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Carrying two plates of perfectly cooked fish, Jin wandered back into her sitting room a half hour later.

“I found some rice and cooked it too.  Hope that was okay.”

“Jin, that’s more than okay.  Again, delightful,” she smiled at him.

“I added some kimchi too.” 

“But, of course,” she grinned at him.

He frowned.  “I couldn’t find anything else in your larder.”

She ignored that statement.

He handed her a plate before he settled himself in the chair next to her.  As they both began to eat, his eyes slid over her again.  

“How are you doing?” he asked seemingly casually, but he was really concerned about her.  

She could see the fear in his eyes.  She didn’t want him to worry, so she shrugged her shoulders and tried to make little of the whole affair.  “I’m fine.  I told you.”

Two deep lines carved themselves between his eyebrows.  “You’re not scared?  To be here alone?”

She tried to evade his gaze.

“Eunbyeol?”  He wouldn’t let her off the hook.

Finally, her eyes crashed into his.  “Jin, I don’t have any choice.  I’m a woman on my own.  You know my family disowned me when I decided to pursue medicine.  I have no one to lean on.  I have to be strong.”

His heart hurt.  It released a pang as he gaped at her.  “No.”  He shook his head.  “That’s not true.  You’re not alone.  You have me.”

Her lips spread into a thin smile.  “Jin.  We’re friends.  Nothing more.  We’re not family.  You can’t…” Her voice trailed off.

“I can’t what?  Eunbyeol, I am not about to leave you here alone tonight.  What kind of a friend would I be if I let you stay by yourself with that bad of a head wound?  What if you take a turn for the worse during the middle of the night, and no one is here to help you?” He paled at the thought of her dying.

“Jin.”  She pressed the bridge of her nose between her thumb and fingers.  “You are an absolute darling, but if anyone caught us, we could be punished.  Most certainly, I would be.  You’d be at risk too.  I cannot allow it.”

“I’m staying,” Jin murmured through clenched teeth.

She sighed.  Sometimes Jin was intractable.  Apparently, this was one of those moments.

“I think the risk of you dying from that head wound is greater than the risk of us being punished,” he furthered his case. 

He might be right.  

“Does anyone know you came to visit me?”

“No.  I didn’t tell anyone I was coming.  The road was empty when I traveled this way.”

“All right, Jin.  You better be glad I live off the beaten track.”

He flashed his pretty grin at her.  “Right now, I’m most thankful that I decided I missed you tonight and just had to see you.”

“You did?” Her lovely face brightened with surprise as she glanced sharply at him.

“I did,” he beamed.  “That’s why I came straight here after catching my fish.”

She peered down at her nearly full plate.  “Don’t you mean our fish, Jin?  After all, I’m the lucky one helping you eat them tonight.”

“There’s nothing lucky about that.  I chose you on purpose, Eunbyeol.”

“Why?”

“Because you always appreciate my fish.  You’re the only woman in my life I can say that about.”

“Then you are surrounded by foolish women, Jin.”

“Perhaps.”

“Your fish are the best.”

He smiled at her as he took another bite.  He had to agree with her.  His fish were amazing.  But so was her kimchi.  They were, in fact, a great combination.

—

A while later, he glanced over at her and realized she was fading.  He reached out and took her empty plate away from her.  

“You need to rest.  Time for bed, my dear.”  He set their plates on a table and stood up.

She smiled up at him, and his heart turned over.  He loved that beautiful smile of hers.  Even with a bandage wrapped around her head she still managed to look quite lovely.

He bent over, slid his arm around her waist, and pulled her up until she was standing next to him.  

“Where’s your bedroom?”  He had never visited the back of her house.

She directed him until they were stepping over the threshold of her bedchamber.  The room was dark.  

“You’re gonna have to direct me,” he murmured.

“My bed’s on the floor.  Just keep walking straight ahead.  In a few feet, you’ll come to the end of it.”

Like his bed at home, it was a simple mat on the floor.  As he maneuvered her toward it, he queried mildly, “Is it big enough for two?”

He felt her tense in surprise.  “Um.  Yes.”

Just then, his toe brushed up against the end of the bed.  He stopped walking and slid his foot along the edge of the bed until he felt the corner turn.  He led her around it before walking the last few feet.  He helped her sit down on it.  A moment later, she had stretched out on her bed.

“I’m going to go grab a candle.  I’ll be right back,” he muttered.

He returned a few moments later with his promised light.  Under its bright influence, his eyes perused her simple room.  She had a wardrobe for her clothes.  The yo bed on the floor.  And a small table and chair in one corner.  The room was fairly empty.  And quite simply arranged.  No fuss.  No clutter.  It matched her ordered personality.  Jin smiled as he took it in.  

He walked over to her side of the bed.  He sat down on the floor next to her as he studied her face by candlelight.

“Eunbyeol, I don’t want to leave you alone.  I locked your house up tight.  I’m going to sleep in this room with you.  Just to be on the safe side.  I’m happy to sleep on the floor if you don’t want me to share your bed.”

“No, Jin.  I…” She cleared her throat as her heart began to race.  Right before it emitted a pang.  If only he would ask her this question every night for the rest of her life.

She couldn’t imagine a more awkward situation.  Jin was asking to sleep with her!  She had never in her wildest imaginings foreseen this night.  

But she knew her floor was hard and cold.  Jin couldn’t sleep there.  He was just trying to help her.  She couldn’t serve him so poorly by making him sleep on the floor like a dog.

“You can share my bed,” she mumbled.

He smiled at her.  “Are you sure?”

She threw her hand out to the empty side of her bed.  “There’s plenty of room.  But, Jin?”

He glanced into her eyes.  “What?”

