Taehyung

"Morning!" I croak in my hoarse morning voice as I drag my feet into the kitchen to help myself to a cup of coffee.

"When did you come back last night?" Jang-Mi doesn't spare a glance at me, keeping her eyes only on the apple that she's slicing, and going by the force with which she's slicing it, I'm guessing that she's probably imagining the apple to be my neck.

"Around 12:30, I guess?" I don't spare her another glance as well; moving towards the coffee pot and pouring out a cup for myself.

Taking my cup of coffee, I head towards the dining table and sit down in one of the chairs. Today being Sunday, Areum is still sleeping, and I don't have to go to work as well.

Just when I spread out the newspaper and take a sip of my coffee, I hear Jang-Mi softly shutting the door to our daughter's bedroom. My eyes stay on her as she walks towards me, but what makes my breath hitch in my throat is the handcuff that she's holding in her hand.

The handcuff with its fur wrist cuffs is something that I bought many years ago while we were still having fun, and it has been so long that I almost entirely forgot about its existence in this household.

With my steady, unwavering gaze, I watch Jang-Mi get closer to me with an unreadable expression on her face. My blood rushes in excitement seeing my wife wanting to boldly initiate some hot foreplay first thing in the morning. Right now, every nerve cell in my body is awake and alert.

Morning sex is hot, and it's even hotter when we haven't laid a finger on each other for two long years, not to mention the handcuff, which is sure to spice things up.

My teeth begin gnawing at my lower lip when Jang-Mi softly takes my hand in hers and keeps her eyes fixed on me. Holding my hand is such a simple touch, but even that is making my stomach flip, and my skin sprouts goosebumps.

Licking my lips eagerly, I turn around a bit to sit facing her, my eyes slowly moving down to her chest and her slim waist that's in my straight line of sight, and some dirty thoughts invade my mind.

During our intimate moments, she has never been the vocal type, unlike I who keep vocalizing things. So, I take this closeness as the cue to proceed and bring my hand to hold her waist, and at that exact moment she cuffs my left wrist, the soft fur against my wrist bringing all my senses to life, and causing a rush of adrenaline in my lower half.

"Jang-Mi, Areum might wake up. How about we go to the bedroom?" I raise my eyebrows at her.

But she doesn't speak a word, instead, she locks the other end of the handcuff to the chair in which I am seated, causing my eyebrows to knit together, and my face to twist in confusion. Her actions are punctuated by the soft jingling sound of the keys that she drops inside the pocket of her apron with a sinister smirk on her face.

"What are you doing?" I ask when she takes a few steps back while I pull at the handcuff, hopelessly trying to break free.

"This is the only way to get you to sit down for a conversation. Otherwise you'd be like 'Hey, stop it. This topic is so boring' and you would just walk away, wouldn't you?" She states casually, pulling a chair to sit down facing me, as if nothing just happened here.

I feel so defeated and powerless, and even the way my body reacts perfectly aligns with this; I could literally feel my heart sink to my stomach and my hands grow cold and sweaty as well.

"Jang-Mi, what the hell? You could have just asked me that. This isn't how you treat someone, and your husband to top it all," I snarl through gritted teeth and tug at the handcuffs, my fists balling up in anger and irritation, and most of all in sheer disappointment.

"Really?" She huffs sarcastically. "Well, then you tell me how many days it has been since I asked you for the money to pay for Areum's ballet recital. It's in a week, and if we don't pay now, they're going to remove her from the performance. Is that what you want to happen? Huh?" She tilts her head to one side and questions me angrily.

"I forgot about it, and I will wire the money to you right away. But just fucking remove this thing," I yank my wrist and retort.

"Do it then," she grabs my phone from the dining table, takes my right hand in hers and places the phone in my palm, smiling softly thereafter, as though she didn't just treat me like a rag doll.

And this time, her touch doesn't excite me. It makes my skin crawl, and I feel as if I never want to experience this touch ever again.

"Take this off. I will do it," I'm almost pleading with her at this point.

If Areum walks out of her room and sees me handcuffed to the dining chair, it is sure to bring up a lot of questions which I am not in a state to answer.

"Do it. I promise, I'll take it off," there is not a trace of warmth in Jang-Mi's tone, and I know it's no use arguing or fighting her.

"How much?"

"Sixty thousand wons"

Cursing under my breath, I quickly open up my phone and transfer the money to her account, showing her the confirmation screen once it's done. Only after that she unlocks the handcuff and releases me from the bondage.

