31. Lies
Eunseo took my hand and pulled me past the entryway, dragging me deeper into her room.
Not a single light was on inside. The place was pitch-dark.
"Baby, just wait a second. I'll turn the lights on real quick~"
"Okay…"
She sat me down on the bed, then flipped the switch. Light flooded the room that had been swallowed in darkness.
"Ta-da~ See this, baby? These are all the treasures I've been collecting this whole time~"
"Ah… ah……"
I hadn't been able to make them out in the dark, but the moment the lights came on, one entire wall of the room was plastered over with photographs of me.
And not just a few — it was extreme.
Close-ups of my face, blown up large, every one of them stamped with red lipstick marks.
"So? Baby, this one's my number-one treasure."
"Uh… uh-huh… th-they came out nice…"
"Right? Do you know how hard I worked to get these?"
Right in the center of the whole collage was a shot of me mid-class — either concentrating hard or with my mouth slightly open.
"Well, baby? What's the review?"
"I-it's fine…"
"Hehe. Photos like these are nice and all, but now that you're right here beside me, I won't need to stare at them anymore."
Eunseo came over and settled next to me on the bed, crossing her legs as she looked at me.
"I'll only look at the real you sitting right next to me."
She gazed at me with a sultry, half-lidded stare, then slowly began walking her index and middle fingers up my thigh, one deliberate step at a time.
"E-Eunseo…"
"Shhh~ Quiet. Don't say anything right now. Just feel it… I'll lead you nice and slow, just for you."
The fingers that had been walking along my leg started kneading my thigh instead, and gradually her hand began sliding toward the space between my legs.
Ah… no…
As her hand crept closer to my crotch, all I could think about was the chastity belt Minhi had locked onto me.
"W-wait… Eunseo, t-today we were just supposed to sleep over…"
"It's fine, it's fine, baby~ Don't be scared. You'll feel good before you can even blink."
"E-Eunseo…"
I kept trying to stop her hand, but it kept coming closer all the same.
"And don't call me by my name. Call me baby."
She had no intention of stopping. None whatsoever.
Her hand crossed my thigh and reached my crotch while I did nothing but try to block her, and the more I resisted, the tighter she pressed her body against mine, her hand still advancing.
"Baby… we're going to get married eventually anyway… so can't we just do it once tonight…?"
"Th-that's……"
"Just once. Only once."
The harder I pushed her away, the closer she came.
"I… later. Let's do it later… later…"
"No, baby, the mood's perfect right now. Just close your eyes and stare at a stain on the ceiling. I'll take care of everything."
Eunseo pressed in even harder.
Her breathing grew rough against me as she slowly stroked up my thigh from below, stimulating me without pause.
"Baby… this is hard for you too, isn't it? Right? Just once. Okay?"
"I…… can't we do it later…? Th-this kind of thing… you're supposed to get to know each other little by little…"
"Heheheheh. Ahh~ Get to know each other? I already know everything about you, though?"
"Huh??"
Eunseo climbed straight onto my lap, grabbed my shoulders, and spoke.
"I already know everything about you~ So you still don't want me this close?"
"Ah… no, it's just too s-sudden…"
"It's fine. It's only hard at the beginning. Once you get used to it slowly, it'll be oka——"
Sitting astride my knees, Eunseo suddenly cut herself off mid-sentence. A cold light entered her eyes as she stared at me.
"E-Eunseo?"
"……"
Then she slowly tugged at my collar and looked down at my collarbone.
"……What is this…"
Still staring with that frigid expression, she yanked my collar even harder and locked eyes with me.
"What the hell is this…"
"W-wait, Eunseo, c-calm down—"
"Are you fucking kidding me? You want me to calm down right now? You said you were a virgin. You said neither of us had ever sucked face or anything. So what the fuck is this hickey? What the fuck is this kiss mark!!!"
She was staring at the mark Minhi had left on my neck that morning — staring at me like she wanted me dead.
"A… a mosquito bit me…"
I tried whatever excuse I could. But the moment she heard it, Eunseo just let out a hollow laugh.
"Ha… hahaha… A fucking mosquito? A mosquito?? A mosquito????"
I'd lied and said it was a mosquito, but Eunseo had clearly seen straight through it. She looked at me like she couldn't believe the garbage coming out of my mouth.
"Say something that actually makes sense, you piece of shit. In the middle of winter? A mosquito starts at your collarbone and works its way up your neck leaving marks like this? Are you fucking with me right now?"
"I-it's true…"
"You little fucking—!!!!"
Still straddling my lap, Eunseo pulled a stun gun from her pocket and shoved it in my face.
—ZZZZZZZT!!!
Right in front of my eyes, a fierce blue arc of electricity crackled and spat, the sound alone enough to freeze me in place.
"Did you… just lie to me? To me??? You fucking said you never kissed anyone… you said you never!!!!!"
