Dissonance-3

Late at night.

Kang In-ho lay in bed, staring intently at the ceiling.

The short time before sleep was one of the few moments of rest he had.

Living with Shin Jeonga had reduced his personal time, and the sudden responsibility weighed heavily on him.

He had thought that such a thing could happen at least once with infinite possession.

But thinking about it and experiencing it were worlds apart.

Even though it wasn’t his fault, Inho couldn’t bring himself to coldly abandon her.

Whether the root of his actions was someone’s request or his own meddling nature was still unclear.

He would die. And soon.

That was a fact he had resigned himself to, anticipated, and accepted.

But now that things had turned out this way,

“Should I live?”

He felt like he had to struggle to survive, just like in the early days of his possession.

He blinked a few times.

Moonlight obscured by clouds, a dark room, a quiet hallway.

He heard footsteps approaching.

“Haa….”

He sighed deeply and counted to himself.

Three.

Two.

One.

The door opened without a knock.

“Inho, are you asleep?”

Shin Jeonga, who was staying in the guest room, opened the door and called his name.

“…….”

He didn’t answer, hoping in vain that she might go back to her room.

But as she had done before, Shin Jeonga stepped into his room.

“Inho, are you asleep?”

Shin Jeonga came to the bedside, leaned down, and brought her face close.

Her breath tickled his forehead.

“No.”

When he answered, Shin Jeonga smiled brightly, even in the darkness.

“Oh, really? That’s good.”

“…What’s good?”

Instead of answering his question, Shin Jeonga sat on the edge of the bed.

Her subtle hand moved from Inho’s nose and mouth to his neck and then to his chest.

“How about it, after a long time?”

Shin Jeonga whispered softly, caressing his increasingly firm chest.

Her white hand touched every inch of his body.

“My arms and legs are like this?”

Inho stopped her hand as it moved further down.

“I’ll go up and do it.”

Shin Jeonga replied with a flawless smile, and Inho swallowed the unspoken words, ‘Does she not know?’ and sighed again.

“They say you shouldn’t overdo it in the early stages of pregnancy.”

“Huh?”

When Shin Jeonga tilted her head, Inho pointed to her stomach.

“It’s early. You shouldn’t overdo it. You have to be careful about what you eat, too.”

“Ah… Ah…. That’s right. I wasn’t careful enough.”

Perhaps embarrassed by his blunt refusal, Shin Jeonga got up from the bed.

“Ahaha… Is it okay to sleep next to you?”

“Do you want to sleep in the bed? I’ll sleep on the floor.”

I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well if we sleep together.

“…No. I should go back to my room. Then good night?”

She glanced at Inho with a look of regret and left the room.

Inho stared at the closed door for a moment before getting up.

“Ah… what am I going to do?”

He muttered, covering his face with his hands.

At that moment, the screen of his phone, which had been off, lit up.

He had received a KakaoTalk message.

“Huh?”

He reached out and unlocked his phone.

The light from the screen briefly bothered his eyes.

[Inho, I have something to do, so can I postpone the class until tomorrow?]

It was a message from Yoon Sia.

Why would she send this late at night when she could have sent it tomorrow morning?

[Yes. It’s okay.]

[Oh, you weren’t asleep yet? Thank you. See you the day after tomorrow.]

That was the end of Yoon Sia’s message.

Inho put his phone back on the bedside table and looked out the window forlornly.

The moon was still obscured by clouds.

Two days later, Shin Jeonga, who had been sticking to Inho like a piece of gum on the asphalt, moved alone for the first time in a while.

She went up to the second floor of a cafe. It was a place where a quiet atmosphere was always maintained due to the many cafe-goers studying.

She found someone in a corner seat and strode towards them.

“You’re here?”

“Why did you call me? And how did you get my number?”

Shin Jeonga snapped, pulling out a chair and sitting down roughly.

“Drink first.”

Unlike the cold atmosphere of the past, Yoon Sia handed her a coffee that she had ordered in advance.

“…Thank you.”

Shin Jeonga relaxed her guard at Yoon Sia’s non-hostile behavior.

After that, they spent some time drinking their beverages.

Shin Jeonga was wondering when Yoon Sia would get to the point, but Yoon Sia had a relaxed expression.

“So, what did you want to tell me?”

It was Shin Jeonga who broke the silence.

“Um… I’m just worried.”

“Worried?”

“Are you feeling okay? I heard from an acquaintance that your condition can fluctuate a lot in the early stages.”

“Ah, I’m fine.”

‘Is she taking care of me because we’re both women?’ Shin Jeonga thought.

“Really? That’s good. Do you like the coffee?”

“Huh? Coffee is just coffee. I don’t really drink it for the taste.”

Yoon Sia nodded at her words.

A subtle smile was on her lips, which Shin Jeonga found unsettling.

It was similar to the expression she had when she greeted Yoon Sia at Inho’s house.

“I thought there might be something I could do to help, since I know the situation… so I called you out here.”

Yoon Sia looked at Shin Jeonga with a face full of concern.

“Help me?”

“You’re going through something big at your age. Even if it’s the fruit of love.”

“Ah… but there’s nothing you can really help me with….”

Shin Jeonga trailed off with an awkward smile, and Yoon Sia cut her off.

“Have you gone to the hospital? Or when are you planning to go?”

“The hospital? Why would I go to the hospital?”

“Oh, you’re not planning to go?”

“Yeah? I’m not really sick.”

“I see….”

Yoon Sia nodded and drank her beverage.

“???”

Shin Jeonga tilted her head at Yoon Sia’s incomprehensible behavior.

She felt like the conversation was going in circles. She started to feel a little frustrated.

“Oh, right. Did you know?”

She clapped her hands lightly and changed the subject.

“There are cases where people buy pregnancy tests through secondhand transactions.”

“……..”

“And they buy pregnancy tests that show a positive result. I wonder why.”

Yoon Sia went into her phone’s gallery and opened a photo.

It was a screenshot of a secondhand trading app.

Shin Jeonga’s eyes stared intently at the photo.

Regardless, Yoon Sia continued to speak.

“It’s surprising that there are bad people trying to trick innocent men… Look, the transaction location is Gimang-dong?”

Shin Jeonga’s eyes slowly moved from the phone to Yoon Sia.

“Gimang-dong.”

Yoon Sia smiled and looked at Shin Jeonga.

“Isn’t that the neighborhood you live in, Jeonga?”

“So?”

Shin Jeonga snapped.

“Just wondering? There are people like that. So, Jeonga.”

Yoon Sia scrolled through the photos with her finger.

It was the same screenshot as before, but it showed more of the top and bottom.

“Even though it’s the early stages of pregnancy, you lie on your stomach.”

“Even though you should be checking your condition regularly, you don’t even think about going to the OB/GYN.”

“You don’t avoid foods that you should avoid as much as possible because they could affect the fetus.”

“Who could be the owner of the ‘Jeonga-ss’ account that’s buying positive pregnancy tests in Gimang-dong?”

Shin Jeonga didn’t answer Yoon Sia’s question.

A few seconds, a few minutes passed like that.

Shin Jeonga, who had been staring at the phone with empty eyes, leaned back in her chair and laughed.

“I’ve been caught?”