11 #2
George’s wife, Sobin, was a terrific mother and a leader of their social set.
Her father and uncle owned a successful real estate company in Northern California and a fast-growing one in Southern California led by her brother, Tommy.
George would never have been able to amass their holdings in Orange County without Sobin’s family’s support.
As the only son, Tommy was the chairman and co-owner of the company, but he did little to no work.
George alone had increased his father-in-law’s initial capitalization tenfold; however, no one was under any illusion that George, the second son of an office supply store owner, would have been able to become a wealthy man without his well-funded wife.
Only when it came to sex did George resent Sobin.
After their fourth child, she lost all interest in it, and for years, they slept in the same bed but never touched.
They were like a hand-holding brother and sister.
At eleven o’clock, George went to sleep, and Sobin never slept until the early hours of the morning.
When the children were at school, she napped.
Also, she was no longer the athletic size two who had once stunned him in a polka-dot bikini on a beach date.
She maintained her appearance as a trim, attractive middle-aged woman, but after four children, each of whom she’d breastfed for a year, the occasional yoga, Pilates, and running had not slowed her natural aging.
Sobin disliked the idea of plastic surgery or cosmetic dermatology to update her speckled and lined face.
“Those perky breasts look so fake,” she’d remark with contempt whenever she watched television.
George thought plastic surgery shouldn’t matter if a person looked and felt better afterward.
Sobin didn’t like shopping for clothes, and the athletic, no-nonsense things she’d worn as a young woman now made her look frumpy.
More than once, answering the door, she had been mistaken for the help, but she didn’t care.
George found her appealing enough, and he liked having a wife and mother who was admired by everyone.
For thrilling sex and deep conversation, George sought Danbi, who fulfilled those needs.
George had never expected a gorgeous woman like Danbi to seduce him, especially the way she had.
Just recalling the experience continued to arouse him.
There was something brazen and insane about her, and initially, he had not seen it.
He had been with hostesses, and he was smart enough not to get entangled with women who would need to be paid dearly for sex.
Women like that came with shadowy figures behind them, and George, believing himself to be clever, had avoided them.
He welcomed this married lover who wanted no-strings sex, friendship, and mentorship.
George didn’t understand how Taehun Shin could be so clueless and allow a stunning woman like Danbi to remain unsatisfied.
George had no idea that she was able to sleep with both men.
She needed sex all the time, and George, thinking that women were all like his wife, believed Danbi was sleeping mostly with him, which was not true.
The two lovers rotated among several hotels, but they usually went to the Hyatt in Huntington Beach, got a room with a water view, and never left, not even for food.
In the tub, Danbi would bathe him, then they would have sex, order room service, and talk for hours.
On most Saturday afternoons, when Anna was at her hagwons, Danbi met him at the Hyatt.
George found that he needed these meetings more and more; he would call her during the week to check if there were any openings in her schedule.
It was harder for her to get away then because she worked with Shin, but once, when he was desperate to see her, she met him in a movie theater for an hour to help him get through.
What allowed him to see her more often in public was her growing interest in real estate. Shin did not mind that George was teaching her how to flip houses. This side business was Danbi’s alone, they agreed. The money she earned, she said, was for Anna’s future.
George showed her the listings, introduced her to the best mortgage brokers, bankers, contractors, painters, plumbers, and electricians, and even an appliance wholesaler.
He taught her to buy fixer-uppers for low six figures.
Using hard-money loans with their short terms and high interest, she’d spend about $10,000 to fix the house, sell it in two months, and net $50,000 or $60,000 in profit.
Any buyer, it seemed, could get a mortgage.
She told Shin she made less and socked away the money in a private account.
After each closing, Danbi met George at a hotel to celebrate.