Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

Chapter 60

Realizing that the girl who never once tried to look pretty looked pretty in his eyes, Tweedle Dum headed to SoYoon’s house. For some reason, he felt embarrassed thinking about seeing her face so that he stood in a place far away from the house and spied on the two presences he felt inside. He heard the low voice of a man. The voice sounded familiar, as if he’d heard it a couple times before.

“Hey...very...shape...”

What was he saying? He walked closer to the direction of the sound and realized that he was standing on the other side of a bathroom wall. Inside the bathroom, he felt the presence of two people very close to each other.

Standing there frozen, he heard high and low voices intertwined in speech. No, it can’t be. In denial, he only came to his senses upon hearing the sound of him punching the wall.

“Get lost.”

A familiar voice growled at him maliciously. It’s him—Heart. The moment he realized this, the sound of SoYoon’s short gasp made its way to his ear. Dum understood what Heart had done to her in that moment.

He stepped back and walked quickly away. When he returned to his senses, he had already arrived home. He plopped onto a chair and repeated the sounds he had just heard.

“What is happening?” Feeling a wave of emotions, Dee woke up from his sleep and asked him. Dum told him about what he had just heard. Dee was quiet for a second then blurted out, “...What is this?”

The SoYoon they knew spun in their minds. To them, she had always been a cold and relentless girl. But that girl, with Heart...it felt like her fingers were squeezing their heart and lungs.

They remembered the times they had made their advances to her. That had not been a lie. But with that face, she only treated us like that, they thought. Filled with jealousy and swallowing their lust, the brothers started to realize their feelings for her.

“I want this girl.”

Twins smiled. No more of this nonsense. If we want it, then we can get it, they figured. Let’s enjoy her until we come and bite her breasts to our heart’s content. Achieving that would be comparable to the time they had bitten their mother and first come out into the world.

“That girl is too strong for her own good. So the first thing we must do is to make a trap she cannot escape from.”

Dee agreed to Dum’s plan. “If we drug her, she won’t be able to do anything.” They got up from their seat to start making a foolproof trap.

***

Because SoYoon had been stuck with Heart for half a day, she decided to go to Mad Hatter’s the next day. She felt strangely uncomfortable, but she couldn’t prolong finding a solution to her problem with the research facility.

She had been walking for some time when she saw March and headed toward him. Recently, she had arranged it so that simple tasks went straight to him instead of going through her. And for that reason, he was holding several bags in his hands containing cigarettes and alcohol. They carried on a lighthearted conversation about frivolous topics until he carefully brought up something he wanted to ask.

“She’s awake, that girl. But—but she can’t talk or even move yet. She spends half her day sleeping mostly.”

“How does she look?”

“To me, I think she’s doing better.”

“Do you want me to take her?” SoYoon asked March, not wanting to burden him. But he jumped and shook his head vigorously.

“No! Oh, I mean, Dor seemed to have gotten attached while we were taking care of her.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Dor, who looked to be 12 and had the mental capacity of a seven-year-old, was 15. The girl looked to be about 14. Other than March and SoYoon, Dor didn’t come into contact with anyone else, so she might become a good friend to her.

“But how did she wake up? Did she open her eyes?”

“Huh? Um, yeah,” March answered hesitantly.

SoYoon looked in front of her, so she didn’t realize it, but his cheeks grew red. March chewed his lips. The part of his lips that had touched the girl’s dry ones itched like crazy.

Saying goodbye to March, SoYoon went straight to Mad Hatter’s. She stood in front of the door and put her hand over the knob. She felt a strange nervousness, but she took a quick breath and opened the door.

It was dark inside, and she felt a presence in the bedroom.

“Mad Hatter?”

She stepped inside while calling for him.

“Over here.”

She heard his answer through the crack in the door. Taking it as permission, she stepped into the bedroom.

Inside the bedroom, a hint of alcohol was in the air. Mad Hatter was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, but he opened them when she got close. His face looked sunken on account of his dark circles. SoYoon narrowed her eyes without realizing it.

At this, Mad Hatter smiled slightly then pulled her into a tight hug.

“These are in the way,” he mumbled as he tossed her mask and sword into a corner and buried SoYoon and himself inside the blanket. The body warmth emanating within the small space felt cozy.

“I’m tired. I was at Outhouse up until only a few hours ago.”

“At least get changed.”

