You & Me [KARD FF] ✔

Chapter Twenty Five

(a/n: just spam the comment section, i know you'll hate me after next chapter)

Her

Awoken by warm sun rays tickling her cheeks, Jiwoo parted her eyelids, squinting because of the bright light coming through open window. What time was it? She tried remembering her last task from the day before, looking for some reasonable explanation that would lead to her waking up so late.

The last thing she could remember was crying in shower and locking up the room. Everything after that was just a big black hole. The more she tried to dig deeper into that hole, looking for its roots, the pain in her head was worse. There was something, though. A blurry, disturbing memory.

Two men are fighting a few meters away from her foggy sight. Jiwoo couldn't recognize their faces or voices but she feels strangely concerned for one of them.

"Knock-knock?"

Matthew's voice makes her lose her train of thoughts. She looks up to find him leaning on doorframe with his arms crossed. He's wearing a plain white shirt paired with blue jeans and his hair was messy.

"I was just wondering if you'd like me to bring you anything from the store since I'm heading out?"

His tone, casual as ever, and him getting up late, it all seemed normal. So why was she scared of that normality?

"This might be just a feeling, but um... did anything, perhaps, happen last night?", she couldn't help asking and his face expression froze.

"You don't remember?"

Jiwoo shook her head automatically. "The last thing I recall from yesterday is taking a shower and laying down..."

"You don't remember at all?", he repeated his question.

"Pitch black", blonde shrugged. "But there is this memory that's burdening me..."

She then told him about reminiscence where two men were fighting. Matthew listened carefully and Jiwoo noticed the way he frowned when she mention being worried for one of them.

"It's strange because it feels like close memory and a dream at the same time. I can't see their faces and their voices are distorted. They are fighting about some debts and paying with life."

Her voice would occasionally tremble as she spoke, proving that she was scared. "Are you sure no one was here last night?"

He denied. "No one but us."

Jiwoo didn't know whether to be happy or disappointed with that information, but she lowered her gaze.

"Maybe you were dreaming and one of those two men was your husband. In subconsciousness, you're missing him but you've been apart for a longer time and his face and voice are slowly fading from your mind. You want to meet him, but there is a problem that prevents you from going back."

She nodded absently, staring somewhere beyond physical sight.

"Do you regret trying to kill him?", he asked suddenly.

"Every day of my life."

***

"So you finally decided to clean up?", Jiwoo noticed while going through her purse, looking for keys.

The whole living room looked like one of those "spring cleaning" commercials, it was only matter of the time when professional lights and producer sitting in a chair behind camera would appear. Windows were open so that cleanser smell could expel.