Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

Chapter 42

“If you’re okay, get off.”

Her sudden change in attitude made his lips and fingers stop. He lifted his head and saw her staring at him.

“I said, get off.”

“...”

Mad Hatter got up hesitantly. His clothes were still tidy while hers were a mess. She reorganized her clothes, got up, and pointed as Mad Hatter stared at her.

“Your clothes are next to the sofa.”

He looked inside the shopping bag dropped next to the sofa. His clothes and hat were inside. In that moment, the reality of the situation struck him.

She’s here. She kept her promise. But...why is she such a mess? He scratched his now cleared-up head. He turned back time to figure out what happened.

Her voice telling him to pull himself together, her warm, soft skin, her palm on his face, his instinctive move in lust...

Seeing the blotches on her skin as she dressed, Mad Hatter’s face glowed red.

“Mad Hatter?”

“Oh, my God.”

“What’s the matter?”

“No, nothing. Uh...Why are your clothes...?”

SoYoon turned away instead of answering. Without any expression, she rolled up her sweater. As she was packing up, Mad Hatter covered his eyes.

Ding—the grandfather clock chimed one o’clock. She bent down and picked up the shopping bag. When she got up, the room spun. Before she came here, she had felt nauseous at home when she had stopped by to get her clothes. She had taken some iron before she left, but that must have not been enough to heal her completely. And...

“Come back to me tonight.”

Heart’s voice echoed inside her. It was one o’clock. SoYoon’s eyes drooped. She did not think she could keep that promise.

***

The morning after the kidnapping, Alice spent time alone with Heart. In the second-floor drawing room, the two of them conversed casually. She sat in awe, looking at Heart’s face as she sipped her coffee.

Heart’s looks, wealth, power, and even how he treated her were all of the perfect man. However, Alice was not content with just one man. Even in the original, he was only one of many. To continue the story in such a way, she couldn’t stay trapped at Heart’s house like this.

“Heart, there is something I would like to request. Would you do it for me?”

“Hmm? Why would you ask that? Was there ever a time I rejected any of your requests?”

There wasn’t. Alice folded her hands in front of her chest and looked up at Heart. It was a gesture that had never failed her before.

“I want to go outside by myself. Can’t I? I won’t go anywhere else other than the neutral zone.”

Although this probably wasn’t something to bring up the day after a kidnapping, she had come to this conclusion after much thought.

Due to this whole Jack fiasco, the fact that Heart cared for Alice was now probably well known in Wonderland. Heart was like a king in Wonderland. To hurt someone he loved meant that they were willing to become an enemy of Wonderland itself.

Heart contemplated for a moment as Alice adorably pleaded with him. Surrendering, he gave permission.

“Besides, the reason I had been keeping you locked inside was because of Jack. Okay. But, you must promise to stay with your guard when traveling from the house to the neutral zone.”

“Of course! Thank you, Heart! And...”

Alice shot a glance at Heart as though embarrassed. He licked his lips with his tongue to get the coffee left on the corners of his mouth. The gesture reminded her of a Latin model. She couldn’t stop imagining how sexy it would be if those lips would speak her real name.

“Call me GaHyun.”

“GaHyun?”

Oh, my God. Alice realized how electrifying the pronunciation of her name was. It started low then went into a deep echo that lightly sang like the perfect harmony of a song. As she was lost in her excitement, Heart called her by her name once more.

“GaHyun. What does this mean?”

“Oh, that...It’s from a place far south that means ‘to light up in beauty.’ My parents gave it to me in hopes that I would grow up to be beautiful. Although there isn’t anyone left to call me by that name...”

Alice dropped her head slightly. She knew how pitiful her white neck looked through her golden locks.

“Alice means ‘noble.'”

It was something she didn’t know. She smiled shyly and waited for him to continue.

“A noble light of beauty. Your parents must have had quite the foresight.”

