Chapter 168
Chapter 168
The silence stretched on, long and heavy.
"Still."
Sara's voice remained faint.
"That doesn't change the fact that I ruined everything."
"...Why do you think that?"
It couldn't have been a simple mistake on Sara's part.
How many people could even imagine a mother harboring that kind of desire toward her own daughter?
Especially someone like Sara, who was at the very center of it. From childhood, she had simply thought of that woman as her mother and followed her. That made it even less possible for her to suspect anything.
"I put you in danger."
I had been about to try to comfort her, but that single sentence from Sara left me completely at a loss for words.
"Everything I did when I controlled the body was for you. That's what I believed. I told myself I would solve every problem you couldn't, and then I'd give the body back."
"..."
"So I settled every relationship with the people who wronged you. And with Mother, too..."
"..."
All of it, for me.
Sara had acted solely for my sake.
I had simply assumed she was doing those things because she had found a reason to keep living.
"I'm sorry."
Sara apologized to me.
"I'm sorry. In the end, I just dumped it all back on you."
"..."
Hearing her say that, a tangle of emotions churned violently in my chest.
The first thing I felt was shame.
What Sara did was so warm-hearted, and I had been utterly oblivious to her feelings. That realization shamed me deeply.
Then came sorrow.
Because the way she acted still seemed to betray how little attachment she had to her own life. Because no matter how hard I tried, there was nothing I could do to change that.
And the last emotion was rage.
Toward the world that had twisted Sara into this. And toward myself, for acting as though I understood her completely just because I had glimpsed a few of her memories, when I hadn't truly known her thoughts at all.
That fury turned inward, aimed at myself.
"..."
But I couldn't let any of it burst out in front of Sara. These feelings had risen from my own failings, and showing them to her felt wrong.
"...No."
I swallowed my anger and spoke.
"It isn't because of you. You don't need to apologize."
"But..."
"No."
Even trying to suppress it, my feelings seeped into my voice.
"It isn't your fault."
"..."
"The one who did wrong was that woman."
I thought of Choi Na-kyung.
"Was getting kidnapped your fault? Of course not. You blame the person who committed the kidnapping. Calling you wrong because you couldn't protect yourself is utter nonsense. The blame belongs to the one who committed the crime. You never pin that on the victim."
"..."
Sara only listened.
"And while you were in that situation, I didn't know a thing. I'm the one who left you alone with her without understanding what kind of person Choi Na-kyung really was. When I could have helped and didn't, that was my failure. So the one at fault is me."
"No."
Sara pushed back against my words.
While I had been speaking, she had lifted her head from her knees.
The skin around her eyes was damp. She must have been crying only moments ago. Her eyes were bloodshot, too.
But she glared at me as if those traces were a lie.
"Back then, you were asleep inside me. I was the one who didn't call you out. If it had been you, you would have looked at that woman and given a proper warning. You wouldn't have acted recklessly out of overconfidence like I did."
"You can't know what I would have done. I wasn't there. I might have gotten kidnapped just the same. The truth is, when I faced Choi Na-kyung, I froze up in fear and couldn't do anything."
"No."
Sara's brows drew together in frustration.
"That all happened because I blocked information from you. If I had kept talking to you properly, you would have understood the situation, too."
"..."
"I... I..."
Sara lowered her head for a moment, then drew a deep breath as if steeling herself and looked back up.
She turned her body slightly toward me, met my eyes directly, and spoke.
"I've hidden a lot from you. Especially lately, while I had control of the body, all I told you were the good things, "
"I know."
", So... huh?"
When I cut her off mid-sentence, Sara's expression went blank.
"You took over the body to sort out personal matters, right? It's one thing that you never mentioned anything about the other students or teachers, but I figured there must have been developments with things I was already worrying about, like my relationship with Yang Hye-in."
"Uh, um..."
Sara nodded at my words.
"But you didn't say a word about any of that, so naturally, I guessed you were only sharing the happy stuff. Makes sense, doesn't it?"
I hadn't been certain, of course.
It was just a rough guess tucked in a corner of my mind—a possibility.
But I didn't want to blame Sara. Children often don't talk about the hard things in front of their parents.
Out of embarrassment, or because they don't want to cause worry. Maybe out of pride, wanting to handle it alone no matter what.
