Chapter 45 (1/2)

Chapter 45: Chapter 5 Wi GaHyun-2

One morning, a couple of days after Tweedle Dee's strange encounter, SoYoon was searching through her cross bag when she realized she was running out of her shoulder patches.

She headed over to Mad Hatter's. She hadn't visited him for a long time. She stood in front of his door and contemplated for a moment before she put her hand on the doorknob. Her privilege was still intact. She clenched her jaw as she watched the door open smoothly for her.

Once she entered, she checked for a human presence. Mad Hatter was in his laboratory.

”Mad Hatter.”

Even though she had called him loudly, there was no response. She went up to the second floor.

The laboratory door was open. SoYoon observed the Mad Hatter she could see through the crack in the door. Mad Hatter, whom she was meeting for the first time since that night's incident, was curled up on the floor asleep.

He should have looked pathetic, but in the morning sunlight, he sparkled like an angel who had fallen from heaven. It was a spell more powerful than his magic.

She stepped into the laboratory. It was then she saw his bruised face was and his cut lip, his ankle wrapped in bandages. For someone who stayed locked up in his house and ran experiments all day, this look did not suit him.

At the corner of the extra bed, a familiar box was rolling around. Through the slight opening, she could see that it contained the item that only she used, and the item he always had ready before she even ordered it from him. Her eyes fell slightly.

Mad Hatter woke at that moment from his slumber. His drowsy blue eyes looked up at her, and he smiled slightly, a smile reminiscent of flower petals fluttering in the wind.

”Is this a dream?” he mumbled as he reached out his hand. When his scratched-up hands almost reached her hair, SoYoon avoided them by turning her head. Mad Hatter blinked several times and got up.

”White Rabbit?”

”I'm almost out of patches, so I want to order more.”

She watched Mad Hatter quietly. He glanced over at SoYoon several times with his lips wavering between smiles until his expression grew dark, and he hung his head.

At that time, he hadn't been able to register the situation, so many things had happened. But as time passed, he had started to remember recent events. He had bitten her neck so hard it was a wonder it hadn't bled. He'd left many bruises from his kiss marks and an imprint of his hand on her thin wrists. He'd ripped her clothes.

He had done that to SoYoon. After that, Mad Hatter couldn't think of anything else. His red lips opened, and he uttered the words.

”I'm sorry.”

”Why?”

”I think you would have hated it.”

He avoided her eye contact, and a shadow fell over his face. SoYoon bit her lip. The scene in front of her spun.

At the research facility, experiments had been done regarding breeding. Unlike the cold eyes of the elite researchers who examined her, the man who was far from living a righteous life was apologizing to her—just because he thought that she would have hated what he'd done.

SoYoon pushed down the emotions that welled up. If she said the words she was thinking out loud, it would only make Mad Hatter more miserable.

”It doesn't matter. You don't need to apologize. You were not in your right mind then, either.”