SATURDAY 63

While Mr. Taeseon was washing up, I came down to the living room, turned on the TV, and sat down. I usually don’t watch TV, so we didn’t even install one in the couple’s bedroom, but right now, I felt like I needed to hear the sound of human voices, whatever they might be. It was because of the anxiety that had been coiling in my stomach ever since leaving the hospital.

Lili was in my arms. I had laughed for a moment thanks to Lili, but the anxiety hadn’t completely vanished. Even when I was washing up alone, my heart felt so unsettled that I kept forcing my eyes open.

And after I finished and Mr. Taeseon went into the bathroom, being alone became even more uncomfortable.

With my feet gathered on the sofa, I stroked Lili and just stared blankly at a travel program whose content I couldn’t even grasp. The voices of the panels and the travel reporter chatting cheerfully soothed my anxiety, if only a little.

Unexplained anxiety usually improves once I take my medicine. However, the new hospital where I was admitted only prescribed a small amount of medicine, citing that I hadn’t had a formal consultation yet. I had finished those a long time ago.

The medicine Professor Jang prescribed remains, but even though it’s the same medicine, I didn’t want to take those.

“—When you think of ’emerald seas,’ this is the place that naturally comes to mind. This is Bohol in the Philippines….”

The deep blue sea of Bohol was appearing on the TV screen. The reporter marveled at the view from a boat before jumping into the water wearing a life jacket. The underwater world captured by the submersible camera was filled with colorful coral and swimming fish; it was truly beautiful.

The Philippines…. Mr. Taeseon is going on a business trip to Manila early tomorrow morning. The moment I had that thought, I suddenly became uncontrollably restless.

“Kkwa-ang.”

Lili suddenly lifted her head, climbed up my chest, and began rubbing her head against my face. Then, she gently licked my cheek with the tip of her tongue. As if she exactly knew my troubled state of mind. I hugged Lili tightly.

“Inyoung-ah?”

I don’t know how long I had been like that, but I abruptly lifted my head at Mr. Taeseon’s voice. He was looking at me, dressed in a robe, drying his wet hair with a towel. I hadn’t even heard the sound of him coming down the stairs.

Still, the faint sense of everyday domesticity coming from him put my mind at ease again.

“Why are you like that? Do you feel unwell?”

Mr. Taeseon came and sat beside me as if worried. As the scent of the bath products he frequently uses and his faint pheromones wafted over, my heart seemed to stabilize a bit more.

Lili lowered her head and this time rubbed her cheek against my chest, making a pretty “Ya-ang” sound.

At that moment, a sentence suddenly burst out of my mouth.

“Mr. Taeseon…. Do you absolutely have to go on the business trip tomorrow?”

“Huh?”

I regretted it as soon as I said it. What a thing to say to someone going to work. Mr. Taeseon looked at me with a face even more full of concern. Perhaps it was because I had never said anything like this before.

“Why? Does it hurt a lot? …Should I not go?”

“No. I just said it.”

This business trip was for the globalization of a franchise restaurant famous only locally; the company chairman, who had stubbornly refused to expand into other countries until now, had expressed positive intentions, so Mr. Taeseon was going to Manila personally. It meant it was that important of an opportunity.

It must be difficult for Mr. Taeseon too. Sure enough, he let out a short sigh. I flinched, wondering if his mood had soured because of my whining, but he spoke.

“I was worried anyway. I even thought about us going together, but while it might be different if it were a resort area, Manila is the capital and yet not a place with good public safety….”

“….”

At that moment, absurdly, numerous cases of murder and robbery committed against Koreans in Manila flashed through my head. Simultaneously, my heart raced wildly. I caught my breath and tried my best to smile as if nothing were wrong.

“I’m fine. It’s just because I’m anxious.”

“Anxious?”

“Just… your going on a business trip… I’m strangely worried. I’ve never been like this before.”

Then, Mr. Taeseon laughed and pulled me into a tight embrace. Lili, squeezed in between us, made a dissatisfied “Yal-keu” sound. Mr. Taeseon stroked my hair with his large hand.

“It’s because you went through so many bad things today. Don’t think useless thoughts.”

“But still….”

“I told you it’s okay. It’s a place I go to often. It only takes four hours from Korea.”

Even after that, Mr. Taeseon tried to comfort and soothe me with various words. However, until the moment I lay in bed with him, I suffered from anxiety. Mr. Taeseon continued to soothe me by holding both me and Lili together and releasing pheromones.

∞ ∞ ∞

At dawn, I opened my eyes to an unknown chill.

Mr. Taeseon was holding me, but his body was unnaturally cold.

The moment I looked at Mr. Taeseon’s face, startled, I almost screamed. The one holding me wasn’t Mr. Taeseon, but Inha.

I don’t see where Lili went. Mr. Taeseon has also disappeared. Inha was covered in blood, holding me tight and giggling.

