Ch.76The hearts of people on the same path!

Late dawn.

“No… mmm, don’t do that…”

Unlike Jessie, who was sleeping soundly while talking in her sleep, Emily lay awake in the adjacent bed, spending the night with her eyes wide open.

‘She usually doesn’t grind her teeth or snore, so why is she suddenly sleep-talking…’

Today, Jessie was excessively mumbling embarrassing things in her sleep. Even for someone as insensitive and indifferent as Emily, it was natural to wake up when someone next to you kept making such sounds.

“Not there… mmm. Dexter, that’s naughty…”

Emily’s eyes, which had been forcibly closed, snapped open at Jessie’s renewed sleep-talking.

‘Dexter? Officer Hughes?’

As soon as she heard that, Emily wanted to shake Jessie awake and ask what on earth she was talking about. However, even though Emily wasn’t particularly considerate of other inmates’ feelings, she knew it wasn’t right to wake someone before the designated wake-up time.

‘What could she be doing in her dream that makes her so happy?’

Looking at Jessie, Emily saw that while she was sound asleep, she was subtly smiling as if truly enjoying herself.

Emily decided to wait until morning to pester Jessie about what she had been doing in her dream.

“Me? I called Dex—I mean Officer Hughes’s name? While sleeping?”

Emily told Jessie about her sleep-talking as soon as roll call was over, and Jessie was visibly flustered.

‘I have been getting less time with Dexter lately, so I’ve been a bit heated…’

Since Jessie couldn’t actually remember her dream, Emily’s interrogation was embarrassing.

“I-it was probably nothing. Maybe I was eating something delicious? Or maybe Officer Hughes assigned me an easy task.”

“You seemed way too happy for that. You were making sounds like, ‘Ahh, not there…’ and things like that.”

“Hey, you!”

Jessie covered Emily’s mouth with her hand as Emily explicitly imitated her moans.

Though embarrassed, what made it difficult for Jessie to scold Emily was that most of Emily’s actions weren’t done with malicious intent.

“You shouldn’t make people feel so embarrassed!”

“Then tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“What were you doing with Officer Hughes in your dream that made you feel so good?”

“…!”

Jessie naturally couldn’t remember the dream’s content, but it was almost certainly “that activity” they had intensely engaged in at the infirmary or boiler room.

She couldn’t possibly blurt that out in front of Emily.

“This is driving me crazy, seriously.”

“Just tell me.”

Seeing Emily’s confident demeanor, Jessie rubbed her forehead while pacing around the cell before an idea struck her, and she pointed at Emily.

“I got it!”

“What?”

“I’ll tell you when Officer Hughes comes!”

In the end, Jessie’s chosen method was to pass the buck to Dexter.

Meanwhile, Dexter, who enjoyed physical exertion, was recalling the incident from the previous night, thinking it would be nice to have two or three more agents like that.

‘It’s kind of like sparring, which is nice.’

Since it was several times more fun than exercising or training alone, Dexter was heading toward Jessie’s cell with the mindset that he would definitely take on any opportunity to fight.

“…What did you say?”

“Emily wants to know what you and I did together that made me feel so good.”

When such an abrupt statement came out of Jessie’s mouth, Dexter’s mind went blank for a moment.

As Dexter remained frozen without saying anything for a few seconds, Jessie felt embarrassed for seemingly dumping the issue on him.

After regaining his composure, Dexter turned his back to Emily and mouthed to Jessie:

‘Come outside for a moment.’

Once the two were outside, Dexter sighed deeply and hung his head. Jessie, knowing exactly why Dexter was acting this way, looked at him apologetically.

“…Tell me everything that happened, from A to Z.”

“Well, you see…”

After hearing the whole story, Dexter got a headache imagining Emily approaching Jessie with her usual expressionless face and asking such an innocent question.

“So you had an erotic dream and talked in your sleep, Emily heard all of it, and now she’s curious about what you and I did that made you make such pleasurable sounds, is that right?”