“That’s such a hassle. Or you can dress me then.”

“Just sleep. And let me go.”

She cold-heartedly released his hand from her blood-stained suit. Mad Hatter laughed as if the air was deflating out of him then rolled over with her still in his embrace. It became difficult to move once they were rolled tightly within the blankets.

He smiled as his body pressed against her body. Although his smile looked bright, she felt as if she was watching a bird of prey.

“Where do you think I was all this time?” he asked.

“...You said you were at Outhouse.”

“I was foolish to think that you would read deeper into my words. Then I’ll change the question a bit. Who’s lair do you think I was at all this time?”

There were not many residents in Wonderland who had a lair in Outhouse. She answered easily as only one person came to mind.

“It wasn’t Cheshire, was it?”

Mad Hatter smiled and buried his face in her neck. Then he said in an icy tone, “I want to kill that man.”

“You mean Cheshire?”

“It’s a bad habit to ask when you already know the answer. Really...I never knew I was someone who couldn’t control his emotions to this extent. If it weren’t for you, I would have killed him then and there.”

The voice that followed was filled with suppressed rage. SoYoon patted Mad Hatter on the shoulder. He whimpered and rubbed his face against her cheek. She flinched because it tickled and so created some space between herself and Mad Hatter. The blue eyes in front of her darkened.

The day she had escaped Cheshire’s trap, Mad Hatter heard about it through Heart. Heart’s voice that day had a strange happiness to it, and Mad Hatter was able to decipher what had happened between SoYoon and Heart that day. That’s why he had gone to Outhouse: on the one hand, as revenge for what had happened to SoYoon, on the other hand, as a way to release his jealous energy. And also as a means to not see her for a while.

He had returned to Wonderland, thinking that he had gotten it out of his system, but when he saw the purple rings on her neck, his jealous rage returned.

Yes, this was only a bruise. It was easy to fix with his powers. He ground his teeth and moved.

“Disappear.”

With one word, he was able to make the kiss marks on her body go away. Even so, his anger did not subside, and he clung to her, burying his face in her neck.

“Mad Hatter? You didn’t...”

“You know my name. Call me properly.”

“...Yochanan. Cheshire—you didn’t—oof.”

Mad Hatter licked her neck. She cringed and turned away, but she was trapped inside the blanket.

He sucked on her neck until it left a red mark. However, he knew better than anyone that this was meaningless. Mad Hatter hugged SoYoon tightly.

“Do you love him?”

SoYoon did not answer his question. However, Mad Hatter didn’t miss her slight flinch at his question.

There had been nothing that would make him give up on SoYoon—unless it was her decision. Mad Hatter’s eyes sank heavily. He released her and got up.

“What about Cheshire?”

SoYoon got up and blinked at the sudden change in subject.

“You didn’t kill Cheshire, did you?”

“Hmm, why do you ask that? Because it’s not time for him to die yet?”

His words stabbed at her. SoYoon’s hands, which were untangling herself from the blankets, froze in midair.

“What are you talking...?”

He smiled and answered to her surprised face as if nothing had happened.

“It’s a joke. I did not kill Cheshire. He’s still in the hospital. Even I know better than to cause a scene there. Why are you overreacting?”

He lay back down on the bed. SoYoon looked down at him.

He had abandoned his hat somewhere, so his orange hair flayed out on the sheets. The dark shadows under his eyes and cheeks emanated a strangely decadent beauty. When he smiled with that face, SoYoon became lost in its trance for a second.

“Why?”

He laughed, pretending to not know.

“...It’s nothing.”

She couldn’t tell him the truth, and she also didn’t know how to spin a fake story, so she kept her mouth shut. Then he stood back up and went over to her.

The problem was that SoYoon happened to have turned her head at that moment. Their lips hit each other. As if they had planned it, their lips locked perfectly in sync, and Mad Hatter’s eyes grew wide.

Mad Hatter had kissed her many times, but they had all been rather friendly—aside from the kiss mark he created a few moments ago. The two of them had not locked lips once since he’d been out to Outhouse. Surprised, Mad Hatter blinked rapidly and blushed.

“This is your fault for suddenly moving. I was definitely aiming for your forehead...”

Before tonight, the two of them had locked lips. Every year, he had breathed his magic into her body through their lips. In her perspective, this would all seem as if he was overreacting.