Chapter 42
One week had passed. Dokyun didn’t keep track of the exact date, but that was probably right.
‘Why can’t I count the exact date…’
Well, what was the point of making excuses? It was because he was more focused on something else than the date.
To be precise, all his attention was entirely on Eun-ah.
Every morning for a week, they engaged in intercourse activity as soon as they woke up.
Even while eating, they did it because their eyes met.
Even while showering… they did it.
While she was working on her manuscript, even after dinner, and before falling asleep, they did it.
‘…’
Once the brakes he had set for himself were released, they just devoured each other like beasts.
Though Dokyun realized it belatedly and made sure to use birth control, honestly, He couldn’t guarantee it. Because condoms can’t give 100% certainty.
“Hehe…”
Dokyun looked down at Eun-ah, who was playing with his fingers.
It was the moment when they returned to the bedroom after finishing the day and intertwined their bodies once again.
As they touched each other’s bare skin and exchanged body heat, confirming each other’s presence, a crisp laugh interrupted the thoughts that had occupied Dokyun’s mind.
She nestled in his arms, clasping his hand and playing with his fingers, occasionally giggling and laughing continuously.
Even at that moment, her smiling face was truly radiant.
“Is it that good?”
“Yes…!”
In response to his voice filled with laughter because of her cute appearance, a clear answer was heard.
“It’s… the best, the absolute best in the world…!”
When she stopped playing with his fingers and hugged him while laughing, it made Dokyun’s heart tremble once again.
The warmth that gradually seeped into Dokyun now filled him completely, overflowing and making him tremble.
Her small gestures, her smiling face, and her affectionate expressions as she hugged him tightly, were so ticklish that without realizing it his gaze was fixated on her.
Her eyes, which slowly closed when he stroked her cheek, looks very cute.
It was funny how she flinched and trembled when her ear lobe was lightly pinched.
When Dokyun moved his thumb lightly and brushed her eyes, her mimicking the action by rubbing her face against his hand tickled his insides.
While stroking her for a while, Eun-ah, who was enjoying the touch, opened her mouth with a voice of regret
“Oh, right…”
“Huh?”
Her face turned gloomy. The sadness in her eyes deepened, causing a stir within him.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Tomor… tomorrow…”
As she continued to speak, she began to cry more, and a glimmering light appeared in her eyes.
Seeing that face, Dokyun felt a tightness in his chest again and softened his voice as he spoke.
“Tell me. Huh? Don’t cry.”
“Tom… tomorrow, I have to go outside…”
“Ah.”
Hearing her words, Dokyun finally remembered what he had forgotten.
‘Outside…’
Considering that they had spent almost two weeks confined to this house, there must be things that needed to be taken care of outside.
First of all, the necessary household items wouldn’t always fill the house.
And there…
‘Hospital…’
That was probably it. Dokyun didn’t know the exact diagnosis, but he could sense during their daily life that she was suffering from a mental illness.
The sudden and drastic changes in her emotions that were visible at the moment, the occasional unfamiliar expressions she showed, were all signs.
Observing her taking medicine diligently in the morning and evening, He could assume that she was probably going out to get a new prescription.
As Dokyun continued to think, he saw a head wrapped around his chest.
“Sniff…”
Suddenly, Dokyun felt that she was crying because she didn’t want to go outside, like a child who didn’t want to leave the corner of the room, so he let out a choking laugh to tease her.
“I-I don’t want to go…”
With her slightly pouting eyes, she looked somewhat pitiful as she snuggled against Dokyun.
Dokyun gently stroked Eun-ah’s back, trying to comfort her, and spoke in a reassuring tone.
“Go and come back. I’ll wait here for you.”
“Sniff…”
Dokyun could feel a moist sensation on his chest.
‘Am I that much special to her? Was it that difficult for her to let go?’
Thinking about it made him feel deeply satisfied, but deep in his heart, he couldn’t get rid of the thought of why she liked him so much, even though they had only known each other for a little over two weeks.
Continuously, the question of ‘why me?’ lingered in his mind.
Dokyun looked at her as she buried her head in his chest.
This short period of about two weeks had made him fall for her, but it hadn’t revealed much about her.
He was curious.
Why was he, and why was she clinging to him so desperately?
What was it that made her cling to him to such an extent?
What kind of life had she lived, and why was she suffering alone like this?
Dokyun pursed his lips but didn’t ask her.
In that moment of contemplating whether to ask her or not, he had a strong premonition that this peace would be shattered.
Right after that, the words that came out of his mouth were not questions, but words of comfort.
“I’m waiting here, so feel free to go.”
“Sniff…”
“Mm…”
As her melancholic aura did not go away, he was thinking about how to console her, and then the memory of her first outing came to mind.
“Well then…”
“…Yes…”
“Would you like to buy me a gift?”
