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She walked into the front room.  It was just a small sitting room.  Its window covered by a screen now.  Which made the tiny space feel even more intimate.

His voice sounded directly behind her.  And she recognized that she hadn’t succeeded in pushing him away.  Which ramped up her fears.

“You’re wrong.  Whatever happened in the past does matter.  It’s affecting us today.  It’s affecting you.  And how you respond to me.  Jung Sook, let me in.  Tell me what’s wrong.”  

She drew a steadying breath.  “You were right,” she breathed.  “My father did beat me.  Lady Ae Ji knew it.  She was trying to save me.”  She turned to face him.

Understanding enlightened his countenance.  “So, that’s why you stepped forward to help that little girl today!  You’re doing for her what Lady Ae Ji did for you.”

She bobbed her head.  “Only, I didn’t live with Lady Ae Ji.”  She winced.  “I wish I had.”

He took another step forward.  His eyes perusing her form.  Sliding along her arms and her face.  As though he could detect those bruises from long ago.  “How badly did he beat you?  How often?”

“Often enough,” she responded bitterly.  “Any time I displeased him.  Or any time anything displeased him.”

“Tell me the rest,” he spoke after a few silent moments passed between them. 

His eyes were searching her face.  He could tell that she hadn’t spilled all her secrets.  She was refusing to meet his eyes.

“There’s not much else to tell,” she hedged.

“Tell me about your husband.”

She did look up into his eyes then.  “Soo Ho, you and I both know that this thing between us – it just can’t happen.  Your parents will want you to settle down soon.  With a proper girl.  You and I can’t—”

He cut her off then.  By surprising her.  His arm darted out and snagged her around the waist, drawing her up against him.  Gently.  “I know I told you to talk.  But will you please be quiet now?  You’re speaking absolute rubbish, and I’m going to have to correct you now.”

Before she could ask him what he meant by that cryptic comment, his head descended, and his beautiful lips brushed tenderly across her own.  So much for her bravado.  She melted instantly under his affectionate onslaught.  The boy was a divine kisser. 

Not that anyone else had ever kissed her sweetly.  But she wouldn’t think of that right now. 

Soo Ho had decided to kiss her, and she was making her own choice now.  A decision to enjoy their first kiss.  So she slid her arms up around his neck and surrendered her lips to him for a few breathless – and wonderful – seconds.

“And just to set the record straight,” he murmured against her mouth, “I really do love you.  And I might have said that to a few girls before to butter them up, but that was before…”

She wrinkled her brow and asked cluelessly, “Before what?”

“Before you.”  He paused for emphasis before continuing, “Before so many things.  Before I guarded the queen.  And saw how susceptible to loss and death even the highest ranked among us is.  Before I watched someone I admired mowed down in the prime of life.  For someone else’s evil gain.  Before I learned that people are often so much more complicated than they seem.  Before I met you and learned that a plain face can simply disguise an inner beauty that will eventually swallow it whole.  Eclipsing even the external with its glory.”

“I told you I was plain.”

“You are not plain.  I was simply blind before.”

Her heart stopped as his words flowed into her ears.  But it was the expression in his eyes that truly undid her.  He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers.

“You are beautiful, Jung Sook.  Inside and out.  And I will never want another girl.  I want you.”

She closed her eyes.  And murmured, “But you…”  How could she bring herself to tell him?

“I what?”

“If you ever saw me as I truly am, you wouldn’t feel that way anymore.”

He lifted his head to stare down at her.  “Jung Sook, what on earth are you talking about?”

“If you ever saw me,” she instantly turned beet-red, “without my clothes on, you would be repulsed.”

“What?”  He gaped down at her.  Completely adrift.  “I don’t understand.  You have some deformity?”

“Apparently,” she mumbled, her face still flaming.

He quirked a dark eyebrow.  “One you can’t see?”

She nodded, color continuing to stain her countenance a deep rose.

He shook his head.  “But you – you are acting like the simplest of schoolgirls instead of like a once-married woman.  You cannot discuss sex with me openly?”

She blushed furiously again.  “I cannot.  I am not at all knowledgeable,” she muttered but then cut herself off abruptly.

Perplexed, he frowned at her.  “Jung Sook, what are you trying to tell me?  Please just speak plainly.  I am all at sea.”

She drew a deep breath as she tried to still her racing heart.  “Soo Ho.” 

Exasperated, she finally spit out, “I am a virgin!”