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She’d escaped outside to the garden.   Now that she was a married woman, she could walk alone here in the middle of the day.  She found her favorite tree and sat under it.  She was alone with her thoughts.  That was good.  She could cry her eyes out here.  And no one would notice.

She had spent fifteen minutes indulging in a good cry over being married to a man whose heart belonged to another when a certain other beautiful boy stumbled across her path.

“Mari?” Jungkook whispered.  “What’s wrong?”

He was gazing at her so sweetly.

She had tended his knee once.  When he was a child of twelve tender years, he’d been playing in the courtyard one day.  He’d fallen and broken his knee open on a rock.  He’d sat on the ground and watched as his crimson blood flowed down his leg.

Mari’s bedroom window had faced the courtyard then.  She had seen the adorable boy fall.  She’d watched his blood seeping through the break in his pants.  She’d flouted convention for the first time that day.  She’d opened her window and called to him.  

He had crossed the courtyard and climbed through that window into her room.  He’d sat down on her bed at her instruction.  And she had gone to work bandaging his knee.  He still remembered how his eyes had traced her lovely face that day.  He’d been in awe of her.  An older woman.  She’d been thirteen then.  

She had sat down on the bed next to him to wind the bandage around his knee.  She had just finished when her bedroom door had suddenly flown open, and his appa had come striding in.  He’d taken one look at them together and demanded she be beaten for trying to tempt his son.

Jungkook had felt her tremble.  He had stood up and rushed to her defense.  

“You will not hurt her!  I broke my knee open playing.  She just bandaged it so I won’t get an infection!  Do you want me to undo her handiwork to show you?” He had reached for his bandage.

His appa had stared at them both for a moment.  “That will be unnecessary.  Jungkook, you must promise me that you will never come near this girl again.  Do you understand?  If you promise, I will leave her alone.  But break your promise, and she will be flogged.”

Jungkook had felt oddly disappointed, but he had rushed to assure his appa that he would avoid her company.  He had abhorred the thought of her being beaten for him.  Now, four and a half years later, he had stumbled upon her in the garden on his way to his bedchamber.

Clearly, she had a broken heart.  And it was hurting his.  He’d had a soft spot for her ever since the day she’d doctored his knee.  He’d watched her from afar and hoped her life would become a happy one.  But plainly, today was not a happy day for her.  

Word had reached his ears yesterday that she had been forced to marry Taehyung.  Jungkook had sighed with relief.  Taehyung was a very good man.  He would take excellent care of her.  And he had been willing to be beaten for her, so perhaps he cared for her.  

But now, Jungkook wondered if he had misread the situation.  Something was clearly breaking Mari’s heart.  And his own tender heart couldn’t take it.  He sat down next to her.

“Mari?  What’s wrong?” His words echoed in her ears.

“Has your life ever turned out so differently from what you imagined?  Have you ever gotten what you thought was your heart’s desire only to realize belatedly that it’s a sad counterfeit of your true dream?”

“You speak in riddles, Mari,” Jungkook uttered straightforwardly.  “Are you referring to Taehyung?”

Her eyes met his.  “We married yesterday.”

Jungkook nodded.

“And today I found out he loves another.”  

Why was she spilling her secrets to this adorable boy?

Jungkook’s face fell.  “I am so sorry, Mari.  But…”

She glanced up at him.  “What?”

“You are beautiful.  You are wonderful.  Give him some time.  He’s married to you.  I feel certain that eventually he’ll wake up and realize the treasure he has in you.”

She stared blankly at him.  Her heart had just been devastated again.  This boy spoke of her as though he loved her.  Had she missed out on love in this corner?

But, no.  She shuddered.  She still remembered his appa’s threats.

“Jungkook, you should go.  If your father sees you talking to me…”

He shrugged.  “You’re a married woman now.  He wouldn’t dare try to touch you.”

“After yesterday, I’m not so sure.  They’d probably paint me as a seductress trying to lure both you and Tae into my bed.  Thank you for trying to solace me.  But you must leave.”

Reluctantly, he stood up.

“Thank you for your incredibly sweet words.”  Her eyes were full of sorrow.  “You’re going to make some girl amazingly happy someday.”

The corners of his lips quirked upward.  He tipped his head in her direction as he bowed before her.  Then, he slipped off towards his room.  Wishing life could be different.  For all their sakes.