“Where were you this whole time?” he asked again, before she could respond to his first question. “The only face I remember is yours. But I couldn’t open the door.” He groaned. Ignorance and confusion filled his eyes.
The door on the second floor through which Lee-yeon used to enter the room could not open from the inside. He had smashed the back door and crawled on the floor just as Lee-yeon had entered the room. As she recalled the series of events, she shuddered.
Kwon Chae-woo was not normal. He had woken up after twelve days of sleep all covered in sweat, dirt and blood. But there was still hope.
A sign that it might be the last.
Instinctively, an idea hit her. It was time.
“I… don’t know what you’re talking about.” When Lee-yeon pretended to not know anything, the man tilted his head and frowned. “Maybe you had a long, vivid dream,” she continued. “I am the doctor who looks after you, and…”
She felt a prick of her conscience. “This is the village foreman’s farm. We should leave quickly. I will compensate for the chicken.”
The man who was still frowning, looked at Lee-yeon as she spoke.
“Kwon Chae-woo, do you remember that you were asleep all this time? You were terribly sick and unconscious. It is normal to be confused. But don’t worry. You were dreaming. You are awake now.” She put emphasis on ‘dreaming’ just to be sure. “Everything you think you saw or heard; it was your brain playing tricks on you. A coping mechanism. You need to rest. Then you will feel better.”
However, Lee-yeon overlooked something. Her plan to dismiss everything as a ‘dream’ might backfire on her.
“A dream?” said the man, slowly licking the blood away from his lips. It seems like he was truly awake now. “I see.” He pointed to Lee-yeon’s lower body. “If it wasn’t a dream, you wouldn’t be standing here like this.”
Puzzled, she looked down at her legs. Just then his low voice caught her ears. “I only dreamed of having s*x the whole time I slept,” he said.
Lee-yeon couldn’t respond. “With my wife,” he said, “I was in and out between your legs.”
Lee-yeon almost screamed. Her whole body froze at his words. “So, I am not confused,” he said, “I remember clearly.”
She took a step back, instinctively. Does he remember everything that happened? The day we met on the mountain…
“I have a wife,” he said, as he walked forwards towards her. “And she is trying to run away right about now.”
He walked towards her, neither too fast nor too slow. Lee-yeon desperately wanted to run away. Her legs trembled. She had planned this trap, but she was the one caught in its snare. When he was close enough to reach out and touch her, Lee-yeon finally made herself pull away.
“You wanted to ditch me because your husband was now a sick good-for-nothing man?”
He is not an idiot.
“What’s your name? Don’t make me ask you again.”
“I… I am So Lee-yeon,” she said finally.
“So, Lee-yeon. Lee-yeon.” Kwon Chae-woo licked his lips and swallowed her name, along with the blood on his lips.
“Why are you trying to leave me? Did I become so useless to you just because I can’t use my body properly?”
Something was definitely wrong. Something with force wrapped around her ankle tightly. She couldn’t tell whether it was a shackle, the gravity of the swamp or the tail of the beast but one thing she was irrevocably sure of was that she was in danger. Her body felt the danger and was ready to run.
“Kwon Chae-woo, that’s not what I was―”
“No?”
Now the situation was completely reversed. Lee-yeon could only twiddle her thumbs. She barely managed to come up with a good enough reason.
“A wife that you can’t remember having appeared right in front of you, so I thought it would affect you. I thought it might make you uncomfortable and make you feel overwhelmed. So, that was why I was…”
“So, you are telling me you did that for my safety?” He asked with such a voice devoid of emotion that it made her doubt herself. But Lee-yeon decided that was a suitable excuse and nodded her head in affirmative.
“Bullshit,” he said. “Why are you doing something that I didn’t even ask for? I don’t want that.”
Ever since he woke up, he had used a polite tone of voice with her. But that docile, polite voice still felt devoid of emotion right now. “You told me we are married under the eyes of the law, but suddenly you are trying to give me up?”
She could see his eyes glimmering in the dark. “Someone tore everything in my mind but yours is the only face I remember,” he continued. “I really must be your husband. I was off my mind when I realized you were trying to give me up.”
That’s because you are naturally evil. Lee-yeon tried to say something but couldn’t utter a word. I am seriously dead…
Lee-yeon had to pretend like everything was okay. She couldn’t break down right now. This could turn even worse. However, it seemed his interrogation wasn’t over yet. He had an innate talent for appearing intimidating, but his weakness was that he couldn’t remember anything.
Lee-yeon had that advantage. She could steer him wherever she wanted using his lack of memory as a tool. But her plan had backfired.
“I guess I loved you a lot,” he said.
No, you didn’t, you idiot! You tried to kill me! Her plan had entrapped her. And now his murderous intent had turned into love.