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Her voice confronted him good-naturedly.  Humor laced her tone.  Drawing his eyes instantly to her face.

The sun was setting behind him, and it was painting the most glorious rosy hue on her skin.  A smile was teasing the corners of her mouth, drawing that perfect bow upward most beguilingly.  And he was shocked to discover that he found her quite enchanting.  Jung Sook was, in fact, beautiful to him.  Breathtaking.

He stared in awe at her.  His feelings astounded him.  For he had never before considered her strikingly irresistible.  Had he? 

He couldn’t recall a single time when he’d failed to draw breath because he was so captivated by her beauty.  But he had to admit – in this shocking instant – that his lungs seemed frozen.  He furrowed his brow as he studied that tempting mouth.  He fought the sudden urge to kiss those lips.

And he realized that her beauty had been growing on him for a while.  He had found her countenance compelling nearly from the beginning of their acquaintance.  Her face full of character and life.  He’d noticed the tiny lines that framed her mouth when she smiled.  And the crinkles that formed in the corners of her eyes when she was stressed.  Or laughing.  How strange that both a negative emotion and a positive one could cause the same intriguing marks to appear by her eyes. 

Her lips puckered adorably when she was angry.  And twitched when she was amused.  Like Ban Ryu, she tried to hold her emotions captive.  But in Soo Ho’s presence, she’d begun to fail miserably at doing so.  When she was nervous, she bit her bottom lip.  A mannerism which he found truly endearing.

He’d also discovered that she had exactly seven freckles on her face.  Two underneath her bottom lip.  Two on her nose.  One on its underside.  And one on the top of its tip.  She had a tiny freckle below her left eyebrow.  One above her right eyebrow.  And a final one on her right temple.  He wondered if they would form a constellation if he drew a line connecting them all.

He was fairly certain that he had never before taken the time to get to know a woman as well as he had this one.  He felt like he studied her face much more frequently than he’d ever bothered to gaze at anyone else.  He’d been fascinated by the queen.  But, truly, his time with her had been so short.

But something about this woman’s countenance compelled him to scrutinize her.  As though his heart and mind were searching for treasure in both her gaze and her expression.  And it seemed to him that he had found it.  That special something that made Jung Sook unique.  And precious. 

His gaze caught somewhere between her eyes and her smile, he was again tempted to kiss her.  But his former behavior had made such an action cheap.  And he didn’t want her to think that he counted her as anything less than priceless.  So he tamped down on his impulse.  Instead, choosing to show his honor for her by simply reaching for her hand.  The one that was resting on her knee.

The tips of his fingers brushed against that soft hand.  Begging permission to trespass there.  Startled, she glanced at him sharply.  She wasn’t in any way used to such tenderness from a man.  Not even from a boy.  So she failed to respond to him in a way that would encourage him.

She blinked at him and turned her body slightly so that her hand slid away from his before she regained her feet.  As she stood up, she covered her confusion by returning to the topic which they’d been discussing before he’d become distracted by her newfound beauty.

“Are you going to be honest with Ban Ryu?” she queried.

“What?”  Dazed, he gazed up at her.  Crushed that she’d rejected his touch.  With a sigh, he stretched his long legs out before preparing to stand up.  As he pushed himself off the ground, she spoke again.

“Why don’t you just tell him how much you admire him?  That he’s your best friend?”

He scoffed.

And she admitted something.  “If I had a best friend, I would tell him.”

His dark eyes collided with hers.  “So…I’m not your best friend?” he asked suddenly, feeling oddly sheepish.

She stilled.  Instantly.  And her eyes widened as she continued to stare at him.  “Um.  Actually.”  She glanced down at the ground, and he had the distinct impression that she was hiding from him.  “I…I guess that you…actually…are…my best friend.”

All of a sudden, his prepossessing grin flashed at her.  And she wished that it hadn’t.  For she found that it tugged oddly at her heart.  Again.  Just like those tender fingertips of his had revealed another soft spot in her heart when they’d slid across her skin.

And her heart just couldn’t take it.  Not three tugs in one day.  The gentle pulling of those strings terrified her.  For she felt herself drifting towards him.  And men were…scary.

Why couldn’t she think of him as a mere boy anymore?

Her heart began to pick up speed.  She inhaled sharply in an attempt to steady it, but instead she found herself breathless.

“I must go!” she exclaimed abruptly.  “I…I forgot that I’m supposed to meet a student tonight.”

“At your house?  I’ll walk with you.”

“No,” she rushed to answer him.  “At the school.” 

She turned to head that way, calling out, “Don’t worry about me.  She and I will walk home together. 

“Besides,” she flashed him a quick grin as she stopped and spun towards him to brandish her sword at him, “I have this handy weapon with which you furnished me.  No man would dare to mess with me now.”  She pivoted and headed for the school once more.

“I’ll see you in the morning?” he asked uncertainly.  He didn’t feel in the least confident right now.

She didn’t turn towards him.  Even though she heard the slight tremor in his voice.  But her answer floated back to him.

“I’m resting at home tomorrow.  There isn’t any school.”

He sighed.  And wondered when he would see her next.

But it was too late to ask her.  She was already slipping around the side of the building.  Moving as though she was doggedly pursued.  By something from which she felt it necessary to flee.