The face that was pressed against his chest suddenly perked up and turned towards him.
“A gift…?”
“Yes, a gift.”
Dokyun could see at the mention of the word gift her face turned red, as if she was thinking the same thing as him.
“Whoa…”
As she once again buried her face in his chest, a wave of intense heat washed over him.
Finding her sudden shyness amusing, Dokyun smiled and urged her for an answer.
“Would you like to buy it for me?”
“Yes, yes…!”
A positive response came from his arms.
Feeling slightly better, Dokyun sensed the tips of their feet under the blanket brushing against each other.
“Then you should sleep now. You have to work hard tomorrow, and come back fast, right?”
“Yes…!”
After answering, she raised her head again, made eye contact with Dokyun for a moment, and gently pressed her lips against his.
Her lips briefly touched and fell, and she smiled brightly in the distance that soon filled his entire field of vision, and she greeted him quietly.
“Good night…”
“Sleep well too Eun-ah.”
“Yes..”
Dokyun could feel her giving short answers and snuggling closer. As he gently stroked her back, comforting her, he sensed her breathing becoming shallow as she drifted off to sleep.
When Dokyun lowered his gaze, he noticed her peacefully sleeping face with closed eyes.
She was going out.
In other words,
‘…I can confirm.’
This household, her traces.
***
Eun-ah was ready to go out with the same appearance as before.
A snugly worn hat, a thick cardigan worn over a dress, and a mask covering most of her face.
‘…She’s crazy.’
The outfit that Dokyun had thought resembled someone going out to catch somebody just a short while ago now looked adorable.
She seemed like a frightened herbivorous animal with a firmly fastened shell.
‘…No, I need to snap out of it.’
There was something he had to do.
Dokyun brushed off his thoughts and opened his mouth to Eun-ah with a smile on his face.
“Take care and come back safely.”
When Dokyun saw her off at the entrance, Eun-ah’s head slightly lifted, revealing tearful eyes beneath the brim of her hat.
In an instant, her crying turned into laughter, and when he opened his arms, she ran to him in a hurry and hugged him.
“Hehe…”
“Well, you have to go now.”
“Yes…”
Her voice sounded crestfallen.
Dokyun lowered his head and her mask to kiss her, and he was delighted to see her face staring at him with wide eyes.
“You should bring a gift, right?”
Even though emphasizing it multiple times felt somewhat like the behavior of a third-rate playboy, Dokyun, who suppressed such thoughts, smiled at Eun-ah.
Fortunately, the trick worked, and he saw her face brighten a bit, and she nodded vigorously.
“Yes, yes…!”
After answering, she turned her body and started entering the passcode one digit at a time in front of the door.
– Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
As she was about to open the door, she suddenly turned around and stared at him with a tearful face, which made Dokyun laugh once again.
When Dokyun, with a slight smile on his face, raised his right hand to see her off, she was seen heading out with a bright smile and nodding her head again.
She walked out the front door, and the door closed.
– Click!
After confirming that the door was closed, Dokyun unfolded his left hand, which had been tightly clenched, and looked at the two keys resting on it.
One key had a rabbit-shaped handle, while the other had a round, circular handle.
‘The study key and…’
Most likely, it was the key to the study.
Among the keys she had shown during their daily life, there was no key of this shape, so it was probably the right one.
After checking the key, Dokyun clenched his fists tightly and took a deep breath.
‘I have to confirm… I have to make sure…’
His heart pounded heavily. He was aware that he was doing something dangerous, but he couldn’t continue his life without resolving this question.
Suddenly, Dokyun, who had been controlling himself, felt a bitter laughter welling up.
In the end, even though the purpose was different from when he first picked up the key the place he needed to confirm was the study.
‘Escape is…’
Oddly enough, the moment she opened the front door and walked out, Dokyun didn’t even consider checking the password.
His mind was filled with thoughts about her, and the idea of escape barely registered in his mind.
‘I have to get out… Well, I guess I should.’
To the people outside, he would have suddenly disappeared. There would be people worried about him.
As he thought about the outside, the life before being confined here flashed through his mind, but the thoughts didn’t last for long.
‘But there’s something more important than that.’
He wasn’t entirely sure if saying that was the right thing to do, but there was something more important than that.
Dokyun’s head turned towards the hallway behind the living room.
‘First… to the study.’
He had to check the contents in the diary entries that he hadn’t checked before.
His feet landed, and he took one step at a time and moved forward.
Passing through the extended living room, Dokyun entered the hallway and headed towards the door on the left side of the hallway. He stood in front of the study, took a deep breath once again, inserted the key into the keyhole, and opened the door.
– Click!
As he unlocked the latch and opened the door, it emitted a creaking sound that seemed to scream.
Dokyun entered the study with a familiar movement and turned on a light in a corner of the wall.
– Click.
The surroundings instantly brightened.
