Yeo Wool turned towards Sam Sook a few moments later. “I was so sorry to learn of your husband’s death,” he breathed quietly.
She glanced up at him, her beautiful, obsidian eyes connecting with his. “Thank you,” she murmured as the corners of her lips lifted, acknowledging his compassion. “He was frail for quite a while before some strange sickness made it hard for him to draw a breath.”
He winced. “That’s awful.”
“It was.” She bobbed her head.
“How are you doing?” He glanced down at the tiny girl on the other side of her. “And your girls?”
Her eyes met his again a moment later. And in his gaze, she read the question which he hadn’t asked.
“It was very difficult for Se Ri to bid her father goodbye,” she whispered as she bent towards his ear. Her voice was so quiet that he had to strain to catch her words. “But Se Yeon has no memory of him.”
His heart sank. “And you?” he murmured as his eyes caressed her own.
Her face was a mere four inches from his.
She got stuck there for a moment. Lost in his dark gaze. Yeo Wool had always excelled at compassion. It was flowing from him right now. Wrapping itself around her in comforting waves.
“I remember him,” she whispered.
His lips twitched. He glanced down at her hand. Resting next to his on the bench they were sharing. It would be nothing to move his fingers until they bumped hers. He wanted to slide his fingertips along the top of that soft hand.
If he had been attracted to her courage as a child, he was even more drawn to her essence now. And her familiar face had simply grown in loveliness. Its elegant bones echoing the stout heart that beat beneath her breast. She had always been brave. But what she’d had to overcome as an adult had been so much worse than the struggles which she’d faced as a child. Yeo Wool had nothing but admiration for her.
His eyes collided with hers again. And she felt something warming the air between them. It made her heart stop. And then that silly organ began to beat faster. Pounding out an ecstatic tattoo. The likes of which she had never before experienced.
But before she could wonder at it, Se Yeon’s wee voice rent the air. “Eomma! Eomma! My rice!” she pouted. Clearly upset.
Sam Sook followed her daughter’s gaze and glanced down at the ground. Where a pile of rice now lay. Partially covered by the bowl that had once held it.
“Oh, dear,” she murmured.
Jung Sook, seated on the end next to Se Yeon, smiled at the tiny girl. “Oh, it’s no problem. Here, Se Yeon, you can have this bowl.” And she proceeded to give the child her own dish before glancing up to smile at Sam Sook.
“Oh, I can give her mine,” her new friend protested.
“No, no,” Jung Sook waved away her concern. “I’ll just have a servant bring me another. It’s perfectly fine.”
Yeo Wool watched the easy camaraderie between the two women. “Have you known each other long?”
“Mmm,” Jung Sook responded. “Sam Sook and I go way back.”
“All the way back three days,” his old friend grinned.
He glanced sharply at Sam Sook. “What?” he laughed.
“It’s true,” Jung Sook agreed. “We met three days ago when my mother-in-law introduced us to each other. She brought the girls to my school.”
Sam Sook turned towards him excitedly. “Jung Sook is a marvelous teacher! She’s already taught Se Yeon to read several things!”
Her new friend waved away her praise. “Se Yeon is an extremely bright girl,” she affirmed the child as she smiled down at her.
Se Yeon beamed up at her.
“So is Se Ri,” Jung Sook finished before finally taking a bite of her food.
From there the conversation flowed down normal avenues. Sam Sook learning that Yeo Wool had been a hwarang for quite a while.
“How long have you been in the king’s service?” she queried curiously.
“For more than a year and a half. Though we – like everyone else – didn’t know he was the king until about fourteen months ago.”
“But he was among you? One of the hwarang in training, I mean.”
He nodded.
Soo Ho entered the conversation. “He was one of our friends. He even slept in the same room with us.”
“Really?” Sam Sook looked a little astounded at such news. “You count the king as one of your friends?”
“Assuredly,” Soo Ho answered smoothly. “As he counts us.”
Yeo Wool simply smiled. And Sam Sook had to wonder if he was still having difficulty making friends with the other boys.
Her heart sank at such a thought. “You know the king well then?” she asked Yeo Wool quietly. In the hope that Soo Ho wouldn’t answer this time.
Her old friend glanced down at her. The bite of chicken rice on his chopsticks coming to a standstill in midair. “Hmm. I’m not sure anyone but the queen knows the king well. He keeps his cards very close to his chest. Perhaps Seon Woo knows him best. I don’t feel like I can say that I know him well. Though we did train together. And board together.” He popped the chicken into his mouth as she continued to watch him closely.
“Yeo Wool is too modest. Jin Heung does rely on us. Both. And on Ban Ryu and Seon Woo. And Dan Se.”
Her eyes lifted to meet Soo Ho’s gaze. “How is Dan Se?”
“He’s all right,” Yeo Wool responded before his friend could this time.
Soo Ho nodded. “I will refer all such questions to Yeo Wool. He knows Dan Se better than I do.”
“Do you?” she quizzed Yeo Wool in surprise.
He furrowed his brow. “Do you know Dan Se?”
She bobbed her head. “I grew up with him and Han Sung.” Her face was leaking sorrow now. “Such a horridly sad story.”
He watched as she now picked at her food.
“You should eat it. You’re looking quite thin.”
She glanced up in surprise at him.
“I remember you being stouter when we were children.”
“What you are too kind to say is that I was a little pudgy.”
“You were not,” he disagreed. “You were simply…strong. Tall and strong.”
She grunted.
“But now you are quite slender.”
She appeared almost fragile to him now.
“I couldn’t eat much when my husband was sick. I just couldn’t stomach it. And then I became pregnant with Se Yeon, and I really couldn’t handle food. I barely ate during my entire pregnancy. Afterwards, I just didn’t have the same appetite anymore.”
He continued to study her in concern. “How long after she was born did he die?”
“Nearly two years.”
“Mmm.” His eyes didn’t leave her face as she nibbled at some vegetables.
But something which she’d said continued to niggle at him even as Soo Ho changed the course of their discussion a moment later with a random comment aimed at Jung Sook.
