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Soo Yeon sat down in the chair and stared at her beloved.  And was startled to discover tears sliding down his cheeks. 

Alarmed, she leaned over and exclaimed softly, “Ban Ryu!  What did my appa do to you?”

But that sweetheart of a man didn’t respond to her. 

Leaving her angry at her father.  And a little bewildered.

Had her appa belittled her beau?

The longer that she sat and stewed, the more furious she became until she couldn’t take it any longer.

“If Appa could break your heart like this, then I will break his!” she fumed, jumping to her feet.

But before she could move away from his bed, a strong hand suddenly reached up and wrapped itself firmly around her wrist, preventing her movement towards the door.

Startled, she glanced down at Ban Ryu’s elegant fingers tightly embracing her arm.

“Give the man some peace,” came his soft voice.  “He does not deserve your ire.  If you’re going to be upset with someone, be angry with me.”

She gasped and stared down at him in consternation.  “What do you mean?  Why would I be angry with you?”

“Your appa is just trying to help me.  I’m the one refusing him.”

“Help you?  Help you how?” she breathed in surprise.

But Ban Ryu remained silent.

She waited several breathless seconds before seething, “Ugh!  You infuriating man!”  She paused, but still he remained quiet.  “Why won’t you open up to me?” she thundered suddenly, sounding very much like her imposing appa.

Instantly, his grip went lax, and he released her arm.

She stood gaping down at him in frustration now.  “Ban Ryu?”

A soft snore erupted from his lips.  And she narrowed her eyes at him.

“There is no way that you’re asleep already.  Face me like a man.”

He chuckled.  “You, my dear, are not a man.  Nor shall you ever be,” he teased her affectionately as his eyes opened to caress her.

Then they fluttered shut again.  “Leave me to rest.  This leg is fatiguing.”

“I know very well what you are doing, Ban Ryu.  You cannot fool me.  You, sir, are hiding from me.  And I shan’t allow it.”

She sat down, perching precariously on the edge of his bed.  Her thigh rubbing up against his.  She gazed down at him.

“Are you immobile then?” she asked teasingly.

His eyes popped open.  And he peered suspiciously up at her.

“Shall I test it?” she queried mischievously.

She bent towards him, and his eyes widened perceptibly.

Then her lips brushed his forehead.  He blinked.  But he didn’t move.  So her mouth traveled towards his cheek.  And lovingly caressed it. 

Yet, he lay perfectly still.  So her lips moved towards his other cheek.  To tenderly touch it too.  And his eyes fluttered shut.

How was he to resist this outrageous girl?  

He was just trying to protect her from himself.  But she kept insisting on loving him. 

Did she not know how dangerous it was to kiss a man in a bed?  What was he to do? 

Perhaps her father would enter his room momentarily to catch her kissing him, and that fine gentleman would cast him out, removing his ability to further injure her.  He began desperately to hope such a scenario would occur.  For the girl was getting perilously close to his lips as her own mouth softly traversed the smooth surface of his right cheek. 

He tensed.  Waiting for someone to burst into the bedroom.

But no one came to his rescue.

And a moment later, her lips were trespassing across his.  Softly.

Ban Ryu gave in to her tenderness for a few sweet moments. 

Before he spoke against that kind mouth.

“Soo Yeon.  Stop.”

Heartbroken, she drew away from him.  Then she fled from him.  Running to her room to fling herself across her bed.  So that she could indulge in a good cry.

A few minutes later, her startled mother stepped into his room to find it empty of all but a slumbering man.  Lady Bit Na glanced around.  Wondering to where on earth her daughter had disappeared.  She couldn’t believe that smitten young lady would leave her beau completely unattended.

Had she not returned after her walk in the garden?

But as Lady Bit Na seated herself in the chair next to Ban Ryu’s bed, she peered down at the sleeping man’s face.  And noticed a tearstain that had slipped from his eye to his ear.  Had the two lovers had an argument?  And if so, what had it been about?

Wrinkling her brow, she watched him for several long minutes.  Wondering if he was truly asleep.  Or if he was just hiding from the world.

She had the impression that he had learned from an early age how to complete such a task with excellence.  Ban Ryu’s walls seemed sturdy.  His inner self well-guarded.  Somehow, her daughter had managed to scale the man’s walls.  Yet…he still seemed so…solitary.

Lady Bit Na found her heart bending towards him again as she considered the horrid upbringing which he must have endured.  Growing up without a mother.  Most likely, without any breath of tenderness.  Instead, being tutored in treachery by the cruel Minister Park.  And raised by the calculating Park Ho Gong to kowtow to the minister’s every demand.

She longed to make it up to the poor boy.  And she saw a tiny place to begin.

She stood up and reached for his blanket to pull it up around his shoulders.  Tenderly.