“…Yeah, that’s right.”

Dexter placed his thumb and index finger against Jessie’s forehead, then flicked her.

-Flick!

“Oww!”

Jessie nearly rolled on the floor from the sudden pain on her forehead.

“What was that for?!”

“You should have explained the situation properly! How could you just bluntly say ‘Emily is wondering what you and I did’ right there? You could have called me aside first and explained before being with Emily.”

Jessie couldn’t argue with Dexter’s point and just rubbed her forehead, which had turned red from being hit.

“Geez, I was flustered too!”

“That’s something to be proud of.”

Still, Dexter stroked Jessie’s head, pleased that she had called him to resolve something she knew she couldn’t handle herself.

“I like that you’re willing to rely on me.”

“You hit me and then stroke my head. Is that supposed to make it better?”

“Of course it’s good. It’s the application of the carrot and stick… oof.”

Jessie planted her fist into Dexter’s solar plexus, then dusted off her hands.

“I’ll only give you the stick.”

“…I’ll deal with you later.”

When the two returned to the cell, Emily looked at them alternately with a cold expression.

“Are you finished talking?”

“More or less. I understand the situation now.”

Dexter massaged his neck as he began to speak.

“Bell—no, since it’s just the three of us, let’s use first names. Emily, what exactly is your request?”

“I don’t know what dream Jessie had last night, but she was making very pleasurable sounds. When I asked her what she did in the dream, she told me to ask Officer Hughes.”

Dexter nodded in understanding, and Emily twirled her red hair with her finger as she spoke.

“Please do ‘what you did in that dream’ with me too.”

At Emily’s bold request, Jessie blushed, and Dexter was at a loss.

“Well, that’s a fine request, but what exactly do you think ‘that’ is, Emily?”

“I don’t know.”

When Dexter pointed at Emily and looked at Jessie as if asking if she was serious, Jessie nodded.

She really didn’t know anything.

‘How can someone with that face and that body know nothing?’

Dexter couldn’t understand what kind of environment she had grown up in. He thought the conversation might get a bit lengthy, but he needed to ask some questions.

“If you don’t mind me asking, I haven’t read your personal information in detail. Could you tell me what kind of home you lived in?”

When Dexter asked this, Emily’s expression became peculiar. She looked as if she didn’t want to talk about it, prompting Jessie to speak carefully.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

After Jessie’s gentle encouragement, Emily hesitated for a moment, then began to speak while stroking her thigh.

“…I don’t remember much except that it was a religious household. There were no other houses within 10 miles, and we couldn’t use electricity or electronic devices.”

Since this was the first time Jessie had heard Emily talk about her family, she whispered to Dexter.

“Isn’t that totally Amish?”

“Amish indeed.”

The Amish were a religious community that rejected modern conveniences like electricity, electronic devices, and cars, even in the 21st century. They wore clothing styles from the 18th century and had an image among other Americans as honest farmers.

“No, it was closer to Puritanism than Amish. What was it called… ah, an ascetic lifestyle.”

Emily added to that explanation by describing her family’s religious views, which differed from conventional religions and resembled the lives of monks or nuns.

Hearing this explanation, both Dexter and Jessie understood why Emily was sexually ignorant.

‘With such an ascetic lifestyle, they wouldn’t provide any sex education to their children.’

Since she also mentioned being homeschooled rather than attending a local elementary school, it was clear how little interaction she had with others.

“I lived quietly until I was 12, but things changed when I met a lost traveler who came to our house.”

Two travelers in an incredibly stylish vintage car had asked for directions and then disappeared. Emily said that was the first time she had ever seen a car.

“That car, a ’61 Cadillac DeVille. It was so beautiful. So I packed a few things and ran away to see that car again.”

“…Ran away? At 12?”

Even Jessie, who had a difficult home life, was shocked.

“Yes. But it turned out that car was hard to see again.”

