Page 33 of Perfect Happiness
“More tea?”Wife asked.
“No.It’s almost eleven.I should sleep.”
“I’ve made a place for you to sleep in Jiyoo’s room on the second floor,” Wife said as she put down her teacup and stood up.“Goodnight.Noah will sleep with Eun-ho.”
Eun-ho picked up Noah with both arms and headed upstairs.He slid Pengsoo toward the side of the bed and laid Noah down.He undressed Noah and peeled away the hair stuck to his forehead.His face was a bit grubby from not being washed before bed.There were long furrow-like tracks of tears extending from his cheeks to his chin.Eun-ho’s guilt resurfaced in his mind like grass perking up in the early morning.He was so ashamed of his heavy-handed discipline that it hurt.And he was afraid of the conflicts that would start in earnest just nine days from now.He had absolutely no idea how to raise a kid.He, a high school teacher, didn’t know how to raise a kid.
“Eun-ho Cha—” his mom called out from the playroom.“I’m going to use the bathroom first.”
By the time Eun-ho opened the door and looked out, his mom was already inside the bathroom.Eun-ho closed the window’s curtains and lay down next to Noah.He took off his clothes and threw them onto the floor.He was intending on lying there until the bathroom was free, but immediately his body started to relax.The lights became dim, and his vision started to blur.And then, as if the sandman had hit him over the head, everything went black.
*
Eun-ho was wading through deep, blue water.At times he was being swept along by a swift undercurrent, and at others he was being pulled down into a dark ravine.When he reached the bottom, he was shot back up toward the water’s frozen surface.It was dark and cold, and he couldn’t breathe.This terrified him.
Eun-ho knew it was a dream, but he couldn’t escape its pull.He was aware of his body as it moved through the water, but he couldn’t move.His eyes were closed.And yet he could sense a white light moving across the surface of the water.He knew he was on a collision course for the ice, but he couldn’t adjust his trajectory.
He hit the ice with great force.An explosion of light ignited before his eyelids.White, hot, searing rays of light blinded his senses.
Just as he felt something coming, he was sucked back into the darkness as though a rock were tied to his ankle.He had to still be dreaming.A thin crack formed between his eyelids allowing him to see a moving light just above them.It moved like a search light from his left eye to his right eye, to his ear, to his throat and chest, and through his body down to his legs.And then, suddenly, it disappeared as if someone had pulled the plug.The moment the light disappeared, Eun-ho saw something—something appearing from the darkness.Something small and white.
A hand.Eun-ho heard a voice from inside his head.And then his consciousness went blank, as though someone had pulled the shutters over his brain.Complete blackness.
*
When Eun-ho opened his eyes, he was lying face down on the bed.The room was mostly dark, but birds were chirping outside.Faint sunlight was leaking into the room through the curtains.It was morning.He had finally escaped the dream.
Eun-ho was about to turn his body to lie down on his back when he paused.There was something soft pinned under his ribs.At first, he thought it had to be Pengsoo.But his memory immediately reminded him it couldn’t be Pengsoo.Last night, he had placed Pengsoo to Noah’s side.
Eun-ho’s body agreed with his memory.This didn’t feel like Pengsoo, who was large and fat.This thing beneath him was small and thin, like the branch of a fledgling tree.It was so frail that it felt like it would snap if he took so much as a deep breath.It smelled familiar, too.
A horrifying realization seized Eun-ho.A voice whispered in his ear.Don’t move.Don’t look.
An unbearable amount of time passed.Tick...tock...Blood was rushing through his neck.His heart was letting out a frighteningly grating sound.A murder of crows was flying circles inside his mind.He couldn’t take it anymore.Wanting to end the agony, Eun-ho turned over and got up in one single motion.He looked down and confirmed what it was.
It was Noah.He was face down with his face buried in Pengsoo’s belly.Noah’s limbs were limp.
Noah didn’t answer when called to.Noah wasn’t breathing.Noah had no pulse.Noah’s head dropped lifeless when shook.
The world disappeared like a candle being blown out.Eun-ho’s mind went dark.And from inside the darkness, he could hear his own screams exploding like a nuclear bomb in his chest.
“Noaaaaaah!”
Chapter 3
When Jane entered Elroy café from the company lobby, Min-young was sitting in the back near the window, her eyes cast downward and both hands resting atop her knees.She looked like a laptop in sleep mode, waiting for input from the world.
Jane was trying her best not to run back outside.Why had she agreed to meet this girl?
Min-young insisted that it was urgent and concerned Jane.But what could it be?
Jane vacillated near the entrance for a while before finally walking over to Min-young.
“Have you been waiting long?”
Min-young turned her head.She looked up at Jane as though she had just awoken from a deep slumber.
She parted her dry lips and spoke: “There are a lot of people here.”Hardly an answer to Jane’s question.
