Flowers Are Bait

What will happen if I approach him? Lee-yeon wondered to herself.

She sat on the sofa across the room from the bed and dried her hair with a towel. Although she knew he was still unconscious, she couldn’t help herself from glancing at Kwon Chae-woo to see if anything had changed.

She could see his face now. He was no longer covered in mud and looked much better than he had looked when she found him in the wreckage earlier.

Unable to keep still, Lee-yeon kept pacing towards the bed, away from it, and all around the room. She just watched him, hoping that he would finally wake up.

After a few hours, she heard the blanket move. She looked at the bed, frozen as Kwon Chae-woo’s eyes began to open. They were already in the hospital, but she felt like she was stuck in the mud all over again. She was just as frightened as she had been in the forest.

She held her breath as they locked eyes. She gripped the bed frame as he stared at her wordlessly. His eyes went over her body, looking at her from head to toe. The silence was suffocating.

Finally, Kwon Chae-woo spoke. “Come here,” he said gently.

Lee-yeon didn’t move. She just continued to look at him with wide, unsure eyes.

Kwon Chae-woo frowned. “Why are you standing so far away?” he asked, moving his eyes to indicate the distance between the two of them. “You’re acting like you don’t know me.”

Still, Lee-yeon didn’t move.

“Lee-yeon,” Kwon Chae-woo said sadly.

At the sound of her name, tears began to fall from Lee-yeon’s eyes. She buried her face in her hands as she began to sob.

Kwon Chae-woo got out of his bed at once. He winced a little as pain shot through his body, but he ignored it as he pulled his wife into his arms.

“Lee-yeon,” he said again.

She broke into another wave of sobs. Just the sound of him calling her name was enough to break her. “It’s really you, right?” she asked. “You’re Kwon Chae-woo. You’re my husband, right?” When she looked up at him, she found him staring at her with that adoring look that she knew all too well.

“You’re Kwon Chae-woo, the man who can hunt a wild boar, hit people well, and use a knife, right?” she asked. “You’re the man who packs great picnic baskets, brings flowers, and sucks on the flowers with me, right?”

Kwon Chae-woo looked at her tenderly and stared right into her eyes. “If I’m not your husband, then who am I?” He was frowning as if the very thought of not being her husband was an offense on his character. “Lee-yeon, have you ever sucked on a flower with someone other than me?”

Lee-yeon’s eyes widened at his question. “What?” she asked in shock. “Of course not.”

“Then why are you acting as if you have?” he asked. There was jealousy in his eyes.

Lee-yeon was taken aback by his question. You acted like you didn’t know me, she wanted to say. But she kept it in. Instead, she said, “I was so worried that you were gone.” She rubbed her eyes until they felt raw.

Everything that had happened continued to flood her mind. She remembered Kwon Chae-woo shoving her into the cave and leaving her alone. She remembered finding him unconscious in the midst of all the mud and debris. She remembered him speaking to her in his real voice.

Except that wasn’t his real voice. His real voice was no longer that of Kwon Chae-woo, the killer. His real voice was that of Kwon Chae-woo, the man that held her tightly and refused to let her go. This was his real voice. This was who he really was.

“I thought I lost you,” she said as she continued to cry. “I thought that it was really the end.” She gripped Kwon Chae-woo’s sleeves harshly. “No matter what happens, I don’t care what you want, you will never leave me like that again.”

Kwon Chae-woo frowned. He pulled Lee-yeon closer and held her tight. She looked so small and cold, he just wanted her to feel safe and warm again. He hated seeing her like this.

“Lee-yeon,” he said, his voice low. “I will do the same thing if that ever happens again. I will always save you first.”

At his words, Lee-yeon tried to be free from his grasp. She pulled and squirmed as she attempted to push him off. He just pressed her closer to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” he said like he was truly pleading for her forgiveness. “You are the only thing that I want to save. You have to let me.” As Lee-yeon struggled against him, he simply rubbed her back. “I can’t give you what you want.”

“Kwon Chae-woo,” Lee-yeon cried, finally standing still. “Take your clothes off and hold me.”