Chapter 42 (2/2)
”A noble light of beauty. Your parents must have had quite the foresight.”
The words made her feel amazing. However, they were not the words she was hoping to hear. She waited a bit, but the conversation shifted in a different direction. Does this man not know about give and take? Alice forced herself to smile wider.
”But Heart. I heard the name Pawn yesterday…”
”Well...that's a name that I had when I was in difficult times. It isn't a name I like to hear. You can understand that, right?”
Heart cut her off softly. She looked up at Heart with drooping eyes. She actually was disappointed, so even without having to act, her facial expression came out naturally.
”I'm sorry. I didn't know that…”
A sound came from beyond the drawing-room door, asking for permission to enter. When Heart answered, the door opened, and his assistant came in.
”What's the matter? It's a bit noisy.”
”Twins is here. He says he's here to see how you are doing. What should I do?”
”How I'm doing?”
Heart laughed as if he'd never heard something so ridiculous, then looked over and asked her, ”Is it okay if I call him up here?”
”Of course. I'm okay.”
”She says it's okay. You heard it.”
A lovely blush came over Alice's pretty cheeks. Twins at Heart's house; it was a meeting she had not expected.
A dark blond man walked through the drawing room door. When his clear blue eyes looked at Alice, she swallowed her breath. In the original, Twins was described as extremely handsome, but the man that stood in front of her now was much more extravagant.
”It's been a while, Twins. What brings you here to see me?”
”F*ck, I told you it was to see how you were doing.”
Jeans and a rider jacket, and a coarse tongue—he was Tweedle Dee. He plopped onto a seat opposite Heart without once giving notice to Alice. Heart's assistant brought over a cup of coffee for Dee. He didn't touch it once and, instead, chomped on the pieces of chocolate on the dessert plate.
”What, did you buy this at Central? That hairtail fish hair pervert made such a fuss over your food that I had high expectations, but that was all lies, wasn't it?”
”I got a recommendation from someone, and it wasn't bad, so afterward, I continued to buy chocolate from Central. I don't want to waste my chef's skills on you.”
Dee glared at Heart maliciously. From Alice's perspective, he looked vicious, but Heart, who was receiving the full force of it, was sipping his coffee peacefully. His reaction was as unbothered as if a bug had been staring at him.
A few moments later, he put down his coffee cup and smirked crookedly.
”So, what's your real reason for being here?”
”Blondie's phone number.”
”Blondie?”
”Don't pretend you don't know! I'm talking about Undertaker. Undertaker!
Alice perked up her ears. Undertaker was the nickname of White Rabbit in the original story, but it never explained the reason behind it.
Why is he the Undertaker? Is there a secret meaning to it, like Heart's name? She watched the two men trying to find the perfect timing to ask. Heart was sending a message with his red smartphone, and Dee was watching the smartphone intently.
There were not a lot of places to spend leisure time in Wonderland. Plus, technological advancement seemed to be lost here, so that Peter and the rest of Heart's men were using the old style of cellphones. It was the first time seeing a smartphone here. Alice decided to ask for that when the time was right.
”Hey, what's that? Blondie has the same one in a different color.”
”It's called a smartphone. Mad Hatter invented it. The phone number, sorry to say, won't be happening.”
Heart answered, smiling benignly after reading SoYoon's reply.
People thought that Heart never lied, but he just never felt the need. If that's what people chose to believe, who cared? He was already dreadfully regretting introducing SoYoon to Mad Hatter. He didn't want to make the same mistake twice.
”What? Why?”
”It's strange. This has never happened before. Must have gotten a bad feeling about you.”
”Hey! Heart!”
”Excuse me a moment.”
Dee shot up from his seat to argue, but Heart didn't pay him attention. He put the smartphone to his ear and stepped outside the drawing room. Dee felt guilty about what had happened between him and SoYoon when they last met, so he had come all the way here. ”Sh*t, so spiteful.” He sat back down, mumbling to himself.
His beautiful princelike face was pouting in anger. Although 21 years old, he was adorable. Alice decided to use this chance as she glanced over at him.
”You said your name was Twins? I'm Alice Liddell.”