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Jung Sook clung to Soo Ho, burying her face over his heart.  Her arms wrapped tightly around him.  Her hands pressing into his back. 

Her heart was racing.  She took a deep breath.  To apologize. 

Yet again, he beat her to it.

“I am so sorry that I was not here when you awoke this morning.  I had to report to the king.  On some urgent business.  And to explain the events of last night.”

“It’s all right, Soo Ho,” she breathed.  Still trying to garner her courage.

“No, it’s not.  I always want to be here for you, Jung Sook.  Every moment that you have need of me.”

She sighed deeply and drew away from him.  But his arms remained snug around her.

“Soo Ho,” she drew a steadying breath, “I owe you an apology.”

“What?” he asked, surprised.

“I lied to you.”

“Oh?”  He was pretty sure that he knew what this was about.

“I am a very rich woman,” she admitted simply.  “My husband died a wealthy man.  He had no other heirs.  He left me a fortune.  In gold.”

His lips twisted wryly.  “So when you said that you had no silver, you were speaking the truth.  Literally.”

She sighed.  And hung her head.  “Can you forgive me?”

“No.”

Her heart stopped.  Tears instantly flooded her eyes.

“I cannot forgive you, Jung Sook, for I already have.”

She gasped, and her eyes darted up to collide with his.  “You have?”

He nodded his head.  “You thought I wanted your fortune, but I don’t care one whit about your gold.  Or your silver.  I love you, Jung Sook.  Just you.  I would spend the rest of my life happy, living in a shanty.  As long as you were with me.”

She chuckled.  “Well, I think that’s a little extreme.  Your mother has offered me a place here.  In the cherry blossom rooms.”

He grinned knowingly.  “Has she now?  My mother is the most excellent woman I know.”

When Jung Sook quirked a dark eyebrow at him, he revised his statement, “Present company excluded, of course.”

“Oh, of course,” she whispered.

“Jung Sook, I truly do love you.  And I know that you have no need of me.  You have every material thing you could ever need.  You have the security of financial freedom.  And a rare opportunity as a single woman. 

“I don’t have much to offer you.  I’m committed to the king.  I endanger my life often in his service.  And I will be gone from home most likely more than I will actually be home.  But…would you be willing to take a chance on me?”

“A chance?” she breathed.

He nodded his head.  “Will you please be my wife?”

“Soo Ho, you offer me the only thing that matters.”

He furrowed his brow in confusion.  “What is that?”

“The security of a real love.  I have never had that before.  And it is truly the one thing I really need.”

“Does that mean…?”

“Yes, Soo Ho.  I will be your wife.”  She frowned.  “That is…if your father will agree.”

“Oh, he already has.  And, as you can see, my mother has already moved you into the house.  So you really must marry me.  To save your reputation.”

She giggled.  “I’m pretty sure my reputation is safe with your mother as a chaperone.”

“Ah, but you’re a widow, and you know how tongues do wag.”

“Don’t I just,” she muttered.  Bending the light of her smile upon him.

He followed that bright beam.  Brushing his lips tenderly across hers.

“Soo Ho?” she whispered against that beautiful mouth a moment later.

“Hmm?” he hummed into her own mouth.

“I love you.”

She had never spoken those words to anyone before.  They felt oddly…powerful. 

He felt it too.  He drew back and gazed down at her.  “Of course, you do.  You have the most beautiful heart that I’ve ever seen, Jung Sook.”

“You can see my heart?” she teased him.

He nodded.  “Yes, and it matches your countenance for beauty, my love.  They are both…simply stunning.”