"......A wife you don't even remember suddenly appeared. From Kwon Chae-woo's perspective, I was worried about how unsettling and uncomfortable this must be......"
"You did this for me?"
He asked back without sincerity.
Just as Yi-yeon, quite satisfied with her own quick wit, was nodding her head vigorously, Kwon Chae-woo suddenly bent at the waist to meet her eye level.
"Fuck off."
"......!"
"You call that consideration? I don't like it, Yi-yeon."
Since waking up, he had consistently used a docile tone, yet ironically, it was far from polite.
"You said it's legally determined. So are you planning to abandon your own kin?"
In the darkness, only his pupils glistened like oil.
"Someone raked my entire mind clean with a claw, yet only So Yi-yeon's face hovers clearly."
"......"
"I guess I really am a husband. When you try to cast me aside, my head heats up instantly."
That's just...... because Kwon Chae-woo's nature is foul......
Unable to retort like that, Yi-yeon could only awkwardly move her lips.
Ruined, ruined.
Yi-yeon had to struggle desperately to keep her crumbling expression from being noticed.
Even so, the probing hadn't ended yet. Kwon Chae-woo had a natural talent for instinctively gaining the upper hand, but at the same time, there existed the weakness of knowing nothing.
On the other hand, Yi-yeon could freely maneuver using his gaps like a steering wheel. Knowing the truth alone was a very good card.
But the problem was—
"I must have really loved Yi-yeon."
No! You tried to kill me!
Once again, he had seized the initiative.
She had to admit that her own scheme had become another trap.
Right at this very moment when murderous intent disguised itself as love.
* * *
Yi-yeon was pulling an empty cart carrying the swaying man.
She felt a gaze tugging at the back of her head, but Yi-yeon absolutely did not look back. Only the sound of insects filled the silence between the two.
"How old am I?"
Kwon Chae-woo asked abruptly, resting his arm on the cart.
"Um......"
Now even a single insignificant question made her think deeply. This was practically a minefield. One wrong step and it was bound to explode.
"I'm thirty-two......"
Yi-yeon stole a glance at the man's face.
His handsome face, without a single crease, made it difficult to pinpoint his age. Put him in a uniform and he'd look like a student ignorant of the world's ways; put him in a suit and he'd look like a seasoned businessman.
"Y-you're the same age as me."
He nodded slowly as if inputting information.
"But we used formal speech with each other?"
"......Kwon Chae-woo was always so dignified and polite."
Yi-yeon felt like thorns were growing on her tongue trying to say things that weren't true.
Trees have the ability to create new branches. Now she saw that lies were the same. Once sprouted, a lie extended uncontrollably.
"Then what did I do?"
"......"
Yi-yeon was lost for words again.
Kwon Chae-woo was very good at burying people......
"Um......, that's......"
When Yi-yeon hesitated, the man lightly touched her elbow. Even at that brief contact, Yi-yeon's shoulder flinched, and she ended up crying out before she knew it.
"You planted things in the ground really well!"
"Planted? What?"
"......Th-that's."
Human bodies......
"......Flowers."
"What?"
"Kwon Chae-woo planted flowers at, at my hospital."
She wanted to sew her own mouth shut.
* * *
The man was dirty with soil and had many wounds where his skin had been scraped from dragging on the ground. After he finished showering, Yi-yeon applied simple medicine to him.
The red scratches looked painful just seeing them, making her frown instinctively. However, Kwon Chae-woo didn't let out a single groan. Only his calm breathing扰乱ed Yi-yeon's mind. Each time, Yi-yeon's fingertips trembled slightly, and she wished for this night to end quickly.
"Let's sleep together."
"......What?"
Yi-yeon looked up blankly.
"We're a married couple, so are we supposed to sleep separately?"
At the utterly innocent question, her face instantly turned crimson.
"Th-that's, Kwon Chae-woo is still a patient and......"
"I am a patient, but I'm no longer a vegetable."
Saying that, the eyes looking at Yi-yeon were perfectly straight. She unconsciously scooted her hips backward toward the edge of the mattress.
Marital duties were something Yi-yeon hadn't calculated. The ripple effect caused by a single lie now hit her skin. Her heart raced rapidly at the realization that it could no longer be undone.
