Flowers Are Bait

Chapter 158:

It was as if Lee-yeon had been hit hard on the back of the neck.

“Have you ever considered that I relied on you simply because I lost my memory and couldn’t think straight?” he blurted out, struggling to swallow the lump rising in his throat.

“But even so, Kwon Chae-woo told me everything at every moment. From the moment I opened my eyes until I fell asleep. During the day, his shadow always followed me, and at night, I never felt the cold breeze… When I went out to the garden, all the rocks were gone, and I never had to swallow a fish bone since Chae-woo started cooking for me…” Her voice trailed off, trembling with emotion.

“….”

“As time passed, I became safer. Do you know how amazing of an experience that was?” Tears welled up in Lee-yeon’s eyes, but she brushed them away as if they were insignificant, her large pupils shrinking like a deer’s.

“It was like being born again. I was always an outsider no matter where I went, but in front of Chae-woo, I felt like a giant. He would always pull me from the corner and place me in the center of the fireplace…”

Kwon Chae-woo remained silent.

“How can this be… How could you say it’s not love?”

Kwon Chae-woo’s stomach churned, threatening to implode at any moment. He was acutely aware of how badly his body was betraying him, yet he couldn’t help but revel in the exquisite pain. He shook his head, trying to shake off the incessant ringing in his ears.

He knew it was time to sever the ill-fated relationship, and he couldn’t put it off any longer

“Whatever it was… it was innocent or just pure stupid.” He muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

Pupils filled with malice fell quietly like snowflakes. The only thing filling them was a deep contempt. Kwon Chae-woo lifted his chin and calmly buttoned up his shirt, one button at a time.

“Get a grip, So Lee-yeon. Was the thrill of playing games really worth it?”

Lee-yeon clenched her fists. The protruding bones of her knuckles trembled white.

“I came to Hwaido with the intention of burying you from the start.”

“…!”

She seemed to lock eyes again with the man in the raincoat again. The weeping that had barely subsided froze in an instant. Her heart raced as if it would burst, just like when she had fled through the dark mountains.

“…Why, why?”

Lee-yeon furrowed her eyebrows, enduring the pain that felt like her throat was closing up.

“Yoon Joo-ha.”

He gently wiped away the tears that clung to the corners of Lee-yeon’s eyes with the pad of his thumb, tracing the delicate arch of her eyebrows. Tenderly brushing away the snowflakes that had settled on her cheeks, he carefully wiped away the tears that clung to her long eyelashes.

Taking a deep breath, he held her face tightly in his hands, just as he had done when he had run to kiss her.

“The name of the woman you surrendered for money.”

In that moment, there was a lightning bolt of realization that struck her like a sledgehammer. The pieces that were scattered suddenly fit together perfectly. She wandered through Kwon Chae-woo’s features with a pale gaze.

Maybe… maybe…

The man raised the corner of his mouth as he looked at Lee-yeon’s dilated pupils.

“Maybe you’re right.” She said downcasted.

“….!”

“Are you starting to understand now?”

The smile on his face didn’t fit like a poorly hung picture frame.

“How dare you show me her kind of music and instruments to me?” It was a voice that she heard for the first time, a harsh voice that scratched the floor. Lee-yeon’s hair stood on end and her breathing became uneven.

However, there was still a part that she did not understand, as if wandering in the fog, she opened her mouth hesitantly, facing the anger that would not easily disappear. “I, I don’t know… That person, that person went home, so why-”

“She died in that house, So Lee-yeon.”

“…!”

“It was a house that she should have never returned to.”

Kwon Chae-woo grabbed her delicate neck with both hands as he clenched his fists and bit his tongue. He wanted to tie her up and leave a scar until she screamed.

“Mother was held captive in the basement of our hometown for seven years. Right beneath the room where I slept. She never saw the light of day and emerged from there like a lifeless body.”

As Kwon Chae-woo revealed this horrifying truth, Lee-yeon’s eyes began to well up with tears and she let out an involuntary groan from his grip around her neck.

“Do you really believe that someone who once strangled you won’t do it again?” His voice was cold and filled with venom. “And yet, you want to prattle on about love and all that sentimental bullshit?”

He tightened his grip on her delicate neck, pulling her closer with a brutal force. Lee-yeon could feel the seething hatred radiating from him, and she had no choice but to bear the full brunt of his rage.