CHAPTER 3

Chan woke up instantly regretting the decision to get obliterated off of a bottle of vodka. He literally felt an ache in every single muscle in his body, along with agonizing sharp pains in his stomach. He could tell he wasn't as young as he used to be. Back in his early twenties he could drink all night, wake up and do it all over again the next day. Not so much anymore, as he was slowly learning.

As he pulled himself out of the bed in the pool house, he felt dizzy and he was almost certain he was going to throw up. When his mouth began salivating, he knew for sure. He drug himself to the bathroom, where he immediately fell on his knees in front of the toilet. After his stomach was emptied, he spent the next five minutes dry heaving into the toilet bowl. After he was completely drained and the convulsions stopped, he pulled off all of his clothes and stepped under the cold spray of the shower. He felt like a fucking idiot. He just wanted to crawl under a rock. His kids were probably awake, being fed breakfast and he was hunched against the shower wall in the pool house trying to pull himself together. And to top it all off, his wife was a cunt, who was determined to ruin his life.

After getting out of the shower, Chan dressed in the same clothes and slowly made his way back into the main house, being sure to avoid all human life on the way upstairs.

When he walked into his and Jihye's bedroom, Jihye was just walking out of the bathroom towelling her damp hair. She was completely naked, but Chan was determined to keep his eyes off of her. He didn't need to torture himself by getting a hard-on whose only chance of being fucked was by being fucked over.

"Where were you all night?" She asked him immediately.

"Out," he grumbled, grabbing his cell phone off his night stand, checking to see if he missed any calls.

"What do you mean, 'out'?" She snapped.

"I was in the fucking pool house, Jihye," he snapped back.

"You look like shit," she replied, staring at him.

"Thanks a lot. As if you haven't crushed my spirits enough in the past twelve hours," he shot at her, completely avoiding looking in her direction. Jihye sighed.

"Chan, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings—" She started.

"I really don't want to hear it right now, Jihye," he said, disregarding her altogether.

"I think we need to talk about this, Chan," she insisted.

"Well, I don't want to," he said, finally looking in her direction. She had her towel wrapped around her body and her wet hair dangling on her shoulders.

"But—" She started to protest.

"You know what? In fact, I think I am going to go visit Felix for a few days," he told her.

"You're just going to leave?" She spat at him.

"Yes. Because I can't even stand to look at you right now," he said, walking into the closet to change into his running clothes.

"Why would you say something like that?" He heard her from the doorway.

"Because it's the truth," he snapped, glancing back at her for a split second before he started peeling away the dirty clothes from his body.

Once he fully changed and laced up his tennis shoes, he turned around to see Jihye still standing in the doorway, silently crying.

"Bloody hell," Chan grumbled under his breath.

Jihye had this face she made when she cried that was just so unattractive. She was such a beautiful woman, but every time she would cry she turned into this blubbering, hideous thing.

"I really don't have time for this," Chan sighed, wanting more than anything to not be trapped in the closet by the crying beast.

"You are such an asshole," she yelled at him.

"I'm an asshole? Let's talk about the level of bullshit I put up with from you on a daily basis. Let's talk about how you lied to me for five fucking years about something you should have discussed with me in the first place because it affects both of us! It affects this whole goddamn family, Jihye. Who's the fucking asshole, huh?" Chan shot at her.

His rant only made her cry and blubber even harder, thus annoying him even more.

"I'm going for a run," he grumbled, moving past her through the doorway.

"Fuck you," she shot at him.

"Fuck me? Well, you don't do that, now do you?" He threw at her meanly before he stalked across the room to the bathroom and slammed the door.

After Chan calmed himself down from his fight with his wife, he freshened up before he exited out through the main door in the bathroom instead of the one that led to the bedroom. He had no desire to see Jihye's self-loathing tears.

Chan prepared himself before he stepped into the living room. His kids didn't need to see the frown on his face. They didn't need to know of the problems their parents were having. He could hear both Jaehyun and Areum giggling at the TV as they watched cartoons. Chan walked in with a smile on his face, greeting the two loves of his life before rounding them up to get them fed. The three of them walked into the kitchen together and Chan poured them each a bowl of cereal before heading toward the coffee pot. He still felt like shit from his drunken night and could use a little pick-me-up.

Chan stood against the counter talking with his kids for a little while. They could make him smile on the worst day. Jaehyun was going on and on about how excited he was to join the summer soccer league. And Chan was so super excited for him.

Minhee came into the kitchen not long after, ready to begin her first day of nannying.

"Good morning, Minhee," Chan said to her.

"Good morning, Mr. Bang," she replied.

"Please, call me Chan," he told her for like the twelfth time.

"I'd rather not blur the lines," Minhee told him curtly, causing Chan to stare at her in disbelief.

"Ohh-kay," he said under his breath as he turned back toward the coffee pot to refill his mug.

As soon as Aera walked in the kitchen, Chan's eyes were on her. She was wearing denim shorts, paired with a tank top and zip-up hoodie and Chan couldn't help but check out her long smooth legs as she entered the room. She gave him a smile before she went toward the coffee pot.

"Mugs?" She asked him.

"Cupboard right in front of you," Chan informed her. Aera reached up and pulled one out as Chan watched her hoodie ride up, exposing a little of her abdomen as she stretched.

"Thanks," Aera said as she poured her coffee.

"Cream or sugar?" Chan asked as he watched her.

"I usually take my first cup black because I am usually fiending of caffeine when I wake up. I get fancy once I am energized," Aera told him, blowing on the steaming hot liquid. He chuckled at her answer.

