Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

Chapter 52

Chapter 52

“The fourth hint is...”

Heart repeated a fairly long address to Alice. It was the location of the place where Alice had healed Shirley Howard.

She had not slept well after the trauma Twins had put her through, and the words he said went in one ear and out the other. Heart looked at her with a smile planted on his face and quietly observed her.

“You don’t look well, GaHyun.”

“Huh? Oh...My parents came out in my dreams last night...”

“A sad dream? Or a happy dream? Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard anything about your life at Outhouse. I’m curious about how you lived; could I ask you about that?”

“It was quite ordinary. There isn’t anything to tell you...Um, it’s pretty cold out today. Wouldn’t it be better to go inside now?”

The two of them had been sitting on the patio in the garden, but as Alice pointed out, the wind was cold. Heart got up and escorted Alice inside.

If they had gone straight up to the third floor, this boring day would have come to an end. But as they approached the second floor, he felt a presence. He turned his head as if prompted by an irresistible force.

On the first floor, SoYoon stepped in through the front door. She raised her head and stood frozen in place. Heart mouthed to her, “To the office.” She watched the two people head to the third floor, and she quietly went up to the second.

Even though it was daytime, the dark office looked desolate. She turned on the light and sat on the sofa. SoYoon pulled out the letter that Baby had given her and placed it down next to her. The reason Baby had sent a letter when a phone call would have sufficed was that there was intel that the relationship between Heart and herself was something serious.

No, it wasn’t even worthy of calling it intel. However erratic it was, she had visited Heart’s house once every couple of days, but having seen it completely stop all of a sudden would have looked strange to anyone. It was obvious that there were rumors that Heart and White Rabbit’s relationship was becoming strained. There was also the chance that White Rabbit was now teaming up with Mad Hatter.

She thought about Mad Hatter, who was now frequenting her house every chance he got. She felt a headache coming on. Her head did throb a bit, probably because she hadn’t been able to sleep after coming back from Outhouse late last night.

Truthfully, she hadn’t been getting much sleep these days. She looked down at the sofa she had so often used as a bed.

She felt a presence behind the door, and Heart soon stepped inside. Unlike his usual self, he sat on the sofa opposite hers with an expressionless face. The always warm office now felt cold.

“What business did you come here for?”

His feelings were mixed up so muddily that he spoke in a voice that couldn’t be read. SoYoon lifted up the letter.

“I came to deliver a letter from Baby.”

“I guess even he has times he butts in for something useless.”

Heart’s lips curled slightly upward. He reached out, and SoYoon handed the letter to him. With the thin piece of paper between them, their fingers touched for a moment before they removed them from each other.

Upon receiving it, Heart twirled it between his fingers then tore it open to check the content. There was one piece of small paper inside. She thought that maybe this was one of Baby’s jokes, but Heart asked her a question with a serious face.

“Have you ever told anyone that Baby is an informant?”

“No. Why?”

“A person that shouldn’t have known came to see Baby and asked if he was an informant.”

“There are people that figured out that I have an informant, but they shouldn’t know that it is Baby.”

Heart thought for a moment and then folded the memo in half and stuck it in his pocket. When she glanced over at it, his eyes narrowed.

“What’s up with your state?”

“What about my state?”

“You really don’t know?”

“...I’ll leave.”

SoYoon’s gaze fell as she stood up. If she stayed here any longer, she felt like she would freeze to death. When she walked two steps, Heart called her.

“Whitey.”

It had been a long time since she’d heard that nickname. It was a name that you would give your pet, but it had a strong impact on her. SoYoon stopped and looked at him. He had his hand out and was smiling strangely.

“Come here.”

She stood staring down at his hand. The thought hit her that she shouldn’t take it.

Heart’s fingers beckoned. His heat seemed to be sucking her in toward him. If I grab that, I will be so warm.

Heart spoke. “If you don’t take it now, you won’t ever be able to take it again.”

Only three steps separated them. Without her knowing, she had taken a step forward. On the second step, she came back to her senses and stopped. When Heart saw her freeze, his smile vanished.

“Whitey.”

He called her again. Her feet flinched but remained rooted. Heart reached out his hand, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her in, hard. He flung off the mask from her face and ground his teeth as he said, “Even I think I’m a fool.”

His hot lips locked with hers. He forced her mouth open and pushed his tongue through, then sucked hard on her tongue.

When his tongue rubbed against the roof of her mouth, she moaned softly. She jumped at her reaction and swallowed her breath when she heard Heart’s voice. When she opened her eyes, she saw him kissing her passionately.

When she closed her eyes again, his vetiver scent hit her, and her breath stopped. Noticing that she couldn’t follow his breath, he removed his lips and licked her wet lips as he mumbled.

“I was trying to maintain my manners and got you stolen away from me...And here I am doing this now.”

Heart removed her sword and tossed it aside as he pulled her into a tight hug. His warm embrace wrapped around her and melted her previously cold body. Heart swept back SoYoon’s hair and touched the bottom of her eyes gently.

“Tell me that you had a hard time because of me.”

She blinked. His hands touched her eyes.

“Tell me that you can’t live without me.”

She took in a deep breath. With that breath, she felt him.

“The day I first met you, I should have cut every vein from your arms and legs.”

Like a true slum native, Heart spoke crass words as he sat her on his knees. Then he placed his hands over her eyes and pressed down.

“Don’t look. It makes it hard to control myself.”

SoYoon closed her eyes. Heart removed his hands and stared at her face. She didn’t look well, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked as if she hadn’t slept for days.

He always had acted as if he didn’t care about anywhere else, but in these circumstances was where you could see his true character. He sighed as he placed her head on his shoulder. She heard him sigh loudly as she stayed still as if asleep. Heart twirled her hair and swept through it with his fingers as her cheeks glowed a soft pink. He could feel her body temperature rising.

She definitely wouldn’t know how she looked at him when they touched. The line from her ears to her chin would start to relax, and her dry eyes would get a bit moist, and her lips would move with emotion. And he could see the emptiness inside her filling up slowly. She would never know how that made him feel.

“This is the last time I am letting you sleep peacefully.”

He mumbled with a sigh.