His Perfect Wife Strikes Back

60 Destined to be Entwined

He unwrapped the tape from the younger Karr's mouth. He looked up abruptly. His face was pale and his eyes were full of fear. His black hair was already wet with sweat.

"Start your confession!" Daley looked at the younger Karr as if he were a priest waiting to hear a confession.

"I. . ." the younger karr looked at me. His brow furrowed in pain, as if admitting his fault was an extremely difficult thing to say. He turned to look at Daley again, and when his eyes met Daley's cold gaze, he was immediately frightened to bow his head.

"Don't waste time!" Said Daley.

The younger Karr looked up again, and this time he turned his eyes to me, and he said to me in a pitiful, pleading tone, "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have trafficked women. I shouldn't have forced you into p.rostitution. I'm sorry for the harm my brother has done to you. I hope you can forgive me for my mistake. Please!"

"What else did you do?" I looked at him critically. "Tell me!"

"I r.aped my cousin. I murdered my neighbor's son," he recalled, "Oh, I've done so many bad things. But I was born on this island as a child, and no one ever told me it was right or wrong. I don't even know who my real father is. Now that I know I have committed an unforgivable sin, I beg your forgiveness."

"Your cousin, how old were you when you r.aped her?" I stared at the ugly man who was pretending to be a good man. Even though he complained of his fault, there was no remorse in his eyes.

"Around the time I was 19, I wasn't sure. I was too young then. I think I .raped her on impulse!" His voice was fake and his eyes averted.

"How old was she?"

"14 or 16. I don't remember."

"Why did you r.ape her?" I stared at him to see what lies he could concoct.

"It was so long ago. I can't remember clearly," he said, looking down at the ground in an attempt to avoid my question. "I remember she first made fun of me for being ugly, so I got angry and wanted to teach her a lesson. Everyone makes mistakes when they're young. All men are the same!"

"I don't think you're telling me the truth." I caught him in a lie. Men never look at women in the eye when they lie.

"You better tell the truth," said Daley as he took the blood-stained scalpel and gently slashed the younger Karr across the chest. He let out a cry of pain at once.

Blood ran down his chest and onto his thighs, wriggling like a blood-colored earthworm. The pain of the wound contorted his face and he begged Daley.

"Please, forgive me. Daley. I know I was wrong!"

"Answer her question," Daley said.

"The truth is that my friends bet me 100 coins if I dared to f.uck my cousin, so I tricked her into going into the woods," Karr said, "Then I r.aped her in front of my friends. Everything I said was true."

"Where did your cousin go?" I asked, "After you r.aped her!"

The younger Karrr stammered, his eyes looking over my shoulder. Suddenly, he became nervous as if he had seen a ghost. His eyes were wide open and the veins bulged in his neck.

"She's dead. She was too fragile, so she killed herself!"

"Then you should die too!" I said as I pulled the switch on the gallows. The planks at the younger Karr's feet immediately pulled apart on either side, leaving a black hole with no bottom.

His neck was suspended in mid-air by a rope, and his feet sank into the black hole. After struggling for a few minutes, he couldn't breathe at all. I looked at his twisted face and bulging eyes, and the b.astard died.

"Do you feel better?" Daley said, looking at the younger Karr's body. "I mean, mentally."

"I don't know. Maybe."

Maybe he's right. I feel like my hatred for the Karr Brothers is fading. Their death eased the pain in my heart. I felt as if I had finally accomplished a mission.

I closed my eyes and prayed for Fiona's soul to rest in peace. Will she really hear my prayers?

"What are you going to do with them?" I said, referring to the bodies of the Karr brothers. I remembered what he had just said.

I looked at the older Karr's body on the hospital bed. He has a machine beside him. Turns out the silvery machine was a meat grinder, but would he really put the Karr brothers' bodies in a meat grinder?

"I don't think you want to see what happens next." Daley looked toward the door. "I think you're tired. It's time for you to go to your room and rest!"

"That's right," I whispered and walked out of the warehouse.

This time the door closed tightly, and I heard what sounded like a chainsaw coming from inside. I could imagine what he was doing. I could see his bloody hands putting pieces of cut meat into the meat grinder.

The temperature dropped suddenly at night and I felt cold. A cold wind was blowing hard across my face. The white roses and red poppies in the garden were swaying in the wind. There was a faint smell of flowers and blood in the air.

I didn't expect the fertilizer of such beautiful flowers to be human flesh. No wonder the beauty of these flowers always exudes a sense of danger.

I shivered and quickened my steps toward the house. I walked up the stairs in the dark back to my room and then went into the bathroom to wash my body. I can't remember when I went to bed. I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling.

Daley's masked face comes to my mind from time to time, as if it were hanging from the ceiling and looking at me. I tried to erase him from my sight, but he was still there.

After some time, I fell asleep. I had a dream about Frade, who was sitting by my bed, looking down to smoke. I tried to talk to him, but he said nothing. Is he blaming me? Would he mind if I had another man in my heart. A man looked like him.

But was Frade and I really in love? I'm not sure, because I know that in his mind I'm just a stand-in for Mia, and didn't he help me in the first place because I look like Mia?

His true love is Mia, not me.

Suddenly, Frade, who was sitting on the edge of my bed, stood up. His back was to me and he was leaving. I jumped up from the bed and tried to hold his hand.

"Don't go!" I shouted and woke up.

As he slowly turned his head, I saw Daley's face in the mask. It's him!

I was awake and Daley was in my bedroom.

And I found myself holding his wrist at the moment. He looked at me calmly, his closed lips slightly open. He changed into a linen cotton blouse with the collar open to reveal his firm muscles. The mask was like a jewel on his face.

What does that face look like under that mask?

"Do you want to know the answer?" He said in a very soft voice. "Do you want to know why I saved you and pushed you away?"

"Why?"

"For you have pierced my heart like a thorn in a white rose. I feel pain but I can't bear to pull it out. Because it is you who make my original backwater life feel alive. You make my cold blood boil again. I tried to pull you out, but I couldn't." He smiled bitterly.

"I have no pity for anyone but you."

I was shocked. My heart rate was gradually increasing. Our eyes met as if an electric current were pulling us together.

He put his face close to mine, and the cold mask on my cheek made me feel a chill. It was the first time I was so close to him. I thought I heard his heartbeat. It was real.

"You are the pure white rose, and I am the evil poppy. We are destined to be entwined for life," he whispered in my ear.