Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Everything had gotten messed up. It had been a tough day and left her tired. Lee-yeon sat on the sofa, holding one of her favorite flowerpots in her arms. She was looking for comfort in her plants. She instinctively looked up at the second floor. She was startled. She shook her head to clear her mind.

What am I even doing? I shouldn’t even be turning my eyes that way. That man has nothing to do with me!

It had been a peaceful, uneventful week like Lee-yeon had always wanted. She had finally found some form on peace in her life, and she relished it. But the longer Kwon Chae-woo slept, the more sleepless nights Lee-yeon suffered. After the chaotic nights and days, she had lived with because of that man, this peace and quiet felt unsettling.

She hated to admit it, but she had lived two years with the plant-like man. She had formed a kind of balance. Maybe this was meant to happen. Lee-yeon became excessively paranoid and checked on him every night to make sure he was in a coma and not awake.

“Oh, no, no. Just stop thinking… stop thinking….” Lee-yeon leaned forward and stuck her nose among the herbal leaves of the plant she was holding.

Lee-yeon raised her head suddenly. What was that?!

It was faint, but she heard a soft cry from somewhere. Frightened, she sat up straight and alert. The first thing she saw in front of her were the stairs to the second floor. She looked at them suspiciously. Lee-yeon momentarily debated with herself on what she should do, then cautiously took the stairs. She opened the shabby door on the second floor.

The lamp by the bedside gave off a dim light. The man who slept on the bed was so motionless that he might have been more of a statue than a human.

But I did hear something… Lee-yeon put her fingers close to Kwon Chae-woo’s nose and mouth. She could feel his breath brushing her skin. She then stood up and looked around the room. Wasn’t the sound coming from here?

She saw Kwon Chae-woo’s mouth open slightly. Her body stiffened instinctively. But the man didn’t wake up, and words coming from his mouth weren’t of threat but of sorrow. He was sobbing in his sleep.

“Ahh….”

Her whole body froze, starting with her ankles. Kwon Chae-woo was crying. Thick drops of tears fell from the corners of his eyes.

“No…,” he mumbled. His dry lips barely uttered understandable words. “Go. Go now….”

His face was scrunched up in pain. Is he having a nightmare? Lee-yeon was puzzled. Well, this is new. I never thought murderers had nightmares. If you have done so many heinous things, then you deserve a nightmare. It’s Karma.

As she looked down at him, she felt that a weight had been lifted off her chest. Her eyes were fixed on his tears. After a moment he began gasping.

“Hide me…,” he stammered. “Forget…”

The man kept mumbling incoherently. Lee-yeon couldn’t make sense of his words at all. He looked desperate and even sad.

“Hide me…!”

His handsome face was now distorted in pain. Lee-yeon clenched and unclenched her hands not knowing what she was supposed to do at this moment. Choo-ja had praised his handsome features when she had seen him for the first time. While Lee-yeon had nodded, she had also known that he was a cold-hearted murderer, who would break anyone’s neck while they were sneaking a peek at his face.

But now, he just looks like he is trying to run away from something.

“—live…,” he gasped.

Lee-yeon had to admit that she was worried about him. She turned away to go back downstairs but couldn’t stop herself from glancing back again. She hesitantly turned to him and reached out a hand to wipe his tears, at least. When her hand touched his heated skin, she got a static shock. She pulled her hand away.

“Looks like you don’t want to sleep, Kwon Chae-woo,” said Lee-yeon. “But I don’t want you to wake up.”

“Please… I….”

He had only seen him sleeping. His face had either been cold or blank. Seeing him like this, sad and in tears, was strange. She wiped her hands on her pajamas. So, you are human, indeed. I had hoped you weren’t…

“But I won’t feel guilty if you don’t wake up forever… maybe just a little. But it’s better this way.” Lee-yeon ruffled her hair. “I feel less sympathy for you than the trees out in the streets.” Lee-yeon let out a long, weary sigh and sat down on the chair beside the bed. Resting her chin on her lap, she began mumbling rambling, “Trees are clear and gentle while you belong to the poisonous group. Do you know how tricky it is to handle plants like you? Carnivorous plants are very scary.”

“Don’t cry,” said Lee-yeon as she wiped his tears away again. “You have to wipe your tears yourself.”

“I couldn’t cry because even when I did, no one heard me,” said Lee-yeon sadly. Only the trees, the flowers that bloom every season, listened to her story. For Lee-yeon, who had never had any friends, they have been her only companions.

“Today, I tasted the soil under the tree. It was very salty, but it shouldn’t taste like that,” she continued. “Are your tears like that too?”

It was Lee-yeons choice to either help Kwon Chae-woo out of his nightmare, or just leave him be. She leaned towards him and whispered in his ear.

“Who poured seawater on you?” she asked. The man didn’t answer but he frowned. His nose wrinkled. Kwon Chae-woo continued to gasp and groan.

“Today, you look like a ginkgo tree I saw at the sushi restaurant,” Lee-yeon grumbled.

There are times when you deceive yourself and make bad decisions even when you know it could turn out to be dangerous. Lee-yeon faced him trying to forget the mild fever that she had had all day and trying to not run away in fear at what she was about to do.

“Consider this a birthday present,” she mumbled. Today had been a very bad day and she wanted to cry. She made up her mind and lay down next to the man.