DM Chapter 78
Blood dripped from his face, blurring his vision. Wiping the blood roughly away with the back of his hand, Owen grabbed Kirill by the scruff of the neck and lunged at him. Kirill surrendered without a fight, and was immediately pushed against the wall.
Thud.
Owen’s arm pressed against his throat firmly. Half of his face was covered in blood, and his golden eyes were frozen in emotionlessness.
“You didn’t expect that, did you?”
The pressure on his neck was immense. As Kirill tried to respond calmly, Owen took a short breath. The smell of alcohol, like he had just downed a shot, stung his nostrils. The distance between them was close enough that Kirill could see his eyelashes wet with blood.
“I know, but it’s funny coming out of your mouth.”
Owen’s gaze was dangerously intense. The unmistakable hostility in his voice made Kirill click his tongue. Owen seemed to know exactly how to set him off.
“Does the thought of her running away make you uneasy?”
“Of course not. I don’t know whose head that came out of, but you think I’m going to let her get away with it?”
Kirill’s face hardened frighteningly at the mention of Gayeon. This was why he didn’t want them to cross paths.
“You won’t be able to touch her.”
“This is Eden City. There’s nothing I can’t do here.”
The chilling words returned, reminding Kirill that Owen’s tolerance had its limits. Realizing that conversation wouldn’t resolve anything, Kirill punched Owen in the face. At the same time, Owen punched him right under the chin.
They had never exchanged punches like this before, even before they became adults. They had hardly interacted, often ignoring each other. In Russia, Owen always received Nikolai’s favor and showed his potential as a successor. On the other hand, the sickly Kirill was deemed useless by Nikolai.
“Tell me what happened.”
As Kirill spat out the blood accumulated in his mouth after taking a hit to his jaw, he spoke.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
When Sarin woke up, Owen wasn’t there.
Sitting quietly in the dark bedroom, Sarin had grown accustomed to the darkness. Now she could see three pairs of eyes looking at her. The tension eased as she realized she wasn’t alone. As she reached out, Pinky playfully rubbed her moist nose against Sarin’s hand and licked her palm gently.
“There you are, I thought I was alone.”
After Owen and she started sharing this bedroom, she hadn’t expected them who usually stayed outside the bedroom to be here.
“Did he tell you to stay here?”
She asked the question, expecting no answer, while stroking the small, fuzzy head. Loneliness was slowly diminishing. This is why people kept pets, she thought.
As Sarin got up and walked out of bed, the three dogs followed closely behind her.
Stepping into the bright living room, she finally felt a sense of relief. After casually feeding the dogs their snacks, Sarin took out a tub of ice cream from the fridge for herself. Sitting on the sofa with a small spoon in hand, she prepared to indulge in the ice cream.
However, since the spoon wouldn’t pierce through the ice cream, she eventually gave up on eating.
“I’m not good at this.”
She hugged the tub and sat quietly, staring into space.
Her fingertips quickly cooled, and the heat from her head subsided. Sarin pressed the cold ice cream tub against her forehead. Gradually, the heat from her forehead and temples dissipated. However, her head still throbbed heavily.
Blue perked up its ears, reacting to something..
Soon, footsteps echoed in the corridor, and Sarin placed the ice cream tub on her lap. It must be Owen.
When the man appeared, the tub that had been on her lap rolled onto the rug. The ice cream, once solid, had partially melted, spilling creamy contents onto the open lid.
His forehead was split, and his dress shirt collar was soaked in blood. In an instant, her body froze. Memories of the incident at the lake flooded back.
Though he appeared to have been attacked, his stride remained steady as he walked straight to where Sarin stood frozen.
Placing a small box on the table in front of her, he said, “Eat.”
The white of the glossy box is smeared with blood that is unmistakably his.
“…Are you hurt?”
The corner of Owen’s mouth twitched up at the concern in the question she couldn’t help but ask. One side of his split lip was already starting to swell.
Sarin’s gaze lingered on his wound. He could smell the faint scent of alcohol.
“The wound, I think it needs stitches.”
she said after a moment, swallowing dryly..
“To think I have to spill alcohol like this just to look appetizing.”