Whatever the reason, failing to see through that kind of attitude is always the fault of the one listening.
"..."
Sara didn't seem to see it that way.
She buried her face in her knees again.
"..."
The silence returned.
"So it's okay."
"..."
"In the end, everything turned out fine. You were rescued, and Choi Na-kyung ran off. Nobody knows what will happen going forward, but the worst has already passed."
"..."
"Sara."
I shifted my body slightly. I crawled from beside her around to face her directly.
Now we sat across from each other.
Sara, hugging her knees, and me, kneeling in front of her with my hands resting on the bed.
If she lifted her head, our faces would be very close, but I didn't mind. Right now, there was something I needed to say.
"You've been anxious all this time, haven't you?"
"..."
"Even when I told you we'd stay together, my expression kept giving me away."
It was true. I had always believed it was impossible for me to stay beside Sara forever—that I had to give her back her own life entirely one day.
...But that thinking had changed.
To the Sara of right now, I was profoundly important.
Not just a friend, the kind who gradually drifts away over the years until you're lucky to see each other once in a blue moon. I was family to Sara.
Not the parents she had lost. Not the "mother" who had looked at her with desire instead of seeing her as a daughter—
Hm, how should I put it?
An older brother? An older sister?
It didn't matter. Whatever relationship Sara imagined, I would accept it.
Honestly, now that I had lost my original body, what did gender even matter?
What mattered was Sara.
Without meaning to, I had burrowed so deep that I had become an irreplaceable presence in her life.
Looking back through the memories, I could see her time and again, clinging to me, begging me not to leave.
I could see how precious those days were to her—days I could not even fully remember.
So.
So... well, I had to take responsibility now.
I had run away long enough.
"Sara."
I called her name gently.
"From now on, I won't make that kind of face anymore."
At my words, Sara's shoulders flinched.
"I'll stay with you."
"...Huh?"
Sara's head snapped up in shock.
The tears she had shed moments ago didn't matter in the slightest; the surprise on her face was absolute.
That was a good thing. It looked like the shock had chased all that sadness away.
"Just like you wanted. I'll stay with you forever."
Even if she told me to leave now, I wasn't going anywhere. I would stubbornly circle around her, asking over and over if she really didn't need me anymore.
Because she was the one who had said that.
The thing about family is, you can reach a point where you wish you could see a little less of them, but the moment they're actually gone, it breaks your heart.
"Just like you said. I'll stay here with you forever."
"Uh...huh...?"
Sara just stared, mouth slightly open.
I placed my hand gently on her head and stroked her hair.
"So? How's my expression now? Do I still look like someone who's about to leave?"
I gave Sara a bright smile.
I was certain this time. There was no shadow left in my expression anymore.
I had decided to cast aside all my hesitation.
I still didn't know why I had entered this body. I didn't understand the mechanism.
But if, just if, there was a reason this happened, and it wasn't mere coincidence...
Then it was probably for this.
"So don't blame yourself anymore. Don't try to solve everything alone. Let's keep moving forward together."
"...That's playing dirty."
Sara sounded sulky.
"Saying it like that—there's no way I can refuse."
Seeing me still beaming at her, Sara looked annoyed, and then—
Smack!
She grabbed both my cheeks with her hands, loudly enough for the sound to ring out.
"Hweh?"
The sudden action startled a strange noise out of me.
"...Now that you've said that, I'm never letting you go. Even if you beg me, I won't. If you try to leave, I'll chase after you and drag you back."
Sara fixed me with a burning glare.
"H-Hold on, Sara."
Her grip tightened. Not enough to squash my face completely... but with both cheeks pressed in from either side, I probably looked like some kind of fish.
And what's more, she was pulling her hands toward herself.
Which naturally meant my face, caught in her hands, was getting closer and closer.
Uh, wait, isn't this a little too close...?
"I told you."
Sara spoke right in front of my face.
"I'm never letting go."
And then, without hesitation,
she pressed her lips against mine.
"..."
Time stopped forever.
...At least, that's how it felt in that moment.
And at the end of that eternity, Sara pulled her soft lips from mine and spoke.
"If you came to save me, then save me completely."
"..."
I could only stare at her, dazed.
"My dear vampire."
...
...To be honest, that was a little cringey.