Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 142

“…That, that was truly my fault.”

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Yiyeon’s reddened ear, completely wrapped in a blanket.

Kwon Chaewoo looked around and inhaled.

This is…

Morning sunlight filtered through the thin chiffon curtains. He was currently placing a tray with coffee and sandwiches on the bedside table and gently stroking her stray hairs.

The pajamas he had personally washed and dressed her in, the contusions hidden beneath, her flushed face. While Kwon Chaewoo remained frozen, not even blinking, Yiyeon, for some reason, opened her mouth in fear.

“I really didn’t mean to. It wasn’t because I had other intentions. I was just… curious. How other men were different from Kwon Chaewoo. Whether my heart would pound like it sometimes does with Kwon Chaewoo, even in front of other men. I had to confirm.”

Feeling a sense of déjà vu in the conversation, Kwon Chaewoo realized that this was after their first night together.

It was the lust he had finally unleashed, unable to hold back his anger at her secretly going on a series of blind dates with other men and lying about not having registered their marriage.

“Because, Kwon Chaewoo, you’re really, really…”

“…”

“If I think of you as a person, it’s scary, but if I think of you as a dog, it’s a bit better, and when you’re asleep, you’re like a plant, so I’m drawn to you…”

Kwon Chaewoo gasped for breath as affection surged within him. She was so, so beautiful, trying her best to express her feelings even after being tormented by him all night.

He realized again what he had lost, and his chest ached.

“This is the first time I’ve been bothered this much by one person. Every day is so chaotic because of Kwon Chaewoo, it’s really annoying.”

At the time, he hadn’t deeply considered how much courage her unadorned confession had actually required.

His understanding was too, too lacking regarding her resolve to let a man she considered frightening into her world.

Therefore, he could easily point fingers and call Yiyeon’s whispered love a deception, and he would zealously criticize only the act of lying, completely omitting her sincerity from the start.

He had never considered the fear Yiyeon must have had to overcome at every moment to accept Kwon Chaewoo.

Kwon Chaewoo lifted Yiyeon and sat her on his thigh. His mouth began to move on its own, like a replayed recording.

“So, what was your impression of comparing me to other men? I’d like to hear the result.”

As he crushed her in an embrace, her soft, bird-like gasps permeated his chest.

“I didn’t think anything. I saw Kwon Chaewoo outside the window then. I just wanted to go home quickly. With Kwon Chaewoo.”

Her simple words struck the man’s heart once again. These were the only moments he had wanted to reclaim after abandoning his vengeful desire.

A small, humble house, an even smaller bedroom, an even smaller bed. The gentle words exchanged only between the two of them there.

To hear this absurd confession, which brought no benefit, for just this, Kwon Chaewoo could abandon everything he had.

If only he could find this day again—

He wanted to stay forever in this time, where no one was hurt yet, and nothing was broken.

If this was a dream, he wished he wouldn’t wake up.

However, as if on cue, dizziness surged, and his vision began to spin backward. The square walls collapsed, and the morning sunlight crumbled. Every scene was distorting as if being sucked into a whirlpool.

“…!”

Before even the faint glimmer of understanding he had barely grasped disappeared like a sandcastle, Kwon Chaewoo wanted to say something.

“…I won’t make the same mistake again! If Yiyeon is there, just wait a little longer.”

The moment he blurted out the words in a hurry, Kwon Chaewoo realized what he had to do next.

He would blindly push through this dizzying tunnel to where she was.

The cello string wrapped between his fingers sharply dug into his skin. His hand was pale white from lack of blood circulation.

“It’s really been a long time, hasn’t it?”

The words escaped before he even realized it. Was the taut string constricting his skin actually meant to suppress this betrayal and anger, which felt like they would burst at any moment, rather than his fingers? The chilling sensation brushing against his chest felt precarious.

Kwon Chaewoo bit his tongue in frustration, seeing Yiyeon’s face frozen in surprise. It was back then, after the Divine Tree surgery, when he had woken up having forgotten all his memories of Hwaido. His lips then moved, inevitably, as if on a predetermined sequence.

“From now on, you’ll have to choose your words very carefully.”

“…Chaewoo?”

“Yiyeon, have you ever sucked a dick?”

“Pardon?”

Kwon Chaewoo wanted to stop his mouth as he saw her trembling eyes. He knew better than anyone that his intention was to push her to her limits and torment her under the guise of testing her.

He had felt strangely angry ever since he started listening to the recordings Jang Beomhee had given him. How could she act so affectionate while pretending to be a fake wife with lies? For reasons unknown, something deep inside him twisted violently.

However, Kwon Chaewoo’s body reacted to her moment by moment, and no matter how much he built walls and acted cruelly, it was ultimately he who faltered. It was incredibly difficult to admit that simple fact.

He was afraid that he alone had become sincere in a lie again. From time to time, a sense of injustice and a strange repulsion flowed back up his esophagus.

“If I put this in Yiyeon’s throat, you’ll be disgusted and gag.”

“…”

“If you’re going to do it, you should open wide and start properly.”

By now, the man had pushed Yiyeon onto the bed and was taking out his penis.