The way Aera was eyeing him through the steam off her cup was doing things to him he probably shouldn't have been feeling. That girl was going to be the death of him. And he secretly hated Jihye just a little bit for throwing that kind of temptation at him and then being her usual self. It made him want to act upon his urges. But he knew there would be hell to pay in many senses if he did, so he decided to remove himself from Aera's presence.

"Well, I'm headed out for a run. You got things handled here, Minhee?" Chan asked

"Yes, sir," she nodded, professionally.

Chan saluted her as a joke, but she didn't laugh. He looked back at Aera with an "oh my god" look on his face, which made her burst out laughing. Chan chuckled to himself as he dumped the rest of his coffee down the sink and rinsed the cup.

"Well, Aera. Enjoy your morning off. I'm sure these two..." Chan said, pointing to his kids, "will give you a run for your money later."

"We're going to have a blast, aren't we kids?" Aera asked them.

"YEAH!" They shouted.

"Awesome," Aera said, smiling at his kids, and then focused back on Aera

"I'll see you around," he said, squeezing her shoulder before he took off through the doorway of the kitchen. Was her skin supposed to tingle that much? The spot where Chan touched her felt electrified.

Chan gave both his kids a kiss on the head before he darted out the door for his much needed run. He really needed to run off the tension and run off his hangover.

Once Aera's initial cup of coffee was finished and she got a bagel in her system, she decided to relish in her morning off. First thing on her agenda – call her sister and rub it in that she was nannying for a member of SKZ. Jieun got a kick out of it, wanting regular updates – even though she herself was married with two kids. She asked if he was still hot and Aera told her "hell yeah, probably even hotter".

Second thing on her agenda – take some time by the pool. She wanted to get a tan this summer and the only way to do that was to sit in the sun. She decided she would go talk to Jihye first before she just sat around all morning. She might want her to be doing something else – something productive. As luck would have it, Jihye was knee deep in paperwork with her Bluetooth attached to her ear.

"By all means, enjoy your morning off," Jihye said, waving her off.

She didn't have to tell her twice. Aera went back to her room and put on her yellow polka dot bikini and a black cover up before heading out to the pool. It was shaping up to be a hot day already and it was only ten in the morning.

Chan pushed himself pretty hard on his run. He ended up having to take off his shirt and shove it in the back of his shorts because he was sweating so much. But it was needed. He needed to sweat the toxins out of his body. When he came back into the yard to start his post-stretching, his gaze fell onto the horizon. Australia was just so beautiful. Just looking around at where he was made him feel so much better. He had a good life, despite his wife trying to ruin it. He let out a content sigh, realizing it was true that exercising releases endorphins in the brain that could make you feel better. Because he did.

Seconds later, his vision fell on Aera laying on one of the lounge chairs by the pool, wearing only a teeny tiny bikini. He was wrecked at just the sight of her. Dear god. He could not pry his eyes away. You'd think a married man, who was in his thirties, could control himself. Apparently not him. His eyes were glued to her body. They raked up and down it as his brain thought up the most immoral of thoughts – all the dirty little things he wanted to do to her. He couldn't help it. And he couldn't stop.

Aera laid out for a little while before she noticed, through her sunglasses, that Mr. Bang was just a little ways across the yard doing stretches. Not only that, but his gaze was focused on her half-naked body. Aera waved at him and his line of vision quickly went up to her face. He waved back looking stunned, embarrassed that he was looking – gawking really.

Aera stood up from the lounge chair and put her cover up over herself, but didn't fasten it. She placed her flip flops on her feet and walked over to Chan who was now bending forward in a stretch. When he came back up she startled him.

"OH! Aera. Hi," he chuckled awkwardly.

"Hello, Mr. Bang," she cooed, smiling at him. He was sweaty and perfect after working out.

"Please, call me Chan. I am way too young to be known as Mr. Bang," he explained.

"Chan..." Aera breathed.

"So, you're taking advantage of your morning off, I see," he said, nodding toward the pool.

"Yes, sir," Aera said with a bright smile.

"So, the weather's nice," he said awkwardly. Oh, really. He wanted to talk about the weather?

"Mm-hmm," Aera hummed. She noticed Chan's line of vision fell to her breasts before he caught himself and looked back into her eyes.

"Is that all you do? Work out?" She asked, smiling at him.

"I've got to stay toned," he chuckled, sliding his palm across his abdomen subconsciously.

"I've noticed," Aera flirted and he chuckled once again.

"You won't be seeing me much the next couple of days. I'll be headed out to Sydney to catch up with my best mate, Felix," Chan informed her.

"Well, you'll have to tell him Jieun says 'hi'," Aera jokes.

"Ha! Yes. I will tell him he missed out on his one true love," Chan laughed.

"That he did," Aera laughed. Chan smiled widely at her.

He enjoyed her sense of humour. It sort of mirrored his in a way. They were quite similar. And Chan missed that in a companion.

"Well, Mr. Bang – uh, Chan. I should go in and change now. You see, I've got this job I'm supposed to be doing this summer. It's a really sweet gig," Aera said playfully.

"Sweet gig, huh?" He asked with a sideways smile.

"Oh, yeah. I get to live in this amazing house in Australia and the view... the view is nice," Aera said, checking him out in an obvious manner. And she could have sworn she saw his cheeks flush pink because he most definitely caught the innuendo.

"Yeah, it's an excellent view," he said, looking her over in the same obvious manner. Aera smirked before turning on her heels and making her way into the house.