Chapter 103: After 10 Years. The Things that Won’t Fade Even as Time Passes  

The season for frost arrived. A gust of chilly autumn wind blew across the path near the ruins. The man swept back his windblown hair with little care. But the wind blew again to tangle up the recently organized strands. The man, feeling that the effort was nothing but a bother, he just let it be. The curly dark blond hair blew away the strands to reveal his forehead and cheeks.

The man looked like a prince who had walked out of a fairytale. It was Twins. The person who was in charge of their body today was Tweedle Dee. He stood at the entrance to Wonderland and observed the surrounding scenery. He had only been away at Outhouse for a couple of days, but this place he had been so fed up felt strangely homey. Light laughter escaped his lips.

“Maybe my eyes have gone crazy.”

If that wasn’t the case, then there was no way he could have missed these ruins. He started to walk. The ends of his unbuttoned trench coat waved in the autumn air, leaving black shadows behind him. His men who had followed him on his outing moved with his footsteps. Among them, a new recruit looked around at his surroundings and asked his superior a question. “Is there somewhere else that we need to stop? This direction doesn’t seem to be the way to either the office or to Mr. Dee’s house.”

“He is going to meet a girl he likes.”

“What? Mr. Dee has a girlfriend?”

The new recruit spoke louder than he had intended to and closed his mouth immediately as he glanced over at Dee. His superior clicked his tongue at him and explained. “Don’t go talking about it elsewhere. If word gets out, it will become bothersome.”

“Of course! But who is this girl? Is she pretty? If she’s Dee’s girlfriend then she definitely must be pretty, right?”

“To be exact, she isn’t really his girlfriend…”

It was when the superior had started this conversation that a small doll appeared on the other side of the street. It was a girl who looked to be around six or seven years old. The girl, who had long black hair, recognized Dee and waved to him.

“Hello, Uncle Dee.”

“Who said I’m your uncle?”

“You told me to not call you ‘mister’ last time. So what am I supposed to call you?”

“Just don’t call me anything.”

The girl pouted her red lips. Her adorable face looked just like her mother’s. She was so cute, you could just eat her up. However, the person in front of her could have literally eaten her up.

“Stop trying to act cute in front of me. Get lost…”

“I’m going to go see my mom right now.”

The girl’s mother would not be happy if anyone said anything remotely rude to her daughter for no reason. Plus, that sly child was sure to make up something to tattle on him. Dee was clicking his tongue when he realized something and checked his surroundings.

“Why are you alone? Your father lets you wander around alone?”

“Oh, Uncle Dee, really. Who at my age needs permission from their father to wander about? This is why they say the young can’t converse with the old. Plus, my brother left me and went off by himself. He sure is one useless person in my life.”

“For such a little thing, you sure can talk. Come here. I’ll take you home.”

“Psh. You were on your way to see my mom anyways, acting like you’re doing me a favor.”

Dee and the girl had known each other from the day the girl was born. The two of them always bickered but they had a very close relationship with each other. The girl’s mother would say that they had a love-hate relationship. The new recruit, who had been listening to their conversation, looked at his superior. The superior nodded his head at the wide-eyed new recruit. “That’s right.”

“But that girl is..!”

The girl was famous in Wonderland. She was Valerie, the daughter of Heart. Her mother was nicknamed Undertaker but was better known as White Rabbit.

Rumor had it that she was the strongest person in Wonderland. Neither her face nor her body looked special, and her personality was not the greatest either. The new recruit could not believe that the Dee he so looked up to could fall for a girl like her. The new recruit’s superior added one more thing. “Also, she may not be Dee’s girlfriend, but she is the girl he likes, so one wrong move and you’ll be in deep trouble.”

Confused, the new recruit closed his mouth.

Soon, they neared White Rabbit’s house. Dee’s men disappeared after placing the shopping bags in front of the door. Valerie’s gaze locked onto one of the people within the group and muttered, “You must not be very bright, mister. How could you just realize that Uncle Dee has a crush on my mom? Are you sure it’s okay to keep such a dense person around with you?”

“That’s not something you need to worry about. You need to first…”

“Need to first be worried about wandering around on your own without permission.” Valerie flinched after hearing the sound from behind her. Without having made a sound, SoYoon was now standing at the open door.

“Oh, mom.” Valerie skipped towards SoYoon and grabbed the ends of her shirt. At the same time, SoYoon greeted Dee. Dee kissed SoYoon on the cheek naturally.

“I’m back.”

“It’s cold, you should come inside.”

SoYoon and Valerie stepped inside first. Dee gathered up the shopping bags that his men had left and followed them in. Inside, as Valerie had mentioned, was another visitor. The moment he stepped foot inside the house, his eyes landed on the person who had arrived before him. Dee frowned at him.

The visitor was eight-year-old Victor. The boy looked exactly like his ginger-haired father and he bowed in greeting. “Hello.”

“Yes, yes.” Dee nodded his head and waved him away as he put down the shopping bags in front of SoYoon. They were clothes and shoes that he had bought for SoYoon at Outhouse.

“Thanks.”

