Chapter 68 (2/2)
Once SoYoon put down her sword on the sofa, Mad Hatter hugged her from behind.
”What did you need?” she asked.
He kissed the ear that peeked out from beneath her white hair and answered, ”I missed you.”
SoYoon, who had come back from her outside errands, smelled like soap and wind. It uplifted his mood. He hugged tighter when she lightly pushed him away.
”I'm going to wash up. Let go.”
Mad Hatter kissed her on the cheek and quickly let her go. She didn't feel relieved but instead felt a pang of guilt. Seeing SoYoon's face, he laughed softly.
”I'm not going to rush into things anymore.”
”What do you mean?”
”I'm just talking to myself. I'll be waiting, so hurry and wash up.”
”And there's no option that you will be returning home?”
”You want me to go all the way to the end of the east side of Wonderland at this hour? By myself?”
The person who had the power to destroy all of Wonderland by himself asked her while fluttering his long eyelashes. SoYoon thought to herself that if he had been born a woman, he might have easily collapsed several countries.
”You seem to be having some disquieting thoughts, SoYoon.”
”...Not really.”
”That kind of answer is worse than just confessing the truth. Now, come on, let's hear it.”
He coaxed SoYoon into answering, then stared quietly for a while. She slowly avoided his eyes.
”Sorry, Yochanan.”
”No. That is how I am. All right, that is how you saw me…”
He would be lying if he had said it wasn't slightly intentional, but to hear it out loud made him feel strange. He forced a bright laugh. His laughter was somewhat threatening. SoYoon was in an awkward predicament.
Most people run into problems because of what they said, but how did she end up like this with mere thoughts? She sighed.
Mad Hatter, well rested from a nap, got up and went straight to the kitchen. SoYoon woke up later than him and sat numbly as she received her breakfast from him.
He sat on the bed and watched her eat, then did the dishes. She washed up and got dressed.
”When do your requests start today?”
”I don't have any yet today.”
”Really? That's good. I had something to talk to you about anyway.”
Mad Hatter stood in front of SoYoon. The light filtering in through the wide blinds was as hazy as her attachment to this place.
How cute. Thinking of abandoning me here? he thought, smiling and grinding his teeth.
Finding out that there was not a single person who had returned home after falling into this dimension, he had thought that the chance of it happening for her was slim. But realizing that this was her motive all along, it made him even angrier. Even though she could not be his, he couldn't stand having her disappear.
”I know you came from a different world. You know that also, don't you?”
”Yochanan?”
”There are plenty of reasons for you to hate this world. But is there nothing of value here?”
She had been chipped away so that not a single edge of herself remained intact, but she tried so hard to keep this piece of herself alive. Neither Mad Hatter nor Heart wanted to take this away from her. There was no point in shaking the foundations when she couldn't even properly set foot on their base.
But if that unsteady foot in this world was thinking of walking away to another, then it was a different story.
SoYoon and Alice. Mad Hatter knew that the two of them, surprisingly, had a lot in common. They believed that this world revolved around Alice, as if they had come from the same world where they received the same information. And they didn't think much of Ye SoYoon's ability to jump dimensions.
He gathered all his love for her and kissed her forehead. Contact was an interesting thing, he noted. Sometimes you were able to communicate so much more with it than words.
When he removed his lips from her forehead, SoYoon lowered her eyes. She had pinned back her hair, so her face reflected her emotions. Mad Hatter opened his arms and hugged her tightly. He was slightly cool to the touch, and she could hear his heart beating loudly as his whole body embraced her.
”Yochanan? Why…”
”Can't you just stay here?”
Mad Hatter gently pulled her away and looked into her face. He looked strangely nervous, and SoYoon blinked then moved her hand. They had been going toward Mad Hatter's lips when he grabbed them. With a bitter smile, he slowly moved his mouth.
”SoYoon. I have, for you…”
At that moment, the glass insert of the wall of SoYoon's house crashed open. Somebody jumped in through the hole. Through the flapping vertical blinds, sunlight streamed over dark-blond hair and made it gleam white.
”You—f*ck—what are you planning to do with the doors locked!”
Dee, who had charged into this place, reached for SoYoon. Figuring out Dee's motive, Mad Hatter had planned to step aside with SoYoon, but he hesitated when he saw her expression. Dee, taking that as his chance, took her away from Mad Hatter.
Dee broke more of the glass with his feet then took her outside. Mad Hatter sighed as he looked at the messed-up interior that resembled his messed-up confession. He had already anticipated the answer when she blocked his mouth.
”Still, I wish you hadn't looked so relieved…”
It still didn't change the fact that he loved her.