"Ugh… uhh, E-Eunseo, calm down… I-I can explain everything…"
"Explain what, you bastard? The evidence is sitting right in front of your face. What the hell else are you going to explain? Your fucked-up brain's best idea was 'a mosquito bit me' — you got anything better?"
"Th… that's…"
"You said you were a virgin…… You told me you were a virgin. That was a lie too, wasn't it?"
—ZZZZZZZT!!!
The blue current leaping from the stun gun in Eunseo's hand crackled violently as she kept staring me down.
"I have to… clean you properly… You're dirty. You're dirty… My baby… no — my puppy's gotten dirty… Dirty dirty dirty dirty!!!!"
She seemed to have completely lost it, repeating the same words over and over while her eyes flicked back and forth between the stun gun and me.
"I have to make you clean… Wash you clean all over again……"
"E-Eunseo…"
"Dirty dirty dirtydirtydirty!!!!! I have to wash you!!!"
The second I lightly touched her shoulder, she thrust the stun gun at me — I dodged on pure reflex, then shoved her off my lap out of sheer terror.
There was a heavy thud as Eunseo toppled backward, but she was on her feet almost immediately, snatching the stun gun back up off the floor.
"Right… I never should have given you a choice from the start…… Yeah… that's better… It's not the puppy's fault for getting contaminated by someone else and doing something bad… It's just that the owner failed to manage him properly…"
She rose slowly, stun gun in hand, and started toward me. I got up from the bed and began backing away.
"Euh… Eunseo… c-calm down and put that down. Th-that's dangerous…"
"It's okay, puppy… Let's just start over from the beginning… I'll only go until you lose a little of your memory. It'll be over quick."
Wh-what… What kind of insane thing is she saying…
I kept retreating, trying every way I could to talk her down, but she had no interest in listening. She just kept muttering to herself.
"I have to… make you clean…"
I watched her approach, both hands clamped tight around the stun gun.
Against Minhi I hadn't even been able to put up a physical fight — but against Eunseo… I thought maybe I could manage it.
"Eunseo… calm down. J-just listen to me for a second… please…"
I spoke as evenly as I could, trying to soothe her, while sneaking glances toward the front door.
"I have to………… make you clean……"
She had no intention of hearing a word I said. She just kept murmuring to herself as she closed the distance.
I hadn't wanted it to come to this, but I had no choice.
I grabbed whatever object was within reach and hurled it at her.
I'd aimed carefully so it wouldn't hurt her badly — it was a bag — and when it hit her she went down, the contents spilling and scattering across the floor.
"Ugh…… hehehehe… So the puppy's throwing things at his owner now……"
She crumpled where she sat after taking the hit. I scrambled past her and bolted for the front door.
—Beep.
—Beep-beep.
Two button presses and the double lock and door lock both released. I didn't even have time to put on my shoes — I just fled barefoot out of Eunseo's apartment.
I scrambled down the stairs in a panic — and then the last person I wanted to see was standing right in front of me.
"……"
"Th… th… th-th…"
Minhi was looking at me with ice-cold eyes.
I needed to say something, anything, but under that stare my mouth wouldn't open.
—Puppy!!!!! How dare you throw things at your owner and run away?!!!
Eunseo's voice came screaming down from the floor above.
And the Minhi standing in front of me started climbing the stairs toward me.
"M-Minhi… I-I was wrong… p-please don't hit me……"
"……"
I'd gone drinking with Minhi and then gotten… not escaped, but kidnapped — and somehow that was still my fault? I didn't understand it, but I begged for forgiveness anyway.
Minhi came up to me, straightened the collar Eunseo had stretched out of shape, and took my hand.
"M-Minhi…"
"Be quiet and follow me."
"O… okay…"
She took my hand and led me straight out of the villa.
Holding my hand, she walked at a brisk pace, putting more and more distance between us and the building I'd just fled, while shouting still echoed from somewhere inside.
The moment I started to look back, Minhi turned my face forward again.
"Don't look. Don't pay attention. Just follow me."
"O-okay……"
I'd been sure Minhi would explode the second she saw me. Instead she didn't get angry at all — she just calmly held my hand and kept leading me somewhere.
I'd been waiting on those stairs for what felt like forever, waiting for Oppa to come out.
My phone battery was dead, and it was getting colder by the minute, when I heard a door burst open in a rush upstairs. I stood up on the steps—
And then came the sound of bare feet — not shoes — pounding down the stairs, and there he was. The Oppa I'd been searching for so desperately.
The second he saw me, the color drained from his face and he froze in place.
From the floor above, someone was screaming "puppy," and a racket of noise came pouring down with it.
"…………"
Oppa seemed to be saying something, but I wasn't really listening.
Thank god…
At first I'd planned to kill that purple-haired bitch who'd kidnapped him and re-educate Oppa from scratch. But sitting on those freezing stairs, I'd thought it over carefully.
I'd been so anxious — terrified he might be hurt, or that I might never see him again.
But aside from his shirt being a little pulled open, Oppa had come out unharmed. And that was enough to put me at ease.