Damn it, don’t treat her like that. Don’t judge rashly based on your thoughts and standards; look at her first. She’s scared. Don’t push her around as you please, you bastard.

However, Kwon Chaewoo just shoved three fingers into her mouth and widened the space. He roughly grabbed Yiyeon’s jaw and was stirring the wet inside without any emotion when he suddenly stopped dead.

His clenched fist, reddened eyes, labored breathing, shoulders trembling with fear. Each of her reactions suddenly pierced him like a thorn. He desperately twisted his predetermined actions.

“…This isn’t it. This isn’t what I wanted.”

“Cough, ugh…!”

“I was wrong. I’m sorry for acting scary.”

Kwon Chaewoo slumped onto the floor beside the bed and rubbed his forehead against Yiyeon’s knee. His limbs strangely ached, and all strength drained from his body.

“Yiyeon, you were actually anxious from this moment on, weren’t you?”

Kwon Chaewoo embraced her trembling body tightly.

In fact, he had wanted to do this from the beginning.

What if he had trusted the love they shared and waited, instead of taking out his anger on her?

Instead of testing and mocking her, what if he had honestly told her that he was scared of how quickly he was falling for her, and how deep she was, a depth he couldn’t reach?

Kwon Chaewoo, stroking Yiyeon’s face, felt his vision spin again. But this time, he wasn’t flustered and kissed Yiyeon’s ear.

“That person isn’t my husband. I’m not married. Oppa, you’re mistaken.”

When her cheek, slapped by her cousin, swelled red, Kwon Chaewoo felt as if the reason he had so desperately clung to all this time was instantly paralyzed.

Why am I not your husband? Whose emotion is this, surging like anger?

But for an imbecile, the ensuing doubts were undeniably his own memories. Was she crying under the tree because of that bastard? Because of those things that aren’t even family?

“—Yiyeon, who exactly am I?”

“I, I did it because I was afraid you’d be embarrassed, Chaewoo.”

“…”

“I wanted to protect you from getting caught up in this headache-inducing commotion, from having unpleasant experiences. Look around at the people here. Look at their eyes. So, let’s just say he’s not my husband for now. You can do that for me, right?”

At the time, Kwon Chaewoo was just a twisted young man, focused only on the situations that annoyed him.

“Why did you show me such a sight? You made me step in, unable to just pass by, and all you can say is he’s not my husband, I’m not married, it’s a mistake. Damn it, there’s a limit to how much you can toy with someone.”

“…I explained everything. I didn’t want Kwon Chaewoo to get involved in that situation.”

Even with her voice full of tears, he only sneered.

“What, what kind of woman insults her own husband?”

She was the one who stood up to her cousin, whom she had feared her whole life, to protect Kwon Chaewoo from public scrutiny. But in his foolishness, he missed or brushed aside all the sincerity Yiyeon showed.

Even though he knew her background. Even though he knew how cruelly the name ‘family’ had scarred her, and made her consider herself something terrible and dirty.

Kwon Chaewoo lightly regarded her resolve to once again weave flowers into the place called family and seat him there.

If not anyone else, he, the person directly involved, should have understood. He should have recognized and embraced that pitiful and grateful courage beforehand. Instead, he only sneered and reprimanded her.

While she broke down her safe boundaries and accepted Kwon Chaewoo despite the fear of being hurt in the same way again, what was I doing?

Did I even try to understand her feelings a little?

No. He was just blinded by his own anger, never considering her position.

Now, with a surge of profound guilt, Kwon Chaewoo clenched his fists until his palms were raw.

“It makes me want to cry.”

“…!”

But his voice, steeped in malice, still escaped.

“It’s a shame to keep it to yourself, when did you become so sincere?”

“…Pardon?”

The moment Yiyeon’s face stiffened, he gritted his teeth and shifted his stance, as if cutting through a current.

“Because I’m grateful.”

Yes, in fact, he wanted to say this.

“Thank you for trying to protect me.”

“…!”

“But I also wanted to protect you, Yiyeon, in the same way.”

He lightly licked away the blood that seeped from Yiyeon’s torn lips.

“I wasn’t angry at Yiyeon; I couldn’t stand that you were hit like this, and I wasn’t there. It’s not just today. I kept thinking about Yiyeon enduring this in places where I wasn’t, and Yiyeon when she was even younger. I’m too inadequate to swallow that gracefully, so I just yelled.”

At the same time, Kwon Chaewoo knew that this place was completely fake.

Because Yiyeon had smiled as if relieved.

Has she ever smiled in front of him since they reunited? A tremendous sense of emptiness choked him.

Then, even with her in front of him, he felt a continuous thirst. As he stiffened his face, dissatisfied with something, as if looking at an easily torn imitation, a powerful realization suddenly struck him.

No matter how longed-for the past, how sweet the dream, how fixable the illusion, none of it mattered.

What he truly wanted, the one he truly longed to embrace until he couldn’t breathe, was the current So Yiyeon, who was turning away from him and not accepting him.

Therefore, reality, where her wounds and rejection were vividly alive, was far more tempting than this space-time that seemed arranged for him.

Because that place was the true, unbelievable illusion itself.

He had to go to where she was, frozen.