"Is it because I'm unfamiliar?"
"......"
"Because I'm different from the husband Yi-yeon remembers?"
"That's......"
"Then I'll just breathe like a plant."
He gazed steadily with transparent eyes.
"I won't treat you carelessly, I won't force anything, and I won't threaten you—I'll act like the husband Yi-yeon used to know."
The moments of brutality all seemed like a mirage, and for some reason, the eyes visible through his wet hair looked desolate.
"So sleep with me."
Even without his efforts, it would end once he fell asleep anyway. The doctor had said that once Kwon Chae-woo fell asleep, no one knew when he would wake again. So putting him to sleep was the urgent priority.
Hiding her ulterior motives, Yi-yeon took her place beside him without a word. The bed wasn't wide, but it was enough for two people to lie side by side. The characteristic hospital disinfectant smell faintly rose from the blankets.
"There's a lot I want to ask."
He turned only his head to look at Yi-yeon. Even with the gaze piercing like an arrow, she stared fixedly at the ceiling.
"......What are you most curious about?"
"How did I become a vegetable?"
Count from the beginning. Yi-yeon's throat bobbed significantly.
"......We went to the mountains together and fell in an accident."
"Yi-yeon too?"
He cautiously furrowed his brow.
"I-I wasn't hurt much."
Depending on how it was heard, it was an ambiguous statement. It could mean she was hurt, or that she wasn't. A sentence with a hole carved out for future excuses. Yi-yeon's heart skipped like a stone on water.
"Then you've been nursing me since then?"
"......The medical staff suffered more than I did."
This thin lie, the moment it was discovered, would be torn to shreds by merciless claws. Beasts were originally sharp of scent and quick to read situations. Yi-yeon felt like she was walking on thin ice.
"For now, just think about your body. You'll be able to meet your family soon. Kwon Chae-woo has an older brother."
"I don't know who that is."
He replied indifferently and took her hand. When Yi-yeon flinched, he gripped her hand even tighter. Though only her hand was caught, strangely her whole body felt bound.
"The person I need right now is Yi-yeon."
"......"
"That only my wife's face hovers must mean I loved her that deeply."
Love...... Suddenly her parents' faces surfaced like awls. Yi-yeon pressed her lips firmly shut and only breathed out, as if holding back a curse.
Suddenly raising his upper body, Kwon Chae-woo pulled the blanket bunched at their feet over the two of them. At the warmth that enveloped them in an instant, Yi-yeon only blinked. It was a coziness enough to rapidly put the day's fatigue to sleep. As she instinctively rubbed her cheek against the blanket, her eyes happened to meet his directly.
"When did we get married?"
"Two years ago......?"
"Then did I ever cry because I hated you?"
"What?"
"From the honeymoon, I only nursed my sick husband."
This is the worst, he muttered unexpectedly sensible words.
"I was used to patients who couldn't speak, so I didn't cry."
"How long did we date?"
"Th-that's......"
The difficulty of the questions was gradually rising. But a solo who had lived her whole life alone couldn't possibly spin someone else's dating story plausibly and gracefully.
"Just, right after we met......"
"Right after?"
If she said they got married right away, would that be strange? Still, on this island, international marriages with Southeast Asian women were quite visible, and matchmaking meetings seen in teahouses were still numerous. As Yi-yeon was lost in thought, he curved his eyebrows upward.
"One night stand?"
"What?"
"Did you sleep together right after meeting? And after trying it, thought 'this is the man'?"
"......"
When she silently moved her lips, he laughed freely.
"To think I forgot that—what a waste."
The corner of his mouth curving up refreshingly was innocent. Especially when eyes that seemed to have been used only for looking down on and threatening people curved in the opposite direction. Yi-yeon watched the sight with her mouth open. It was exactly like having a bad dream while awake.
"Yi-yeon had quite a bold side too."
"That's not it......!"
Just having incurred such a misunderstanding made somewhere in her heart uncomfortable. However, compared to shouting in rebuttal, there was no appropriate story to add.
Interpreting that brief silence in his own way, Kwon Chae-woo tilted his head. Then, his back hair brushed against the pillow with a soft sweep.