The words made her feel amazing. However, they were not the words she was hoping to hear. She waited a bit, but the conversation shifted in a different direction. Does this man not know about give and take? Alice forced herself to smile wider.

“But Heart. I heard the name Pawn yesterday...”

“Well...that’s a name that I had when I was in difficult times. It isn’t a name I like to hear. You can understand that, right?”

Heart cut her off softly. She looked up at Heart with drooping eyes. She actually was disappointed, so even without having to act, her facial expression came out naturally.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that...”

A sound came from beyond the drawing-room door, asking for permission to enter. When Heart answered, the door opened, and his assistant came in.

“What’s the matter? It’s a bit noisy.”

“Twins is here. He says he’s here to see how you are doing. What should I do?”

“How I’m doing?”

Heart laughed as if he’d never heard something so ridiculous, then looked over and asked her, “Is it okay if I call him up here?”

“Of course. I’m okay.”

“She says it’s okay. You heard it.”

A lovely blush came over Alice’s pretty cheeks. Twins at Heart’s house; it was a meeting she had not expected.

A dark blond man walked through the drawing room door. When his clear blue eyes looked at Alice, she swallowed her breath. In the original, Twins was described as extremely handsome, but the man that stood in front of her now was much more extravagant.

“It’s been a while, Twins. What brings you here to see me?”

“F*ck, I told you it was to see how you were doing.”

Jeans and a rider jacket, and a coarse tongue—he was Tweedle Dee. He plopped onto a seat opposite Heart without once giving notice to Alice. Heart’s assistant brought over a cup of coffee for Dee. He didn’t touch it once and, instead, chomped on the pieces of chocolate on the dessert plate.

“What, did you buy this at Central? That hairtail fish hair pervert made such a fuss over your food that I had high expectations, but that was all lies, wasn’t it?”

“I got a recommendation from someone, and it wasn’t bad, so afterward, I continued to buy chocolate from Central. I don’t want to waste my chef’s skills on you.”

Dee glared at Heart maliciously. From Alice’s perspective, he looked vicious, but Heart, who was receiving the full force of it, was sipping his coffee peacefully. His reaction was as unbothered as if a bug had been staring at him.

A few moments later, he put down his coffee cup and smirked crookedly.

“So, what’s your real reason for being here?”

“Blondie’s phone number.”

“Blondie?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know! I’m talking about Undertaker. Undertaker!

Alice perked up her ears. Undertaker was the nickname of White Rabbit in the original story, but it never explained the reason behind it.

Why is he the Undertaker? Is there a secret meaning to it, like Heart’s name? She watched the two men trying to find the perfect timing to ask. Heart was sending a message with his red smartphone, and Dee was watching the smartphone intently.

There were not a lot of places to spend leisure time in Wonderland. Plus, technological advancement seemed to be lost here, so that Peter and the rest of Heart’s men were using the old style of cellphones. It was the first time seeing a smartphone here. Alice decided to ask for that when the time was right.

“Hey, what’s that? Blondie has the same one in a different color.”

“It’s called a smartphone. Mad Hatter invented it. The phone number, sorry to say, won’t be happening.”

Heart answered, smiling benignly after reading SoYoon’s reply.

People thought that Heart never lied, but he just never felt the need. If that’s what people chose to believe, who cared? He was already dreadfully regretting introducing SoYoon to Mad Hatter. He didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

“What? Why?”

“It’s strange. This has never happened before. Must have gotten a bad feeling about you.”

“Hey! Heart!”

“Excuse me a moment.”

Dee shot up from his seat to argue, but Heart didn’t pay him attention. He put the smartphone to his ear and stepped outside the drawing room. Dee felt guilty about what had happened between him and SoYoon when they last met, so he had come all the way here. “Sh*t, so spiteful.” He sat back down, mumbling to himself.

His beautiful princelike face was pouting in anger. Although 21 years old, he was adorable. Alice decided to use this chance as she glanced over at him.

“You said your name was Twins? I’m Alice Liddell.”