No matter how hard I try, a scream won’t come out of my throat. As if my throat were tightly blocked, only the sound of my breathing barely escaped, and very small sounds leaked out intermittently.

“Get… get away…. Sob, let… let go of this….”

[ I don’t want to? ]

“Ugh, ugh….”

[ It feels good because I’m holding you, right? You were always dying of happiness whenever anyone just held you. Isn’t that right? ]

“….”

Well… I can’t say it’s not. I liked being hugged by someone. Because it was such a rare occurrence. There was no way anyone would hug something like me, and while my uncle protected me, he didn’t have the kind of affectionate personality to hug me often.

In the end, the number of times I had been hugged by someone until now could be counted on one hand. Since meeting Mr. Taeseon, I came to be in his arms as naturally as breathing, but before that, I was quite thirsty for human contact.

[ I know, Inyoung-ah. ]

Inha whispered in my ear while holding me. Inha’s body was still covered in blood, and his limbs were broken, yet the strength constricting my body was so powerful it made me wonder how this was possible.

Furthermore, it was even more horrific because the shapes of those broken limbs could be felt vividly. Every time Inha pressed his body against mine, sticky blood and mangled flesh rubbed against me.

“Ugh, stop, go… away….”

I felt like I would genuinely vomit. Inha occasionally called me a corpse, but the current Inha was nothing short of a corpse himself. No… is he not a corpse, but a ghost?

It must clearly be a dream, and I want to wake up quickly, but I don’t. I broke out in goosebumps because the sensation of the body—cold and hard like a block of wood—was so vivid.

[ I told you I know? What you’re afraid of. ]

“…?”

Struggling to twist my body within that fierce strength, I blinked. As I lifted my head, a bruised and swollen face… a face that should have been identical to mine… was looking at me.

“Wha, what, do you mean….”

[ You’re scared that something might happen to Lee Taeseon, right? ]

I inhaled sharply without realizing it. Even just hearing Mr. Taeseon’s name come out of Inha’s mouth felt ominous. Feeling a chill run down my spine, I stared blankly at Inha, and Inha grinned as if enjoying himself.

[ Because I’m going to go after him. ]

“….”

[ I’m going to go after Lee Taeseon. I’m going to go after him and kill him. Do you know why? Do you know why? Do you know why? ]

“I… I don’t know….”

[ Because you like Lee Taeseon! ]

Inha said, knocking his forehead against mine with a thud. Unlike how his voice had been his usual one until now, it was now scratchy and low, as if there were noise in a speaker.

Soon, Inha began to laugh. The skin-crawling laughter rang in my ears.

“Stop, stop it, don’t do that to Mr. Taeseon, I’m begging you….”

[ Stop, stop it, don’t do that to Mr. Taeseo-on, I’m begging you-u-u…. ]

Inha mimicked my voice ridiculously and giggled. The moment I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut then opened them, I regained my senses as if I had suddenly been thrown out of the water. My cheek pricked. Lili was licking my cheek.

“…Haa….”

I was dazed. What on earth was that? Did I have a dream? Was it a dream…? But the sensation of those cold limbs remained vividly on my body. I tried moving my hands and feet. Although it felt a bit slower than I intended, they moved properly.

I barely managed to stretch out both arms to hug Lili and lay her on my chest. Lili lay in a curl, her head resting on my thumping heart. The place Lili had been licking stings. It hurt more when I touched it with my hand, but that actually helped me return to reality.

I let out another long sigh and stroked Lili. The soft fur brought stability to my fluttering heart. Lili made a purring sound.

Inha to Mr. Taeseon…. No, such a thing won’t happen. I just had such a dream because I was too anxious.

…But where is Mr. Taeseon?

The blue sky was visible outside the window where only thin curtains were drawn. It was clear weather. No matter the season, it was too bright. The sun seemed to have risen quite high. Upon checking the clock, it was well past 11:00 AM.

“Mr. Taeseon…!”

I jumped up, shouting. Regrettably, Lili tumbled off, and I had to stagger for a moment from dizziness. A memo had been left next to the clock.

𝓘𝓷𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓰-𝓪𝓱, 𝓘’𝓶 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓾𝓽. 𝓘 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭𝓷’𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓼𝓵𝓮𝓮𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓼𝓸 𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓵. 𝓓𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓽𝓸𝓸 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱…. 𝓘’𝓵𝓵 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓬𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓼 𝓼𝓸𝓸𝓷 𝓪𝓼 𝓘 𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓿𝓮, 𝓼𝓸 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓰𝓸 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓭𝓪𝔂 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓪𝓫𝓵𝔂. 𝓢𝓮𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓲𝓷 𝓪 𝓯𝓮𝔀 𝓭𝓪𝔂𝓼.

It was a note left by Mr. Taeseon.