Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

Chapter 24

Dee, who had been hungry, threw the blanket aside and got up. But when he saw what SoYoon had brought, he frowned. SoYoon grabbed him as he went to lie back down. This was like babysitting for 700,000 carols. Thinking of it that way, this didn’t seem like it would be too hard.

“If it’s going to be this sh*tty porridge, then you can eat it.”

He couldn’t say a normal sentence without cursing. SoYoon placed the bowl of oatmeal on his lap and pressed down. Dee tried to move it off angrily, but his knees wouldn’t budge.

“Move it!”

“When you’re ill, it’s best to eat something easy to digest.”

“You think I can’t digest something because I got a rip in my skin? F*ck, if it was you, would you eat this crap?”

“You have a fever. If you eat this today, I’ll get you something better tomorrow.”

“Shut up, and get this away from my sight now! Just tell me seven hundred thousand carols is not enough instead, you golddigger. I’d rather pay more than eat this porridge!”

Dee point blank refused to eat the porridge. He was spouting flames like a baby dragon, so SoYoon removed the bowl from his lap.

“Then how about tomato soup?”

That menu didn’t cause him to flare up in anger.

As he put the first spoonful of warmed tomato soup into his mouth, his mouth twitched, and he swallowed quickly, pouring water down his throat.

“What is this? It tastes worse than dog food. Did you make this? F*ck, how the hell do you live eating this trash?”

“It’s from Central. I can’t make anything better.”

“Are you handicapped?”

She knew how to handle knife work and had the appliances to do the cooking, but she couldn’t make anything worth eating. The only thing SoYoon could make was hot milk, jam and buttered toast, or a fried egg.

Even as Dee continued to sputter indecencies, he finished the soup because he had no choice. After finishing it, he asked where she had bought it so he could “kill the person that made this sh*t,” but she thought it better to not reply.

He threw the spoon into the empty bowl and wagged his finger at SoYoon, who sat eating the oatmeal across from him.

“What?”

“Don’t you understand anything? Hand over the pen and paper.”

SoYoon handed him the pen and notebook. Dee opened to a blank page and moved his pen across it. It was a map of Central. Dee drew the main buildings and explained as he circled certain areas.

“Here, here, and here. These are the ones that we are in charge of. I don’t eat food from anywhere else. And buy chocolate from here.”

The places that Dee pointed out were the most expensive places in Central. The soup cost three times as much.

“It’s expensive.”

“If someone hears, they’ll assume you received only 70 carols. Don’t forget the chocolate.”

SoYoon calculated in her head. Including the cost of the chocolate, the price seemed about right. When she agreed, he demanded she get food and chocolate right away and practically kicked her out of the house. He acted as if he owned the place.

***

The next day, it started to rain at the break of dawn. SoYoon had woken early and realized she smelled of blood. She wasn’t sure if it was the rain, but she was annoyed at her sour mood and cramping lower abdomen.

She went into the bathroom. As she took off her clothes and hung them on the door, drops of blood fell onto the tile. She didn’t know if it was possible to bear a normal child or if she even had a future as a good mother, but her body seemed to be adamant about retaining the ability to carry on her DNA. SoYoon angrily turned on the water.

When she came out after her shower, Dee wasn’t fully awake yet, so he sat there fluttering his eyelashes like a butterfly. He looked like he wouldn’t hurt a fly. But as he made eye contact with her, his face crumpled into a scowl. Like Mad Hatter, his good looks were put to such waste.

Today, she had to go see Heart early in the morning. She was told to come without eating breakfast, so she set up food for Dee and set off to see Heart.

SoYoon headed to the bedroom upon hearing that Heart was still asleep; it was still early, after all. Hearing her, he opened his eyes.

“Whitey?”

His deep, drowsy voice filtered through the room. There was a rustle as Heart got up. She grabbed the door handle and spoke.

“I’ll wait in another room so you can go back to sleep.”

“No...”

He tilted his head and beckoned her over. She did as he requested. Heart wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into the bed.

His bed smelled like him, and she sank into it as his body wrapped around her.

“Heart?”

Heart didn’t answer and instead pulled her into a deep hug. Heart’s body felt hotter than usual, and it raised her temperature as well. It warmed her lower abdomen so that the cramping she had been experiencing all morning started to dissipate. He removed the knife and mask from her face and the two of them whispered to each other buried in the blanket together.

“If you’re not feeling well, you should tell me.”

“I feel okay....”

“Really?”

Heart put his hand over her stomach. It felt like she had dived into hot water and she trembled. Heart laughed.

“See. You’re not well.”

He was quick to catch on after catching the faint scent of blood. She felt as if she was wrapped in a full-body hot pack, and her body melted into it, but she quickly came back to her senses.

“Why did you call me here?”

“You haven’t been over recently.”

It had only been a couple of days since she had seen him to receive the hint to relay to Alice. It hadn’t been long, but now that she thought about it, they usually saw each other once every two days. Of course, that had been because Heart always called for her.

“You didn’t call me, so I didn’t come.”

“If I don’t call you, you’ll never come? So mean.”

Heart removed his hand from her stomach and hugged her with his whole body. His hot hands moved slowly from her waist and up her back. SoYoon moaned without noticing. Heart’s hands stopped.

“This is dangerous,” he mumbled in a low voice that pulled at her insides. He stayed still for a while, then got up.

“I’ll be back after I wash up, so wait for me. Let’s eat breakfast together.”

As Heart washed up, SoYoon opened the curtains. When Heart came out of the bathroom, breakfast was served.

SoYoon slathered honey onto the warm croissant. The sunlight that filtered through the translucent golden honey gave it a pleasant, warm glow. She felt the warmth hit her tongue, and it spread to the rest of her body to raise her spirits.

Heart watched as she bit through the croissant and asked casually, “You seem to be going to specialty restaurants these days.”

Having to heed Dee’s requests, even the restaurants she had to go to were restricted. That SoYoon ordered takeout food from Central’s restaurants was not a big deal, but the fact that Heart knew about it and brought it to her attention was important.

Did he know that Dee was residing in her house? She removed her gaze from her plate and looked at Heart. Heart licked the honey from his thumb and smiled crookedly at her.

“Is the food I’m serving you not good?”

She shook her head. Not only in Wonderland but even on Earth, she had never tasted anything as good as what she ate at Heart’s house. Heart laughed in approval. “Then come over to eat more often.”

Still, she remained suspicious. “Are you spying on me?”

“Spying? How could you accuse me of that?”

Heart answered with his arms held out wide as if he was a comic actor. SoYoon raised her eyebrows, and Heart laughed.

“I’m only worried about you. If my Whitey gets involved with some trashy jerk, then we’ll have a problem, won’t we?”

Typical Heart. He already knew there was someone living in the house with her. She assumed he didn’t know it was Dee, but it didn’t look like he was going to do anything about it. If Heart knew, then Baby definitely knew...SoYoon felt a headache coming on.

To no one’s surprise, after breakfast, the exact same chocolate truffle she had bought for Dee came out for dessert. Heart opened the packaging and handed it to her with the expression, “You like this.” She looked at Heart’s face and surrendered.

“I’m going to get rid of him next week.”

“Good thinking. Long-term tasks are not recommended.”

SoYoon placed the truffle in her mouth. She chewed it roughly, but the expensive chocolate melted on her tongue.

After leaving Heart’s house, SoYoon stopped by Central to pick up food for Dee. What Heart said about a long-term task was not wrong. Because she had to feed him three times a day, she was tied to her home.