His eyes softened. He knew she was sensitive to alcohol, yet he hadn’t thought to wash up before coming in. He knew how vulnerable she was, how she was trying her best to heal her wounds while never getting too close, never getting too deep.
“I’ll get the first aid kit.”
Sarin said, pretending not to hear Owen’s words as she got up from her seat. She hurriedly turned away, as if fleeing from the smell. He reached out and grabbed her by the nape of the neck, wanting to hold her down.
She sat back down on the couch and looked up at him, puzzled.
“Fever?”
He asked in a nonchalant voice, not touching her any further, and when she shook her head to indicate that she was fine, a satisfied smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“Eat first, then we’ll get you cleaned up.”
Owen’s mood as he pointed to the bloody box and told her to eat looked both good and bad. She doesn’t know what to say first, so she silently chooses her words in her head. Then, his long fingers brushed past her short bangs.
“I’m afraid Ms. Lee Sarin will eat me if I stay here any longer.”
He threw out a strange remark.
Though he hadn’t forgotten about Sarin licking his body, he didn’t want to indulge her in such a way that she became addicted to something else. As Owen headed to the bedroom, the dogs that had been standing up returned to their seats. Hearing the bedroom door close, Sarin let out a gasp.
It wasn’t the smell of alcohol constricting her breath; it was the dangerous atmosphere emanating from Owen.
Sarin sat up, touching the side of her neck where his hand had reached, then reached for the first aid kit, which she could now locate blindly, and set it on the table.
After cleaning up the half-melted ice cream, Sarin finally opened the box Owen had told her to eat.
“It’s not good to eat. Right?”
Sarin says, glancing at Yellow, and Yellow tilts his head.
“No, no. It’s not yours.”
Shoving the approaching snout away with the palm of her hand, Sarin glances back at the bedroom. I don’t recognize the man in there.
He had been kind enough to bring her a cake so beautifully decorated that it seemed too beautiful to eat, treating her like a child by offering her candy, and refusing to eat anything for herself..
“…What are we?”
Now she needed to define their relationship.
As Owen’s feelings towards her became more apparent, she became more afraid. The man had said he would give her a liver without hesitation. He waved something that even the child’s biological father refused to do like a sweet lollipop to Sarin. Even if it was a trap, she had no choice but to walk into it.
The only thing that matters in her life, her only reason to live, is Hayan. Life was a painful ordeal for Sarin, who could barely endure it. She had to make all the decisions alone. In her solitary life, with no one else to rely on or consult with, Owen emerged from the depths of her subconscious.
In his own way, he pressed her, and when Sarin couldn’t choose properly, he clearly indicated a direction and led her like a storm.
He’s on her side. Otherwise, there was no way he would give a part of him away to someone else. He delved into her mind, looked fiercely at its depths, and swiftly seized what she most desired and yearned for.
That was Owen’s way.
“How can it not be on my side when I read your mind and hand you candy?”
Even though she said it herself, the phrase ‘on my side’ stuck in her chest. She had long forgotten this feeling of someone standing on her side and speaking up for her. She realized that, as he said, they had been on the same side ever since we found each other in those deep waters.
Owen wasn’t the only one who changed that day.
Suddenly, she remembered what Gayeon had said at the villa.
Then her heart began to beat fast, and she didn’t even hear the door opening behind her. Her own heart was thumping so loudly that he could hear it outside if she opened her lips. With her ears filled with the pounding sound, Sarin covered them.
“It seems like you still have a fever.”
A cold hand rested on her forehead, finally finding the right spot. The hand that touched the spot he hadn’t touched before was unwavering.
I realize it’s him.
Realizing that, Sarin’s eyes, now enlarged, turned towards Owen. He had just finished showering, his wet hair in disarray. The golden eyes, which she had always considered cold, were slightly furrowed. The wounds on his forehead, cheek, and lips were vividly visible.
She now understood the true nature of the dazzling light that illuminated Owen when the barrel was pointed at him.
“I washed myself properly. Why are you still looking at me like that?”
Despite there being no trace of alcohol left on his body, Sarin’s gaze was no different from before, which puzzled Owen.
“What do you mean by ‘looking at you like that’?”
“Don’t you usually look at cakes with those eyes?”