My coffee has gone cold, and I'm in no mood to eat or drink anything right now. I feel like a total failure. My wife sees me as nothing more than an ATM who provides money for her survival. How could she not notice the excitement and eagerness in my eyes when I saw the handcuffs? I even explicitly asked her for a change of location.

I can't believe she just did that to me to get the money for the ballet recital. This is a new low that our relationship has hit today, and it makes me feel worser than I've ever felt before.

My phone beeps with an incoming email and breaks me out of my depressing thoughts. Opening it up as I sit down on the couch, I get a little excited seeing that it is an email response for the new job that I applied for last week.

I have been selected to attend the interview tomorrow, and this news kind of raises my spirits a little and helps me feel better after the tragic handcuff episode that happened a while ago.

The rest of the day passes by with me completely ignoring Jang-Mi, and I spend my time in organizing my documents and certificates for the interview tomorrow, and also picking out a neat set of clothes to wear.

Later that evening, Areum and I spend some time learning the moves to solve the white face of the Rubik's cube, after which we all head to bed.

During dinner, I inform Jang-Mi about tomorrow's interview, and she doesn't react much or wish me good luck. She only nods carelessly, which means she isn't really hoping for the best, but she would also remember it very intently and most definitely ask me about it later.

After applying for an absence from work tomorrow, I head to bed, fully confident that I wouldn't be able to sleep, yet to try my best to get some shut-eye before my first interview in over ten years.

***

"Yes, Sir. Please wait in the lounge, you will be called soon," the receptionist informs me with a sweet smile.

Thanking her, I walk over to the lounge and sit down in one of the seats, my eyes scanning the three other people who are waiting along with me—two men and a woman—who have also most probably applied for the same job opening.

They make me grow a little nervous, the woman in particular looks very confident, younger than the others in the room, and she's pretty as well. Her dress seems like it has the power to win her this job, and I'm hoping that the interviewer isn't someone interested in women or bodies in general because if they choose to look at talent and experience, then I'm quite confident of nailing this, no matter what.

I keep praying that I shouldn't be called in first because there's something about being the first one to be picked from a group that makes me nervous. Being the last sucks as well, maybe second or third would work fine.

But much to my dismay, my name is called first, and I breathe out all my nervousness in one long breath and enter the interview room.

There is only one person inside, a senior man who seems quite grumpy, but I'm determined not to let his grumpiness affect my performance today.

I take a seat after greeting him, earning a small smile from him. He takes the file from my hand and flips through my certificates and other credentials from my current job at the company where I have been working for almost ten years now.

The questions he puts forward are not technical, and they are mostly scenario-based, which I handle quite well. He also runs through the usual questions which include why I would want to switch jobs after ten years of being with one company and other meaningless questions like where I would like to see myself in ten years from now and things like that.

Who even knows if we'd be alive after ten years.

I mean, in ten years, I could very well say that I wish to see myself as the CEO of this company, but that isn't really possible because in the real-world, I know that's not how hierarchy works, in combination with various other factors like nepotism, favoritism, bribes, and many other things.

So the answer that I give him is a very diplomatic and practical one that makes him laugh—I tell him that ten years from now, I wish to see myself in his position.

End of question and answer session.

The old man wishes me good luck and tells me to wait until he finishes interviewing the other candidates.

Stepping outside, I feel a lot more confident, and I also feel relieved. Maybe, being called in first wasn't so bad after all. I must have left an impression on the interviewer and set his bar at a certain level. Besides, I don't have to wait nervously until my turn arrives. I can relax now, not caring about the end results for a while.

After about an hour, all four candidates have been interviewed, and we are all waiting in the lounge to know what comes next. The two men other than me seem to have befriended each other, and they appear extremely cool and confident. The woman too appears confident as she crosses one leg over the other and sits comfortably in her seat.

I'm confident too, but my body language says otherwise, going by how I'm resting my elbows on my knees and bending over slightly, my hands clasped loosely.

"Hello, dear candidates," the voice of the receptionist makes us all turn our heads towards her. "Mr. Kim and Miss. Kwon will remain for the HR interview," she bows politely, letting the other two men know that it's time for them to leave—fortunately, I'm the only Mr. Kim in the room.

Do you think Taehyung will make it through and get this job?
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Also, double update today!!
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Published on : 04/23/2022