Bad X Bad: My Dear Hana - Chapter 34

“You were drunk. You were wearing an oversized coat over your wedding dress. Your lipstick was smeared. You were upset.” Do Sejin is straightforward, not hiding any detail this time. “I went to the pub to get drunk. You asked everyone if infertile people worth any less than fertile ones. When I told you that they don’t, you decided that I should take off your wedding dress. ”

He peeks at her. She doesn’t look angry. “Did you give me that coat?”

He doesn’t know why she is asking that. “No, I didn’t.”

Ahn Hana trembles. She still can’t recall what happened that night. She left the wedding after Ong Han Bin confessed to her and called off the wedding. She doesn’t remember wearing a coat when she left. She was…

A faint memory surfaces.

***

She is drunk and unsteadily walking on the street. She bumps into a man. He catches her by her shoulders. Her lipstick is smeared on his shirt.

“Oops…” She laughed when she saw the lipstick mark on his shirt. “It’s ruined.”

He didn’t say a word. She chins up and stares at him. He is wearing a baseball hat and a mask.

“Soooo sorry.” She laughs and tries to rub off the lipstick mark from his shirt. It doesn’t get off. She hears a deep chuckle. “Why are you laughing? Have you never been kissed before? It is just lipstick. I will pay for the laundry.”

“My dear, it’s cold.” He makes her wear his coat. “I wouldn’t want my love to get sick.”

She stumbles back on her feet. “Hey, you! Stop. Who is your lover? I was just dumped on my wedding day. My fiance cheated on me. Come back, you prick! I will beat the love out of you.”

The man is nowhere to be seen.

***

Ahn Hana sits down on the floor. She digs her fingers in her hair. Her shoulder trembles when she recalls that memory. “Fuck!”

Do Sejin bends down on his one knee. “What’s wrong?”

She doesn’t answer him. As always. She punches Jung Kwang-soo’s name and calls him.

“Jung Kwang-soo, where are you?” She grasps her head because of the headache. It hurts to think now. “Come back here, you ȧsshole. Right now. Don’t dilly-dally with that girl. Leave her and come back here at this instant. If you don’t, I will drop everything and quit your law firm.”

She throws away the phone in frustration. This time, it didn’t land on his face. Do Sejin knows it now. She likes throwing things when she is mad. “Ahn Hana, what’s going on? Can you tell me?”

“You are not any help.” She waves her hand. “Go back. Your girlfriend is waiting for you at home.”

If words could make him go back, he would have gone back by now. “I will go when your boyfriend comes back.”

“You are worried about my safety?” She is incensed. “Do Sejin, you are not strong enough mentally or physically. Can you protect me? Why do you want to protect me in the first place, you little fuċker? It should be your girlfriend. Not me. She should be your priority since you made an agreement with her to become her boyfriend for a month. Guess what? I have had enough patience with you. You are dismissed from the law firm. I am kicking you out. I don’t care whether that girl comes back tomorrow or not. We don’t need her. Leave at this very instant. Disappear. I don’t want to see your face.”

“You can’t kick me out.” Do Sejin tells her shamelessly. “It’s Jung Kwang-soo who took me.”

She smiles at him menacingly. “Alright. Let’s wait for him to reach.”

“Why are you acting like this now?” He tries to touch her face, but she slaps off his hand. “I didn’t do anything wrong today.”

“Your entire existence is wrong in my life.” Her eyes are full of hate and disgust. “After lying and sleeping around like a dog, you dare to show your face to me smugly? Do Sejin, I want to destroy you right now. The only thing that is holding me back…”

She closes her mouth. Her headache is worse now. She feels dizzy. The fatigue is taking over. She knows that she doesn’t have time before she leaves for her vacation. Everything is in chaos.

“What is holding you back?” There is a tornado inside him. He told himself once that it would have been better if she hated him. Now, he knows that he hates it that she hates him like this. The raw pain in her eyes hurt him more than her words. He takes her hand and puts them on his throat.

“If you are angry with me that much, you should kill me. It should help you, right? I don’t want you to feel hurt because of me.”

“Did I come at the wrong time?” Jung Kwang-soo stares at Ahn Hana and Do Sejin. They are looking at each other intensely. Did she scold him to come because of Do Sejin? Is he trying something?

She pulls her hands away. She finds her composure after seeing Jung Kwang-soo. Right, she is Ahn Hana. She is proud. She is smart. She can’t break because of something like this. She knows now. She has the advantage. “Jung Kwang-soo, let’s talk about the case.”

“11 alibis are coming.” Jung Kwang-soo reports his progress. “We can bring him out in the next hearing.”

“I see.” She stands up. Do Sejin is still staring at the floor with a complicated feeling in his heart. She walks to Jung Kwang-soo and asks, “I have a question. Ten years ago, when I fell into the coma after the surgery, did you read that book to me?”

She points at the books on the floor. Jung Kwang-soo picks them up. Both have the same title.

“I found it near your pillow. I was on the first page when you suddenly woke up. I didn’t read it to you when you were asleep.” Jung Kwang-soo recounts that day. Ahn Hana fell asleep for a month after her surgeries. There was a time when everyone thought that she had no hope of surviving. But, she proved them all wrong. “After you woke up, you asked me to keep reading it to you. I found it strange, but I thought that this must be your favorite book.”

She has thought so. It was the killer who read that to her. He told her that death couldn’t claim her since she belonged to him. Now, it makes sense.

“Ahn Hana, do you know the killer?” Do Sejin connects the link between the books.

She feels drained. She had an outburst when she realized that she had met the killer twice. Do Sejin had to face it.

“I was supposed to be his first target,” She tells them the truth. “But, he went for my parents instead of me.”