Page 127 of Perfect Happiness
Yuna grabbed Jane by the hair and forced her head backwards.She pulled on Jane’s hair with such force that it left Jane’s eyeballs trembling.As Jane gazed into Yuna’s eyes, she found the answer to the question she’d been asking herself for the last thirty years.
Yuna was nothing but a small girl.Inside Yuna’s eyes, Jane found the angry seven-year-old girl who had been sent to Woohyeri to live with her grandma.For all these years, it was this rage-driven girl who had been controlling Yuna.
“Keep it up.See if anyone comes to save you.”
Yuna put all her weight into her fist as she cracked Jane across the left cheek.Jane’s head snapped backwards.Yuna grabbed Jane’s head with both hands and kneed her in the face.She continued to knee Jane, in the throat and on the back and side of the head.A loud eruption exploded in Jane’s ears.Her surroundings went dark.And through the gaps in her consciousness, which blinked like a strobe light, Yuna’s voice pierced her ears.
“Keep it up, you fucking cunt.”
Jane let her body go limp.She could feel Yuna putting a noose around her neck as she drifted in and out of consciousness.Yuna rolled Jane over and tied the noose to the ropes on Jane’s ankles.She then turned off the light and left the room.
When Jane finally came to, she realized something.Yuna was serious about killing her.The noose on her neck was giving her an option.She could either strangle herself here or last a little longer to die at Yuna’s hands.
Jane didn’t want to die.At least not here, not like this.But if she was going to live, she needed to do something.She couldn’t just lie here and continue listening to her father’s voice.
Jane started searching through her memory.When the lights were on, where had she been?Jane remembered vaguely being in the middle of the attic.Although Yuna had tossed Jane around, she hadn’t moved far from where Yuna first discovered her.
Jane turned on the GPS inside her head.She used the place where she had first woken up as a reference.If she had gone straight while knocking over boxes, then all she had to do was go back in a straight line.If she ran into boxes while doing this, she had gone in the right direction; if she reached a pile of junk, then she had gone in the wrong direction.She might be able to move if she brought her legs up to her ribs and rolled her body along the floor.
But there was an unexpected variable she hadn’t anticipated.The moment she moved her legs, her body began screaming out in pain from the beating she had just taken.
As soon as she brought her chin to her chest, it felt like her neck was going to break.And when she rolled on her side, her ribs felt like they were stabbing her lungs.Even her eyeballs felt like they were going to fall out of her skull when her forehead touched the floor.Jane rolled her body one more time, smashing her chin on the floor.A sharp, burning pain pierced her jaw.Jane couldn’t take any more pain.
With every revolution, she let out a groan.Before long, her body was drenched in sweat.She was disappointed in herself.She couldn’t believe she was in so much pain from just a few blows to the body and head.It wasn’t even like it was a strong man who had hit her; it was just Yuna.
Finally, her forehead found the edge of a box.There was nothing touching her legs.She rolled one more time, hitting the wall with her knees.Jane let her body relax and lay down.Her cheek, which was slick with sweat, rested on the wood floor.She relaxed her tense shoulders and closed her eyes.She waited for the burning pain to subside.
In the meantime, she could hear a bell downstairs.A few moments later, she heard what sounded like a piece of classical music written for the violin, although she didn’t recognize the piece.Through the sound of the music, Jane could make out the sound of a knife on a cutting board, as well as the clinking of bowls and plates.
Eventually, she heard people’s voices, too.
Jane pressed her ear into the floor.As she tried to make out what was being said, she was able to hear Yuna say:
“Wash up.It’s time for dinner.”
Chapter 9
Honey, would you sit there?”Wife stood in front of the kitchen table and motioned with her eyes to the chair in front of the door to the living room.Without any reason to object, Eun-ho quietly took his seat.
“And Jiyoo, sit next to your father.”
Jiyoo sat in the seat Mother told her to.Jiyoo’s complexion was pale, and her eyes were fixed to the table.Eun-ho followed Jiyoo’s gaze.A long blue flower vase, a scented candle, and wine glasses.Eun-ho could feel his jaw become rigid.These were the same objects he’d seen in the picture.Even the three roses in the flower vase were the same color.
“I’ll sit here,” Wife said as she brought the salad bowl over and placed it on the table.Her place, which was across from Eun-ho and closest to the kitchen, was already marked with a wine glass.
“It’ll give me easy access to the kitchen.”
Eun-ho furtively glanced at his watch.6:00.It was a little early for dinner.
“Night falls early here,” Wife said, reading his mind.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No.Just sit.You can talk to Jiyoo if you want.”
Wife made several trips to the kitchen counter.One by one, she filled the kitchen table—a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice, orange juice, bread, jam, peanut butter, and three plates with goulash.As she did this, Eun-ho and Jiyoo sat in their seats without saying a word, like children in time-out.
Wife was more upbeat than she’d been the last several weeks.She was almost gliding across the kitchen floor.Her cheeks were rosy, and even the pitch in her voice was higher than usual.She had twice as much to say, too.“It’s hard to bake the bread evenly with that old oven.”“I can’t believe they didn’t have any fresher salad ingredients at the store.”“We were low on ice, so the champagne might not be very cold.”
