacket with an embroidered white round collar, and a white cashmere hat.

“No, I’m serious. I’m witnessing a miracle. Your skin does not have any lines. You are the modern woman. You work hard, you cry, you suffer, but at the end of the day, you always remember to put on Pond’s night cream over your face.”

Soo-Ja laughed, partly because she found her funny, but partly to tell her how happy she was to be with a friend. Friends seemed like such a luxury these days, to be savored like the rare pieces of chocolate smuggled into the house during the war. “You talk about my so-called beauty more than most men I’ve known.”

“Women always notice these things more than men. Because it affects us more, I suppose,” said Jae-Hwa, sitting close to her, her knees touching Soo-Ja’s. “You’ll never know what it’s like to be me, you’ve always been the prettiest girl in the room.” Jae-Hwa said this matter-of-factly, without resentment.

“You have no reason to envy me. Things turned out so well for you.”

“Only because of you, Soo-Ja. If you hadn’t dragged me out of that first marriage, out of that vile drunk’s house, I would never have met Woo-suk.”

Soo-Ja waved her gratitude away. “Don’t credit me with that. You would have left him eventually.”

“No, I wouldn’t have,” said Jae-Hwa, and Soo-Ja could tell she meant it. “I didn’t have the courage. Lucky for me, Woo-suk doesn’t hit me. I don’t think he has the energy.”

“Jae-Hwa! You’re going to shock all my guests. How long are you in town for? Do you have time to go to a coffeehouse?”

Jae-Hwa gave her the broadest of grins. “Only if the time is spent wisely. Let’s speak ill of other people!”

“Excellent. Let me just tell Miss Hong to watch the front desk. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Jae-Hwa smiled, with her lips sucked in, as if holding her breath, then began tapping her purse with her gloved fingers while Soo-Ja went looking for the chambermaid. Miss Hong was not in her station, or in any of the guest rooms, and Soo-Ja did not see her housekeeping cart anywhere. Soo-Ja then realized she had not seen her all morning, and some of the rooms had not been cleaned yet. She was about to walk to the second floor and look there, when she decided, out of some instinct she hoped would be proved wrong, to check her own room instead.

When she neared the door, Soo-Ja could hear her husband’s voice. He spoke in a familiar manner, without the honorific -io at the end of each sentence, as if talking to a social inferior.

“I do a lot more around here than people think. Just today, I went to the bank to deposit some checks. And the day before, I ran some errands for Soo-Ja. She acts like it’s all on her shoulders, but it’s just part of her martyr act. She loves playing the victim.”

Soo-Ja abruptly slid the door open. Miss Hong was there, indeed, and looked quite startled to see her. Min sat next to her on the floor; they were playing a game of baduk. It looked like Min was winning, his black pieces surrounding Miss Hong’s white ones on the wooden board. Or was it the other way around, and Miss Hong’s white pieces were the ones actually encroaching upon the black ones? Soo-Ja could never tell, looking at the game