Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

Chapter 50

It was the middle of the night in the slum. It was quiet because everyone was asleep. She was walking, glancing around every corner as if looking for something. In her eyes glittered a light of hope that she thought had all but gone out.

Remembering this, he was struck by a strange nervousness and a question popped into his head. Why did she ask for White Rabbit’s position? She could have asked for something much better, but she specifically asked to procure White Rabbit’s place. It had to be related to a goal that sparked her hope.

And then starting one night, exactly on the day that Alice showed up, she stopped wandering around the slums.

“Heart?”

Her goal was that measly girl? Heart smiled toward Alice. Her face blushed as if she was embarrassed, but Heart sensed the glitter in her blue eyes that seemed to be critiquing him. After Alice had started visiting Mad Hatter’s house, there were many times she looked at him with this expression.

He did not hate a greedy human. He was impressed that she had received this much courtesy from him and had yet to fall in love with him. He hoped that she would plant herself next to that crazy experiment freak. He thought this to himself as if invoking a curse.

The maddening words of the other man still rang in his ears.

“You’re not assuming that she is yours, are you?”

I should have broken his mouth instead of his shoulder. If he hadn’t been the only person to create the item that SoYoon needed, he would have killed him then and there. Burning in immense jealousy and anger, Heart escorted Alice out of the drawing room.

***

When Dee, who had been forced to sleep by Dum after running into SoYoon, had woken the next day, he was furious. Only after going over his brother Dum’s memory of the day did he finally calm down. To be more exact, he had lost the energy to fight against Dum.

Mad Hatter had acted like SoYoon was his. Twins remembered what Baby had said about some men not caring about the size of a woman’s breasts. Dee’s mouth poured out curses.

“She wouldn’t even give me her phone number, so what’s up with that guy? F*ck, what’s the relationship between those two?”

Dee bolted from his seat. His chair toppled, and he stomped out of the room.

The first place he went to was SoYoon’s house. He walked into the unlocked house, but there was no one inside. The next place he went to was Central, but he was unable to find SoYoon there either.

The next day, he visited SoYoon’s house, then Central again, but still had no luck. It was only the day after that he was able to find SoYoon.

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Dee saw the profile of SoYoon’s face through the wide window of a restaurant and stomped over toward her. She only lifted her head from her food once she saw him plop onto the seat opposite her. As he made eye contact with her, he forgot all the things he had wanted to say to her.

“Is...the food that good?” Dee asked, eyeing the pasta in front of SoYoon. He realized how stupid that must have sounded, but he pretended it was nothing and ordered food for himself. Then he watched her quietly continue to eat as his legs shook under the table. Compared to Heart’s reaction, Twins’ was easy to read.

Dee’s food arrived. Uncomfortable with the silence, Dee scooped up a forkful and shoved it in his mouth.

“Ew.”

The moment the food touched his tongue, he spat it out. SoYoon, remembering his picky eating habits, clicked her tongue, but it was already too late for him. He frowned and just barely swallowed the pasta with a gulp of water. His over-the-top reaction caught the attention of those around him.

Dee’s violent nature was well known, but his eating habits were not. That was because Twins had never visited the common restaurants in Central within these few years. He got up from his seat, passed the server, and headed into the kitchen.

“Uh, sir...”

As the server hesitated, SoYoon grabbed Dee’s wrist and pulled him back sharply.

“What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to go kill the punk that serves this trashy food.”

SoYoon pulled out money for both their meals, placed it on the table, then yanked him out of the restaurant.

“Let go! F*ck, I said, let go!”

Only after Dee’s screams got farther away did the rest of the customers breathe a sigh of relief.

“Let go!”

When they got outside, Dee forcefully got out of SoYoon’s grip. She let him go without a fight and placed her mask, which she had removed previously to eat, back on her face.

“What did you go and get in my way for?”

“This is Central. If you make a scene, it will be a headache for you too.”

“I could do whatever the hell I want, so who are you to get in the...”

Dee’s words trailed off. Thinking of her gaze from behind her long bangs made the inside of his stomach squirm. She suddenly started walking away from him.

“Hey! Blondie! Stop right there!”

Dee followed her and grabbed her shoulder. But what his hand felt was immensely thin. Surprised, he removed his hand quickly. With squirming fingers, he slowly put it back on her shoulder.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.”

Suddenly they heard light footsteps coming their way.

“Stop! Wait, Dor!”

She heard March calling her. She removed Dee’s hand from her shoulder and turned toward the noise.

“Rabbit!”

Dor continued to run at the same speed toward SoYoon. If she hadn’t thought that the person she was running toward would accept this action, she would never have done it.

SoYoon bent down and gently caught her. Dor wrapped her arms around SoYoon’s neck and laughed. SoYoon smiled from under her mask. It was such a normal sort of scene that was unlikely in Central.

Dee observed the scene without blinking. He didn’t even realize the brown-haired boy was staring apprehensively at him. What the heck is that? That, I don’t get that...!

“What!”

“Brother!”

His sudden yell made Dor jump. March came to carry her hurriedly to safety. Dee rumpled his hair in annoyance.

“What is that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why are you so...?”

So, what? What is it I want to say? Not knowing what he wanted, the words trailed off. Dee looked at SoYoon with a confused look. She had always been so expressionless that he would have never expected her to care about anything or anyone.

“Forget it!”

He bottled up his feelings and turned his back to SoYoon. She watched Dee as he walked away then turned her attention to Dor and March.

“What is this? This isn’t...?”

March muttered.

“No. It isn’t. What, no way. But...”

SoYoon and Dor looked up at March. He only stopped muttering to himself when he felt the two people’s gaze upon him.

“Isn’t what?”

“It’s only an assumption, so I won’t say. But are you close with Twins too?”

“Not really.”

“For someone who isn’t, the atmosphere was a bit—how should I say this?—it looked like you were close. Something like that?”

They had lived a week together, so there was a possibility that it could look like that. She nodded.

“You’re doing that again. Pretending like it’s nothing.”

March clucked his tongue in disapproval.

The three of them stopped by the mart then headed home. Because their houses were in the same direction, they were able to walk about halfway together. SoYoon remembered the girl she had asked March to take care of and asked him about her.

“How is that girl?”

“Uh, she’s still not awake. From the look of it, it looks like she’ll wake up soon, but she hasn’t yet.”

March mumbled to himself as he answered SoYoon. His mind soon filled with the thought of the short-haired, cat-eyed girl—the girl who would be in his house dreaming dreams he knew nothing about. He had lifted her eyelids to find that her eyes were a forest green.

I wonder what her name is. I wonder how her voice will sound. If she is from Outhouse, would she have anywhere to go? His imagination took him to finding a place for the girl who hadn’t even woken up yet. SoYoon brought March out of his thoughts.

“Should I stop by and check on her?”

“Huh? What? Do what?”

“That girl. We could have Alice or—it might be a bit dangerous—but have at least Doctor check her out...”

There was no way the Doctor would not have an interest in the corpse that came back to life. Even if it looked like she would wake up soon, leaving her asleep like this would be a hassle for March. It would probably be better to have the safer Alice look at her. But March adamantly refused SoYoon’s suggestion.

“It’s—it’s okay! You don’t have to come! You look tired, so you should head back home and rest.”

“March?”

“Oh, we’re here. Hey! Let’s go inside, Dor!”

March dragged Dor into the house. SoYoon would probably think the action strange, but he didn’t want SoYoon in the house. He hastily put down the groceries and went into his room.