“These are for you.”

Dee separated one of the shopping bags and placed them in front of the children. They stood next to each other and the two pairs of eyes stared up at him. They both had clear brown eyes. And that was the reason Dee could not bring himself to hate these two children.

“You’re trying to get in my favor with this? As I’ve said before, your thought processes are that deep.”

They would say annoying things like this to him every time they met.

SoYoon had gone to the kitchen to get some drinks when Victor’s lips curved into a crooked smile. Dee, instead of getting mad, laughed with a snort. Dee would be willing to bet his left arm that SoYoon had heard what Victor had said from the kitchen.

And a few minutes later, SoYoon was pinching Victor’s ears.

“Ow, it hurts! It hurts, mom! Ack! I’m sorry!”

“You should be apologizing to Dee, not me.”

“I’m sorry, Mister Dee! I should have thanked you for the presents even though they are pretty pathetic…! Mom, really, it hurts!”

“Forget it, SoYoon, let him go.”

With Dee’s approval, Victor was released and he ran away to the sofa immediately. SoYoon sighed.

“Who does he take after to have such an attitude?”

“Well that’s obvious, isn’t it?”

Smiling slyly while saying sarcastic words was Heart’s specialty. The boy had the same personality as his father. SoYoon couldn’t disagree with him and so she chose to stay silent.

The autumn air shook the windows as it passed. As the outside weather became colder, the four people sat on the sofa in the warm house. Dee watched the children sitting across from him. Both of them seemed to like their presents because even though they had pretended to not find the gifts appealing, they couldn’t stop fiddling with them.

Dee suddenly found a pair of brown eyes looking at him. They were Valerie’s. The present he had bought for her was a lavender colored cloak. Its edges were decorated with silver-grey fox fur which went well with her black hair and pale white skin. Valerie suddenly removed the hood from the cloak which she had worn over her head.

“Thank, thank you.” As Valerie thanked Dee with a prim expression, a hint of a smile crossed SoYoon’s lips. Victor, seeing that, followed suit immediately.

“Thank you!”

The present Victor received was a dark grey coat. The color was quite muted for a child his age, but on Victor, it suited him. The two children took turns thanking him, then glared at each other until they simultaneously turned away from one another.

The peaceful time slowly passed to become night. It was time for the two children to return home. Their father, who refused to leave his children in the hands of anyone else, was sure to come soon to take them home.

Having had two of Heart’s children, it might have made sense for them to live together, but SoYoon didn’t do that. Dee believed it was SoYoon’s way of allowing Mad Hatter and himself to come to visit her freely. He slowly stretched out his hand and placed it over SoYoon’s. When he did, she placed her other hand over his and patted the back of it. After many years, she had become much more benign and her hand’s action brought him peace.

However, he was not able to enjoy his peace for more than an hour. Heart had arrived. He hugged and greeted SoYoon, then placed the squirming Victor’s hands in front of him and looked down at Valerie.

“I’m sure I told you to stay quietly at home today.”

Unlike his younger sister who hung her head low in shame, the boy looked up at his father defiantly. However, there was no way an eight-year-old boy could beat the thirty-five-year-old Heart. The boy bit his lips.

Heart looked down at his son as the boy refused to lower his gaze, even with his intense pressure. He smiled with a twinkle in his eye.

“Be prepared to finish getting in trouble when we get back.”

Victor glanced over at SoYoon. However, Victor’s care and punishment were wholly handed to Heart and so all she could do was give him a bitter smile. She didn’t intervene. Victor answered in defeat, “…Yes.”

“Valerie, you too.”

“Yes.” Valerie’s obedient answer followed. But SoYoon knew that he would never scold their daughter harshly. Even though she was Heart’s daughter, she got along well with Mad Hatter. Valerie was well known to melt her parent’s hearts with her lovable personality. Also, Valerie looked very much like SoYoon and so Heart usually became weak and breezed over many things for her. SoYoon thought to herself that she would have to severely scold Valerie one day.

When the three people left for their home, there were only two of them left inside. The place where the children had been felt strangely empty. Dee hugged SoYoon’s waist. SoYoon patted his shoulder gently. The stress he had endured at Outhouse seemed to dissipate with her touch.

“Did your work end well?”

“Yes,” Dee answered with a contented sigh. As he inhaled deeply, the scent he had missed so much filtered into his lungs. Mixed with it though, was now the scent of the children.

“The kids…” Dee closed his mouth before finishing his thought. The children she had born with another man.

He didn’t like young children because they were small and weak, and you didn’t know when they might die. And if they were her children, he hated them more. Already feeling deprived of her attention, he hated sharing it with even more people.

But every time he saw the two children, he was struck by the same thought. What if among them, there was one with blond hair and brown eyes? How would that make him feel? SoYoon’s child who would have the same face as Dee and Dum. That was something he could never have.

“…It’s nothing.”

SoYoon didn’t further question him about it. Instead, the hand patting his shoulder became more affectionate. Dee felt a combination of sweet and bitter emotions and closed his eyes. His crush on her still lingered.

/-The End-/