Bad X Bad: My Dear Hana - Chapter 36

“Alright.” Jung Kwang-soo doesn’t need Eun Min Ah anymore. Even if he did, he doesn’t plan to keep them if Ahn Hana doesn’t want it. “Let’s stop this. You need to get your treatment. I am guessing that Ji-Won has prepared everything for you during her honeymoon?”

“She has.” Ahn Hana is starving. “I trust that she will do her best. She planned to tell you if I didn’t leave after the next hearing.”

“Are you hiding something else?” Jung Kwang-soo’s gaze is penetrating. “Ahn Hana, if you are, I will never forgive you.”

“Cook something delicious for me. Then, we have to prepare for the hearing.”

“Screw the hearing. I will call back Ji-Won and you are going to the hospital.” He gets up and goes to the kitchen immediately. His eyes are misty. He doesn’t want her to see his tears. Stupid woman! Life is more important than a case. He can’t even scold her in case she gets a headache.

Ahn Hana leans back in the chair. The vague pattern is becoming clear now. All the dates have an order. He must have chosen the victims carefully.

The killer has been preparing for a long time. Her parents were murdered to fuel her into becoming who she is today. They haven’t been a part of the pattern. Noe Kyung-Hee. Another special person in his life. He loved her, but not in the way he loves Ahn Hana. He wants to claim Ahn Hana’s soul, but he freed Noe Kyung-Hee’s soul from his grasp.

That girl was his confidante. His student. He was rearing her to become like her, but she fell in love Ok Min Ji and failed to claim Ok Min Ji’s soul. She willingly chose death over letting the weakness take over her.

Ok Min Ji lived. Noe Kyung-Hee didn’t.

***

Do Sejin slurps down the soju. His friend, Kim Dong-woo, looks at him pitifully. He looks at his friend’s phone. Eun Min Ah has been calling nonstop. He wonders if his friend has had enough of this girl. He is surprised that Do Sejin is following the terms of agreement diligently. His friend didn’t go to the twins’ parties again and rejected all the invitations from other girls.

“Sejin, what’s wrong?” He asks him after his friend picks up the fifth bottle of Soju. “Tell me.”

“Dong-woo, I am a horrible man.” Do Sejin leans toward him. “I want to turn back time. She didn’t tell me that she is sick. I did all those horrible things. Tell me how to turn back time. I want to save her, but I don’t know how to. She won’t even let me stay beside her. It’s so difficult to breathe. Each day feels heavier than the last one. I tried everything. I slept with Eun Min Ah, but I feel nothing. I thought about going to the parties, but I remember her eyes. Dong-woo, why? I don’t understand. Tell me why does my ċhėst feel heavy?”

Kim Dong-woo doesn’t know what to say. His friend is suffering for an answer, though the answer is obvious. If he tells him, his friend will be in the worst condition. If he doesn’t, this guy will continue to suffer like this. He has seen fools, but this is a high grade one. He knows that the woman is none other than Ahn Hana.

“If she disappears from the world, what kind of world will it be?” Do Sejin asks him with pain in his eyes. “I don’t want to know.”

“Sejin, are you in love with her?”

“What?” Do Sejin blinks at him. “Love? No. It cannot be love. I admit that I miss her body. If it is love, it wouldn’t hurt like this. It’s my body that became addicted to her in some way… A smoker’s reaction when he quits smoking… you get it?”

“If not love, then what it is? Why are you suffering like this?” Kim Dong-woo looks at his pathetic friend. Of all the women, it is that Lawyer Ahn. “Whether she is sick or not, it shouldn’t matter. It is certainly not pity that you feel for her. How long are you going to avoid the truth? You are not this dumb.”

Do Sejin becomes quiet. Kim Dong-woo waits for his friend to untangle his mind and heart.

“Dong-woo, she is the type of person who can stand alone fearlessly even if the world is against her.” He recalls the nation’s reaction when she picked up the 100th-day case. When he hugged her that night, she might have let him in her heart. But, he ruined it all. “I am not in love with her. I admire her. She is beautiful.”

“You are really an idiot.” Kim Dong-woo slaps his head. “You can’t imagine a world without her and you say that you are not in love. Just sort out your feelings. Sometimes, one doesn’t realize what is gone until it is gone from his life.”

“She hates me,” He replies in a low voice. “She wants to wipe my existence from her life. Even if I die or live, she wouldn’t give a fuċk. No matter how many times I apologize, she won’t accept it. Why is she this cruel? I made mistakes, but I am apologizing.”

Kim Dong-woo slaps the back of his head. “That doesn’t give you any right to act like this. You act and complain like it is her fault that you are in pain as a child. Think about it. She is feeling pain physically and mentally because of her illness. You are the one complaining while she has been suffering silently.”

“That makes it worse.” He grabs another bottle of liquor. “She should say something if it hurts.”

“She seems like someone who doesn’t like showing weaknesses.” Kim Dong-woo takes a sip.

“Dong-woo, being in love with her is scary.” Do Sejin finally say out what has been his heart for a long time. He bangs his head on the table. “Why her? Why isn’t it someone else? She is a scary person.”

Kim Dong-woo doesn’t stop him. He takes another sip. “My friend, you are an idiot. “Now, I know why you started the agreement with Eun Min Ah. That’s not the right way. The heart can’t choose love. It happens on its own. You are good with women, but you don’t your own heart.”

“Dong-woo, I regret everything except meeting Hana.”

After a long pause, Kim Dong-woo tells solemnly, “Sejin, if Eun Min Ah finds out that your heart is already taken, she might cause trouble.”

“She won’t find out.” Do Sejin lifts his head. His forehead is red. “She promised me that she would leave if she fails.”

“I don’t think that it would be that easy.” Kim Dong-woo looks distant and drunk. “That girl is crazy.”

“I know.” Do Sejin continues to bang his head on the table.