Chapter 083: Life must go on…

Jihoon had been sitting on the living room sofa, watching Yumi tidy up. He wanted to speak to her but hesitated, unsure what to say.

After Yumi locked her door, he remained silent too.

Finally, weighed down by his own thoughts, he went back to his room to prepare for bed.

That night, both lay awake, their minds heavy with worry.

The night passed without words.

**

The next morning, Yumi rose much earlier than usual for work.

After preparing breakfast, she spent an unusually long time washing up and applying makeup.

The torment of the past two days had left her looking haggard.

Life must go on… she had to go to work today and couldn’t let anyone notice her state of mind, so she had to put extra effort into her appearance.

After spending considerable time perfecting her makeup, Yumi stood before the mirror, repeatedly adjusting her expression to match her usual self.

Yet after several attempts, her smile still appeared painfully forced.

When the time was right, Yumi knocked on Jihoon’s door instead of barging in as she usually did to wake him.

Jihoon emerged bleary-eyed; he’d stayed up late the night before too.

The two ate breakfast in silence before heading off to school together.

I skipped the daytime hours when they were both out and adjusted the surveillance footage to the evening after they returned from school.

After getting home, Yumi prepared dinner, and they ate quietly.

Yumi still ate very little.

After dinner, Yumi tidied up the house, then returned to her bedroom and locked the door.

She no longer helped Jihoon with his homework like she used to.

After dinner, Jihoon returned to his room.

Deep in thought, he finished his homework and lay down in bed, preparing to sleep.

But his mood was off too—he seemed terribly frightened and helpless, revealing his childlike nature only afterward.

Yumi lay in bed with her eyes closed, occasionally getting up to dial my number.

When the voice prompt sounded, she would slump back down, defeated.

She was calling me.

But after that night, my phone remained switched off, just as it had been before.

If my phone had turned back on during those days, Yumi might still have confessed to me.

I imagine she’s been contemplating it these past two days, occasionally glancing at her phone with a look of regret.

It seems she deeply regrets not telling me that night.

For the next five days, Yumi and Jihoon barely spoke.

Each morning, they ate breakfast together before heading to school.

After returning from classes in the evening, Yumi cooked dinner.

Once they finished eating, Yumi would retreat to her bedroom while Jihoon did his homework alone before going to bed early.

Jihoon, being a child, slept soundly without a care, drifting off the moment his head hit the pillow.

Yumi, however, tossed and turned until midnight, waking early each morning with a visibly exhausted expression.

She spent considerable time each morning applying makeup to conceal her weariness.

When another weekend arrived, a slight change finally came to their lives.

After school on Friday evening, Yumi and Jihoon returned home.

Yumi’s spirits had improved considerably after days of adjustment, but that night she seemed deeply preoccupied—not with the emotional turmoil of losing her virginity, but with a mix of anger and worry.

Jihoon followed Yumi home silently, head bowed.

She tossed her handbag onto the sofa and, unlike usual, didn’t start cooking.

Instead, she sat down cross-armed, clearly upset.

“Spill it. What’s going on?”

After pondering for a moment on the couch, Yumi pulled an exam paper from her bag and confronted Jihoon.

Jihoon, who had been standing awkwardly by the door, froze at her question, suddenly tense.

It felt like everything had come full circle.

“Speak up. Why are you acting so bashful now? I thought you were so capable? So uninhibited?”

Yumi grew increasingly agitated as she spoke, even bringing up the events of that night.

“Fifth from the bottom of the class… I can’t believe you actually managed that…”

Yumi slammed the paper onto the coffee table.

It turned out there had been another mid-month test, and Jihoon’s results were far from ideal.

In the past, Yumi used to happily tell me that Jihoon would rank first or second in the class.

Not long ago, Yumi had gone to great lengths to tutor Jihoon privately because he had once ranked third in the class… a result she had found unacceptable.

As a teacher, Yumi was extremely sensitive to her students’ grades and rankings, especially when it came to her own adopted son.

I imagine the moment Yumi saw Jihoon’s results today, she must have been furious.

Her anger even overshadowed her sadness at that moment.

She glared at Jihoon with a fierce look in her eyes, revealing her disappointment at his failure to live up to her expectations.

It was no wonder Yumi reacted this way.

Fifth from the bottom in the class, compared to Jihoon’s previous performance, it couldn’t have been worse.

In just one short week, his grades had plummeted to this dismal state.

Standing there silently, Jihoon clung to the thought: “Confess and get leniency, or resist and face harsher punishment.”

“It’s all because of what happened these past few days…”

Unable to bear the growing silence, Jihoon muttered under his breath.

Though his voice was faint, Yumi heard him clearly.

Jihoon meant that after that night between them, the atmosphere at home these past days, coupled with his own mental turmoil, had made it impossible for him to focus on his studies.

It was understandable.

With what had happened, Yumi’s reaction and Jihoon’s own inner fear had completely derailed his ability to learn.

This statement might have been his honest inner thoughts and the truth, but to Yumi’s ears, it sounded very different.

“Whose fault is it, anyway? And you have the nerve to act like you’re in the right…”

Upon hearing Jihoon’s words, Yumi suddenly understood everything.

Simultaneously, the painful memories of that night flooded back.

She could no longer hold back her emotions, bursting into loud sobs.

Then, she screamed, grabbed the test papers from the coffee table and struck Jihoon with them.

These past days, Yumi had been avoiding it, refusing to revisit that night.

But now, she had no choice but to confront the chain of consequences that night had set in motion…

¹

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