“Of course! A ’61 Cadillac DeVille isn’t a common car.”

Jessie’s voice rose as the conversation turned to cars.

“You, lower your voice a bit. And then?”

“A young girl has to do what she can to survive.”

“Don’t tell me…”

As Jessie’s expression hardened, Emily nodded and said:

“That’s right. I became a pickpocket.”

“Phew.”

Jessie sighed in relief at Emily’s answer. Dexter, who had seen Jessie’s expression as she imagined all sorts of terrible things, frowned and said:

“What were you thinking?”

“…Shut up.”

Unlike the two bickering, Emily continued in a calm voice.

“It was quite lucrative. If I worked hard for a day, I didn’t have to worry about food for several days. Then I got caught trying to steal an old lady’s wallet.”

“You got caught stealing an old lady’s wallet?”

Dexter asked, not understanding.

How amazing must this old lady be to not only avoid being pickpocketed but to catch the pickpocket?

“That old lady was Grandma Bonnie, who raised me until I was 20.”

As soon as Emily mentioned Grandma Bonnie, Jessie looked at her strangely.

“…You’re joking, right?”

“What joke?”

“That Grandma Bonnie, she’s not ‘Bonnie of Florence,’ is she?”

Emily thought about Jessie’s words carefully, then nodded.

“I think that’s right. Grandma’s friends often talked about that. They said they didn’t know ‘Bonnie of Florence’ had a granddaughter…”

“Who is that?”

When Dexter asked Jessie, she scolded him as if he should know.

“She’s an incredibly famous thief! Her first theft was the Florence Diamond, then the Golden Cross of Antioch, the second Mona Lisa, and a small bronze David statue supposedly made by Michelangelo himself! She’s famous for stealing all those things without ever getting caught… And that’s your grandmother?”

Jessie had memorized all the thefts Bonnie of Florence had committed.

‘She’s impressive in this area.’

“Yes, my grandmother. But she passed away before I became an adult.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry…”

When Jessie expressed her condolences, Emily replied with her usual expressionless face.

“It’s okay, it’s been a while.”

That explained why no one had visited her at Honeygood Correctional Facility.

Emily said she learned theft techniques from Grandma Bonnie until she became an adult, and after her grandmother passed away, she only stole vintage cars she liked, earning the nickname “Old Folks.”

“That’s on a completely different level from you, Jessie.”

“Yeah, I’m just average in comparison.”

Dexter and Jessie had the same reaction after hearing Emily’s life story, which sounded like a tall tale.

The idea of a 12-year-old runaway girl becoming a pickpocket, meeting a legendary thief, and learning theft techniques sounded like something from a movie or drama.

“Well, anyway… It’s clear you didn’t grow up in a normal household… and I kind of understand why you have that personality.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

Seeing Emily’s face, which didn’t look grateful at all, Dexter nodded and looked at Jessie.

“Jessie, you told Emily about the parole hearing, right?”

“…Yeah. She has to be evaluated in two weeks.”

“Then this might actually be easier.”

Dexter sat on Jessie’s bed and began to speak.

“Jessie and I do have a deep relationship, as Emily thought.”

“…What do you mean by ‘deep relationship’?”

Dexter paused to choose his words, then carefully spoke to Emily with his eyes closed.

“The truth is, Jessie and I…”

“Wait, Dexter. Are you really going to reveal it?”

Jessie grabbed Dexter’s collar as she spoke.

“What choice do we have? If we don’t explain properly now, not only will I be in danger, but your parole hearing could be at risk too.”

It was one of Dexter’s rare serious looks.

“…Alright.”

Jessie thought Dexter must have his reasons and slowly opened her mouth.

“Yes, well… Jessie and I, Dexter Hughes, are secretly dating without other inmates or officers finding out.”

After saying this, Dexter sighed deeply, and Jessie squeezed her eyes shut.

Emily, unlike the two of them, maintained her expressionless face after hearing this.