Contract Marriage with Memory Loss on Top - Chapter 80

The exhausted body was limp and had no intention of moving. Perhaps because they were lying side by side, sharing warmth. Yeon-woo felt his eyelids getting heavier. Knowing that if he fell asleep now, he wouldn’t be able to see Ki-won off when he left for work, he forced himself to keep his eyes open. Seeing this, Ki-won spoke softly.

“Sleep if you’re tired.”

Ki-won patted Yeon-woo’s back as he strained to keep his eyes open. In response, Yeon-woo burrowed into Ki-won’s arms and pressed his forehead against his broad chest.

“You have to leave for work in an hour…”

Ki-won had to prepare for work without getting any sleep, so Yeon-woo couldn’t bring himself to sleep comfortably. However, Ki-won hugged Yeon-woo tightly, saying it was unnecessary worry.

“I’ll only work the morning shift and come back.”

“But you’ll still be really tired…”

Although he said he would stay awake, his closing eyelids were more honest than anyone. The mumbled words were eventually swallowed without finishing. Yeon-woo finally surrendered to his closing eyes, as if declaring defeat. It was around then that his irregular breathing became even.

***

There was a smell of rain. A scent of dust mixed with the smell of water. Yeon-woo easily realized he was sitting in the back seat of a car. As he tried to turn his head to check the car window, he soon heard someone’s angry shout.

“Hey! Aren’t you watching that brat properly?”

What’s that sound? Just as the voice that made his ears sting ended, someone roughly pulled Yeon-woo’s head. He thought he was sitting alone in the back seat, but it seemed there was someone next to him.

At this point, he felt a sense of dissonance. Didn’t I just fall asleep? Where am I suddenly… Yeon-woo slowly lowered his head to look at his body. Only when the body of a tiny child was reflected in Yeon-woo’s eyes did he start to understand the situation. Ah, it was a dream again.

Through the slightly open car window, a fierce wind and rain entered. The vehicle continued its precarious drive, and relentless cursing assaulted his ears. This isn’t a normal situation, Yeon-woo kept looking around warily in his shrunken body.

Although it was clearly a dream, the threatening atmosphere was palpable. Yeon-woo glanced at the man holding his head. Although he couldn’t see his face, the thick body and the tattoo on his forearm left a strong impression.

‘What kind of dream is this…’

It didn’t seem like a dream of going on a pleasant drive with family; it was clearly a kidnapping. Yeon-woo, letting out a small sigh, turned his gaze to the rearview mirror. The face of the man in the driver’s seat was also hard to make out. It felt as if it was pixelated, but generally, the faces of people appearing in dreams seemed to be invisible.

It stings. Yeon-woo frowned at the sudden pain. He didn’t know when he had been injured, but his knee was bleeding. Had he fallen? Given how sudden the dream was, it was impossible to know the context.

It was noisy, cold, and painful. The noise from the front seat and the voices berating him from the side overlapped, chaotically stirring Yeon-woo’s ears.

And then, a faint siren sound was heard. It seemed that a police car was chasing them. With the siren sound as a starting point, the vehicle’s movement became even rougher.

As the steering wheel turned this way and that at high speed, his head and body kept hitting the window and door.

‘Huh?’

Just as his vision started to blur, his cheeks suddenly became wet. The child had burst into tears. This blocks the view, making it impossible to see. In the midst of the confusion from this abruptly started dream, the body he was possessing even started crying. Frustrated, Yeon-woo tried to wipe away the misty water blocking his view, but to no avail.

As Yeon-woo struggled to see the front window, something pitch black suddenly entered his vision. What is that? It appeared so quickly that he tried to look again, but the sudden turning of the steering wheel by the driver threw his body to the side. With a thud, the small body hit the car door, followed by curses from the man in the next seat.

“That crazy…! Does he want to die, cutting in like that?”

The dream was unkind to Yeon-woo. It dropped him into a kidnapping scene without any explanation, and further confused his mind with the men’s incomprehensible conversations.

All Yeon-woo could do was hold onto the door handle tightly and try not to hit his head on the ceiling. Then another loud noise came from the car’s wheels, and this time his body was thrown towards the man next to him. No, saying it was thrown would be more accurate, given how light the small body was.

The man, seemingly annoyed by Yeon-woo, pushed his shoulder roughly. Although the pushing touch was irritating, there was an unexpected gain. Sitting in the middle now, the front windshield was clearly visible. It was then that Yeon-woo took a deep breath.

