Page 144 of Perfect Happiness
Despite the shallow water, the cold shock immobilized her body.It took her forever to get her feet under her and her head out of the water.But once she did, she was able to sense light out of her left eye, which was still swollen.When she turned her head, she could see the light from Yuna’s headlamp shining down on her.Judging from the direction of the light, Jane realized she was now lying on her back and facing the sky.It had to be Yuna.But because she wasn’t right next to Jane, she couldn’t make out her image.
The BMW’s headlights were also shining diagonally across the swamp, providing enough light to make out the shapes of objects.Thanks to this, she was able to find something that looked like a hole to her right.It looked like a second hole in the ice.Probably where Eun-ho had fallen.
Jane moved toward the hole.There was a good chance that Eun-ho was drugged and unconscious.Most conscious men wouldn’t let themselves be loaded onto a wheelbarrow and disposed of in a marsh.Yuna must have wanted to drown him in his sleep.Jane knew there wasn’t much time, but she couldn’t move faster.
The bed of the marsh was covered in thick mud.Every time she put her foot down, it sunk deep into the mud, and every time she tried to lift her foot, it felt like her ankle was caught in a trap.In just two steps, she had lost both her socks.And she was slipping with every other step.Sharp rocks and shards of glass hidden in the mud cut her feet.Had the water been deeper, she would have tried swimming.The worst thing was the cold shock.Her back was shaking, and she couldn’t feel her legs.And every time she took a breath, it felt like her lungs were collapsing.
At this rate, Jane wondered if she would reach Eun-ho before Christmas.And just as she thought this, her knee got caught on something.Something heavy was pressing up gently against her pants.Jane turned slowly to look down at the water.A face was floating in the dark, murky water.Its dull eyes were open and appeared to make eye contact with her.
Jane jumped in surprise.She almost screamed and ran up onto the bank.If she hadn’t realized that this face belonged to the person she was looking for, she would have left him to drown.
“Eun-ho!”
Jane leaned over and put her hands under his armpits.As she lifted his body out of the water, his limp head slumped over sideways.
“Eun-ho.Are you awake?”
He didn’t respond, but there was hope.He started breathing on his own as soon as she lifted his head out of the water.His breaths were loud and violent, as though he’d been holding his breath this whole time.It seemed he was aware, just unable to control his body.After all, an unconscious person wouldn’t be able to hold his breath under water.
“Eun-ho, blink your eyes for me.”
Eun-ho just managed to close one eye and open it back up.It was a slow, clumsy movement, but that didn’t matter.What was important was that he was aware of his surroundings and could hear her.Jane put her arm under Eun-ho’s right armpit and started walking toward the bank like an icebreaker in the Arctic Ocean.
It wasn’t far, and Eun-ho was lighter thanks to the water, but it still took an eternity to reach the shore.The slippery mud made it feel like she was scaling a steep cliff made of loose gravel.
The difference in elevation between the bank and surface of the water was a bit more than Jane had judged.She could only lift Eun-ho’s shoulders up onto the bank before he became too heavy to push.The rest of his body she could pull up when she got out of the water.But she had made a miscalculation.She had forgotten one important variable: Yuna.
Just as she put her hands on the ground and started to lift her body out of the water, something grabbed the back of her neck.Immediately, she fell backward into the water, completely defenseless.When she finally realized what was happening, she was already submerged in icy liquid.She struggled to lift her head, but something was preventing her from doing that.Yuna was sitting on top of her.Her hands were keeping Jane’s head under water, and her knees were restraining Jane’s shoulders.This would have been enough to suffocate Jane above land, but underwater, it was ten times worse.
Jane’s mind fell into darkness.Her brain, paralyzed instantly.Only her instincts remained active, desperately flailing her arms.Jane’s hand found Yuna’s ankle just as she was about to run out of breath.A voice inside her head spoke to her.Remember the day you bench-pressed your own weight.Your coach said you were the strongest girl in the gym, remember?You did it once, you can do it again.
Jane stuck her heels into the mud, arched her back, and then lifted Yuna’s ankles into the air.Yuna fell head-first over Jane’s body.Her hands and knees, which had been keeping Jane’s head and shoulders under water, went with her.
Jane sat up and brought her head out of the water.She coughed and spat out the water that she had swallowed.Just as she caught her breath, the same thing happened again.Yuna, who had come back to life sooner than Jane expected, grabbed Jane’s hair and pulled her back into the water.
This time, however, Yuna tried to drown Jane by pulling her hair with one arm and strangling her neck with the other.
Jane couldn’t believe how strong Yuna was.No matter how hard she struggled, Jane couldn’t free herself from Yuna’s grip.Her lungs were about to explode.And then suddenly, Jane thought she could hear her father’s song in the distance.
Maria, Maria, you are my love, Maria ...
After I sent you far away, I planted a flower ...
Jane shuddered.She finally knew who was singing this song, and it wasn’t her father.It was a song that Jane was singing to herself.It was a spell that she had cast on herself, from when she was young, until she was a grown woman.It was a warning to herself to not do anything if she wanted peace, to stand back and watch and do nothing.
This was why Jane was always being attacked by Yuna.She wanted Yuna to attack her.That was the only way to remain as her father’s little princess, to do nothing and take it.The moment she stood up to Yuna, the moment she fought back, she would lose her father’s trust.Her only worth as a person was as father’s little princess.
Jane was no different from Yuna.Deep down, she was still that seven-year-old girl.Even now, moments away from dying, the specter of that child and her song was preventing her from truly fighting back.
Jane stopped struggling.She relaxed her body as though she had lost consciousness.She let her arms, which had been flailing, drop into the water.The only thing she moved were her fingers as she sifted through the mud for a weapon.Eventually her fingers found a sharp rock.She started counting.One, two, three...
Yuna’s grip on the back of her head loosened, as did the arm around her neck.Jane waited.Waited until Yuna lifted Jane’s head out of the water to check if she was alive.Jane’s target was just beneath the headlamp on Yuna’s head.
It happened faster than she was expecting.The light from the headlamp fell onto Jane’s face.Jane opened her eyes suddenly.She lifted her arm and stabbed her target with the rock in her hand.Yuna let out a yelpas she grabbed her eye and staggered backward.
Jane stood up.She located Yuna immediately by the bright headlamp.Yuna was just four or five feet away from Jane as she held her bloody eye and cursed at Jane.
“You little cunt!You stealing bitch!”