This time, as soon as the light turned on, he closed his eyes to protect his vision.
Afterward, when Dokyun slowly opened his eyes, he saw the inside of the study exactly the same as the last time.
‘…I haven’t been in since then.’
He considered the possibility that she might have suspected him and thoroughly searched the house, but it didn’t seem to be the case.
The shelves filled the space, with books overflowing from them, creating an overwhelmingly impressive sight that still captivated him even upon seeing it again.
Dokyun, who was momentarily distracted by the sight pressing him down, closed his eyes tightly to shake off his thoughts and approached the bookshelf he was aiming for.
‘That book… that book.’
The sound of small footsteps echoed, and Dokyun, who approached the bookshelf he was aiming for, knelt down in front of the bookshelf and stared at a book with a familiar title for a while.
[The Rusty Sword and the Tomb of Bees.]
The book that introduced him to a genre fiction .
Coincidentally, the diary was hidden behind this book, so he remembered its exact location.
When he took out the book, the diary that made him feel uncomfortable was waiting for him, unchanged from that time.
Without realizing it, the outstretched hand took out the yellowed diary and opened it.
As he wiped the book’s surface, the princess and the unicorn appeared faintly, just like before.
“Phew…”
He let out a breath.
Now, he had to check the scenes that he hadn’t seen before.
-Rustle.
The sound of pages turning lightly spread.
[I hurt my mother again today.]
It was the first sentence he had already read.
Dokyun’s hand quickly flipped through the pages he had read.
A few pages turned, and before he knew it, the diary was continuing with new content that he had not seen.
[Today, my mother praised me.]
[My mother said thank you for being sick on her behalf.]
He had been thinking about it for a while.
Why did this sentence bother him so much?
[Instead of my mother, I was sick again today. My mother smiled.]
‘Instead…’
[I am so happy, but my hands are crying.]
[Am I crying because I’m happy?]
‘Tears flowing from my hands.’
There was something that made Dokyun uncomfortable deep inside his heart.
The accidents continued, and the fragmented pieces were slowly fitting together.
‘Punishment, education, instead, tears.’
And…
‘Self-harm.’
The puzzle pieces matched, revealing a picture of a family.
Her mother…
‘That crazy bitch…’
She was neglecting her self-harm and encouraged it.
– Crack.
His hand gripping the diary tightened. His breath became rough, and his teeth clenched, expressing his anger.
Once again, he turned the page.
[My mother praises me today.]
[I read all the books today, and I didn’t interrupt her work.]
[It’s too cold.]
His head grew hot. The heartbeat was getting stronger.
[I made my mother sad today.]
[But it’s okay. I can take the pain instead.]
“Fuck…”
Swearing erupted from his teeth. His shoulders trembled at the heavy breathing.
As the diary turned to the next page, Dokyun momentarily froze, taken aback by what he saw.
‘…It’s torn.’
About 7 to 8 pages, roughly. They were torn apart.
There was only one page left behind.
– Thumb. Thumb.
Dokyun calmed his throbbing heart and turned the pages slowly.
– Flutter.
When he turned the page, there was only one word written on it.
[Die.]
He couldn’t understand its meaning.
But…
‘…The handwriting is different.’
It was written in rough handwriting different from the previous rounded handwriting style.
After turning the page to the end, Dokyun closed the book and sighed.
‘What I got.’
The fact that she was abused.
‘…The handwriting of the last page.’
The doubt only deepened.
The fact that she had been abused made his heartache, but the contents of the diary were so fragmentary that he couldn’t infer the facts.
As he let out a sigh,
‘…?’
A sense of discomfort. An indescribable sense of unease enveloped his body.
He unfolded the first page of the diary once again.
[I hurt my mother again today.]
It wasn’t there.
[My mother hugged me tightly.]
It wasn’t there.
[It’s too cold.]
It wasn’t there.
[Now I can suffer in her place.]
It wasn’t there.
[I am happy.]
It wasn’t there.
His trembling hands checked the last page of the diary once more.
[Die.]
‘…It’s not here.’
Throughout the diary, there was no mention of her older sister.
‘Not a single line…’
‘How is this possible?’
Could her father be the reason? It was a possibility because single-parent families were not so rare.
‘But…’
Her older sister, whose existence had been confirmed by her own words, who seemed very close to her…
‘Not a single line…’
…was not mentioned in the diary.
‘Does that make sense?’
– Thumb. Thumb.
His heart felt like it was being pounded by a sledgehammer.
The trembling that started from the fingertips began to engulf his entire body.
His mind, which had been racing, suddenly went cold.
‘Something is strange.’
Just as he was starting to feel that way.
“What are you doing?”
A voice came from behind.
[TN: Join Patreon to support the translation and toread up to the 3 chapters ahead of the release: https://www.patreon.com/YandereLover232]
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