Flowers Are Bait

Chapter 45:

Kwon Chae-woo had leaned towards her when shielding her. Now his face was very close to her. One of his hands was on the driver’s seat while the other hand blocked the steering wheel. Lee-yeon looked into his brown eyes. When his eyes moved to her lips. She realized she was holding her breath.

“What is this about getting an ID all of a sudden?” she asked.

He was quiet. “Kwon Chae-woo?” she urged.

“I want to get a job,” he said and looked at her. Their eyes met. Lee-yeon felt beads of sweat on her neck and forehead. “Even if I have no memory, I can still use my body to work.”

Beep! Only after the sound from behind did he finally retreat to his seat.

“I want to get a phone and open a bank account so I can start working.”

Lee-yeon’s heart started beating fast. This was a bad sign.

* * *

“He’s recovering well.” The doctor craned his neck and looked into the computer monitor. The screen was filled with EEG graphs and figures that Lee-yeon could not understand. The doctor stood up from a rolling chair and faced Lee-yeon.

“Looks like it’s true that the presence or absence of Ms. So Lee-yeon impacts the patient’s sleep pattern. It’s probably a psychological problem, and there can be a number of reasons for this.”

Lee-yeon had been trying to deny that fact for days now. With the doctor confirming it, she had nowhere to escape.

“The fact that the patient only remembers Ms. So Lee-yeon’s face can be a hint.”

Behind the transparent wall, Kwon Chae-woo, in a patient uniform, was lying with dozens of tubes pasted to his head. When he woke up, he groped his empty bedside as if looking for Lee-yeon and turned his eyes over the glass wall.

“This is just a guess on my part, but it can be that the patient suffered some extreme shock before the accident—”

Who? Kwon Chae-woo? I am the one who suffered extreme shock, Lee-yeon thought, bewildered.

The doctor paused for a moment. “It can be that he was hypnotized in a vegetative state.”

“What?” Lee-yeon frowned, confused.

“It’s just that the patient doesn’t remember. It can be that his brain accumulated what he had heard while he was in an unconscious state for two years.” The doctor rubbed his chin with his arms crossed.

“Because right after the patient woke up from the vegetative state, he said something like this.” His dark eyes turned to Lee-yeon. “Please don’t wake up.” The doctor suspects that Kwon Chae-woo had heard this several times while he was in coma.

Those words felt like a slap to Lee-yeon. She clenched her hands together and lowered her head. Her pulse was racing. She found it hard to breathe. When Kwon Chae-woo slept, she was constantly there talking to him, begging him to sleep forever and not to wake up.

“That… that Sleeping Beauty syndrome—”

“You mean Kleine-Levin syndrome.”

“Yes, that one. Is it curable?”

“There is no specific treatment method. So, for now, I think Ms. So Lee-yeon’s role is the most important one for his recovery.”

An indescribable sense of responsibility weighed on her chest. Did my words really flow to him and shaped his thoughts? Why am I feeling so uncomfortable and guilty? He tried to kill me!

Her face darkened as if a shadow had fallen on it. She felt that the fear she felt towards him was justified, considering what she had gone through. And that was reason enough to want him to sleep forever. On the other hand, guilt rose in her heart.

“Did you find anything strange about the patient?” The doctor continued as he took off his white coat. “Usually, this syndrome is accompanied by symptoms such as aggression, hypersexuality, and behavioural abnormalities. Have you ever noticed any of these symptoms at home?”

Lee-yeon was nervous. Too many answers came to mind. “Behavioural abnormalities and hypersexuality?”

“Well, not all patients show such signs but most do. If you think he is showing any of these symptoms, please let me know,” said the doctor. “It would be difficult to live with someone like that in one house.”

Lee-yeon recalled his behaviours at home. “What kind of behavioural abnormalities?”

“Hm… anything that he might do differently. Sometimes it manifests as intense emotions, excitement, impulsiveness and increased sexual desire.”

Lee-yeon realized that what the doctor described was accurate to how Kwon Chae-woo sometimes acted. He had smashed the second-floor door. He had bitten a live chicken and killed it. He had relieved himself last time and kissed her out of the blue. He had even climbed a 30-meter tree without any equipment.

Whenever Hwang Jo-yoon had called Lee-yeon’s name, he had shown most excessive and aggressive reaction. I thought he acted that way because of his nature but based on what the doctor just said… It can be that his strange behaviours are symptoms of his illness…

Lee-yeon didn’t know how to react. The doctor walked over and tapped the glass window. The medical staff began to remove the tubes attached to Kwon Chae-woo’s head. The doctor looked at Kwon Chae-woo carefully as he got up from the bed.

“There is no patient who does not rely on medicine.”

Lee-yeon, who had only been staring at her feet, lifted her head.

“The patient knows that he needs you, Ms. So Lee-yeon. I am sure he will cling to you and even show some obsession towards you… for years. Are you prepared for that?”

The doctor looked at her. It felt like he knew everything. Lee-yeon reminded herself that the doctor in front of her was nothing more than a puppet of Kwon Ki-seok. She couldn’t reveal her trepidations no matter how much she wanted to.

“I do sympathize with the patient more.” The doctor muttered as he tilted his head. “Because the patient will have to beg you for the rest of his life.”