Carrying a sleeping Se Yeon in his arms, Yeo Wool opened the door to the suite of rooms that he was now sharing with Sam Sook and her girls. His mother had been so excited that he was finally marrying – and that he had won the heart of the brave girl who’d saved him from the bullies – that she had offered them the best set of rooms in her home. They had been reluctant to remove her from her bedchamber, but she had insisted that it was no trouble to move down the hallway to a smaller room. What need had she of that much space anyway? They would put it to better use. And Sam Sook needed to be near her girls. Especially her tiny one. Or so his mother had thought.
Sam Sook and Se Ri followed him. A bright grin was still wreathing the girl’s face. She was ecstatic to be moving into a new home – away from all the trauma which she’d endured at her grandmother’s house. She ran forward to open the door of her room. The one that she shared with Se Yeon.
Se Ri bounded over the threshold and ended up bouncing on her bed as Yeo Wool walked through the doorway. He crossed the room and laid Se Yeon down on her tiny bed. Then he hovered over her, wishing her a quiet goodnight before bending to brush a kiss across her forehead.
Sam Sook stood by, watching. Her heart melting all over the floor. Then she took her own turn blessing her baby before turning towards Se Ri.
“If you need anything – and I mean anything, Se Ri – do not hesitate to come to our room,” Sam Sook insisted.
“And if anyone ever dares to mess with you, scream as loudly as you can,” Yeo Wool encouraged the girl. “And I will come running.”
Se Ri simply gazed up at him.
“We’re going to be right behind this door,” her mother informed her. “It is open to you at all times.”
Se Ri furrowed her brow. “You want me to knock first, right?”
Sam Sook glanced at Yeo Wool before addressing her daughter. “Yes.”
“Unless it’s an emergency,” the girl’s new appa added. “If you feel you’re in danger, you can open it without knocking.”
Sam Sook shrugged. After all, the worst her daughters would witness at this point would be a kiss.
Se Ri sighed in relief.
“You do know, Se Ri, that I will believe you over any servant or guest in this house, right?” Yeo Wool offered suddenly.
He wanted his new daughter to feel completely secure in his home.
Se Ri blinked as she gazed up at him with an expression of awe on her face. “You will?”
“Yes. Do not ever let anyone make you feel powerless again. Not here. You must be safe here. I insist upon it.”
She smiled at him before standing up on her bed. Then she catapulted towards him, tossing her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Appa!”
Yeo Wool grinned from ear to ear as his arms slid around her waist, and he hugged her tight. “I am so glad you’re all here with me now,” he murmured into her ear. Right before his lips brushed her cheek gently.
“Goodnight, Se Ri.”
Sam Sook gave her a hug next before she and her new husband slipped through the doorway into their own room.
Se Ri watched as her mother closed the door. The happy woman smiled at her before the door hid her from view. Her elder daughter sighed happily and lay down on her new bed. A lamp was still burning on her nightstand. And she planned to leave it there all night. But, oddly enough, she felt safe here in Yeo Wool’s home. Especially after the words which he’d just poured into her ears. Their sweet sentiment was still warming her heart.
She had an appa again. A safe place. A man who made her feel that maybe there was still something precious about her. Hopefully, tonight, the nightmares would not return to wage war against that belief.