‘We’re going to crash…!’

The black object that had appeared before his eyes was none other than a vehicle. They were about to collide with the car in front. His heart raced, and his closed lips gradually parted. There wasn’t even time for a scream to escape. Bang! With a sound loud enough to burst eardrums, the car spun round and round. It seemed the driver had turned the wheel once to avoid a head-on collision, but it wasn’t a wise choice as the car hit various things at high speed.

His vision spun dizzily, and the small body, unbuckled, rolled around inside the car. There was nothing he could do. Head, shoulders, back, legs. Intense pain rose from various parts, and Yeon-woo suffered in a situation where he couldn’t breathe.

Zing, zing-.

Amidst the chaos of breaking windows and spattering blood, a vibration sound was heard. At that moment, time in the dream world stopped instantly. It was a strange phenomenon, as if a playing video had been paused. Everyone in the car and even the glass shards remained motionless in mid-air.

Yeon-woo, letting out a rough breath, clutched his chest. He could finally breathe. Yeon-woo frowned at the vibration sound penetrating his mind.

The dream was gradually fading. Ah, it seems I’m about to wake up. Not long after that thought filled his mind, Yeon-woo’s body was suddenly pulled somewhere.

***

“Huh…!”

Like someone who had been holding their breath, Yeon-woo’s chest heaved greatly. His forehead and back were wet with cold sweat shed while sleeping. Slowly raising his upper body, Yeon-woo looked around and picked up the ringing phone on the table. The caller was none other than Ki-won.

‘Was I able to wake up thanks to this?’

His whole body ached from the terribly vivid dream. Yeon-woo answered the phone, still clutching his buzzing head.

“Hello.”

– I thought you might still be sleeping, so I woke you up.

Yeon-woo checked the time. It was just past lunchtime. He hadn’t even seen Ki-won leave for work, but it was already time for him to return. It seemed he was already in the car, as Yeon-woo could faintly hear Ki-won telling the driver to go to the mansion. Yeon-woo listened to the conversation heard during the call.

He’ll be here soon.

Rubbing his stiff eyelids, Yeon-woo then spoke.

“It was perfect timing…”

– Hm?

Ki-won asked what he meant. Yeon-woo swallowed once before answering.

“Do you remember when I told you about having a lucid dream before? Ah… You probably don’t know.”

Yeon-woo, who had both asked and answered himself, brushed up his sweat-soaked bangs. It seemed he needed to shower before Ki-won arrived.

– …I don’t remember, but tell me anyway. Did you have a bad dream?

“It was quite a random dream… It seemed like a child was being kidnapped.”

In fact, he wasn’t sure if “kidnapping” was the right term. Although it was an intense scene, the parts he saw were too short and momentary to be certain.

“There were three men in the car, and they didn’t seem like good people. Then it seemed like there was a traffic accident…”

His head throbbed. The effects of this terrible dream lingered even after waking. Rubbing his temples as he opened his mouth, Yeon-woo ended up groaning. Maybe he needed to take a painkiller to feel better.

– Are you okay?

“Ah, yes… My head just hurts a bit.”

Ki-won seemed to want to wrap up the conversation quickly, saying there was no need to elaborate if he didn’t want to.

– Dreams… They’re just dreams, right?

“Ah, yes… That’s right.”

– Yeah, so let’s not think too deeply about it.

Yeon-woo left the bedroom as he listened to the man’s words. Thinking that some fresh air might help, he was about to head to the terrace. As he was crossing the living room, Yeon-woo suddenly collapsed due to his legs giving out. What’s this? Chuckling in disbelief, Yeon-woo looked down at his legs.

– Hello?

Ki-won’s voice was faintly heard through the phone, as if he had heard the sound. Yeon-woo stared blankly at his calves exposed by his rolled-up pajamas. The skin was covered in red and blue marks.

Come to think of it…

– Yeon-woo, I heard a loud noise, is everything okay?

When he didn’t answer immediately, Ki-won’s voice was heard again. However, Yeon-woo could only move his lips repeatedly without giving a response that he was fine.

‘I slept with hyung.’

He had momentarily forgotten due to the dream that had scrambled his thoughts. His face turning bright red, Yeon-woo stammered in bewilderment.

“I’m, I’m fine… Cough!”

He ended up choking and coughing, while Ki-won’s Adam’s apple bobbed as if he couldn’t understand Yeon-woo’s reaction.