She was lovely by candlelight.  He was fascinated by the golden glow of her skin.  Her eyes seemed to be shining as she gazed up at him.  They appeared as two great orbs in the middle of her beautiful face.  Drawing him in.  The shadows seemed to increase their allure.  

He was struck by the oddest impulse in that moment.  He wanted to lean forward and brush his lips across hers.  They seemed to be pouting up at him.  Begging him for a kiss.

“You don’t snore, do you?” she asked sheepishly.

Sharply delivered from his tender reverie, Jin barked with laughter at the unexpected question.  “Most definitely not,” he responded soberly a moment later.  But his smile popped through after a few seconds.

She giggled.  “Do you want to sleep now?  If not, you’re welcome to read a book.  There’s some on my table over there.  You won’t disturb me.”

“Are you sure?”

She yawned.  “Yes.  I’m…really tired.  And my head hurts.”  Her eyes fluttered shut as she ceased resisting the heavy pull of her eyelids which, for some reason, really didn’t wish to stay open anymore.

“Oh,” Jin frowned.  “My poor baby.”

She instantly felt the gentle brush of his fingers against her cheek.  Followed by a softer touch.  She didn’t realize it was a kiss until his voice sounded directly outside of her ear, “Sleep, Eunbyeol.  Your body experienced a war tonight.  You need to rest.  I’ll be here if you need anything.”

Her heart melted.  “Thank you, Jin,” she murmured as she drifted off to sleep.

I love you.

—

He read for a while, but his attention kept being pulled toward the lovely woman in the bed across the room.  He finally gave up the book and wandered over towards the bed.  Eunbyeol had rolled toward the middle of the bed, so he crossed to his side and sat down on the soft pad.  He pulled his legs into the bed and set the candle on the floor next to the bed before turning to gaze at her.  He drank in her beautiful countenance in the gentle glow of that one candle’s light.

His eyes traced her lovely face.  Slipping across her dark eyebrows and down over the gentle mounds of her eyelids.  Nestled like two great mountains among the valleys created by the meeting of her forehead and her cheeks and defined by the slope of her nose.  He smiled as his gaze fell into the tiny divot above her upper lip.  He felt an impulse to kiss that adorable dent.  His eyebrows jumped up at such an audacious thought.  Eunbyeol was just his friend.  But then his gaze slid along her lips, and he couldn’t deny the craving that instantly overwhelmed him.  To taste them.

What would the good doctor taste like?  There was only one way to find out.  But, of course, he would never take advantage of her while she slept.  He would never take advantage of her at all.  He had the utmost respect for this best friend of his.  She was a brilliant woman, a kind soul…a beautiful girl.  How had he never noticed before?

He’d been busy chasing various girls from their village.  None of whom had ever looked his way.  Not really.  But all this time Eunbyeol had been here.  Next to him.  Holding his hand.  Laughing with him.  Teasing him.  Enduring his own teasing in turn.  Giving him one brilliant solution after another to various problems he’d faced.  Enjoying his temperament as well as his livelihood.  Eunbyeol loved his fish.   Did she perhaps love him too?

What were these crazy thoughts coursing through his mind tonight?  Was he drunk?  Had her kimchi perchance fermented too much?  Had he imbibed of not water but some spirits instead?

His eyes widened as he leaned closer to her.  He could not believe the musings of his own heart tonight.  Perhaps they were simply the result of – for a few moments – believing she was dying.  Still, he couldn’t resist the urge to reach out and touch her.  So he did.

He ran his finger down her cheek.  Her lips flexed into a smile suddenly.  Even in slumber, that curve lit up her whole face.  And captured his breath.  He lay in her bed, his heart thudding unexpectedly, as he realized that he was taken.  By her.  When had Eunbyeol stolen his heart?

He thought back, but he could not locate a clearly defined moment when his heart had slipped from his grasp.  Yet it was true, nonetheless.  He loved Eunbyeol.  The beautiful, brilliant doctor who had rescued him from more scrapes as a young boy than he could remember.  And bandaged his broken body continuously. 

Oh!  He had always adored her.  But now he realized he loved her as more than a friend.  He loved her as a woman.  As the beautiful, alluring woman she’d become when his attention had been directed elsewhere.  When had she transformed into this ethereal beauty?  Was it just the effect of the candlelight?

But, no.

He had noticed it first while they were seated in her sitting room eating dinner.  She’d laughed at something he’d said.  And her face had been suffused by the light of her joy.  She’d first stolen his breath in that moment.  He remembered now.  His heart had seemed to stop beating momentarily as he’d gazed into her captivating countenance.  He’d ignored his response after a moment and taken another bite of his fish.  But now he couldn’t deny that the moment had occurred.  He had been drawn to her.  Like he been pulled towards several village girls.

And yet…not.  Eunbyeol was different.  His relationship with her already possessed a depth of intimacy he’d lacked with those other girls.  He’d known and been close to Eunbyeol from the cradle.  There was no one on earth he was more comfortable with than her.  Except…in this moment he had to admit to himself that he wasn’t comfortable in the slightest.  He was lying in a bed with the woman his heart desired.  And his body was now interfering with his peace.  He wanted her.  Desperately.  

It shocked him.  He had never felt thus before.  This feeling was terrifying him.  Because he didn’t want to lose her.  But she didn’t return such affection.  She had only ever looked upon him as a brother of sorts.  Just as he had seen her as his sister.

But…no longer.  

Some veil had been removed.  He couldn’t un-see what he had now seen.  He desired Eunbyeol.  And he realized that he’d been serious about all that talk of her needing a husband.  He wished to be that man.  He wanted to take her as his wife.  Earlier tonight already.

He wondered suddenly if he could persuade her to accept his hand in marriage.  As friends?  What woman would agree to such a crazy arrangement?

His heart was emitting all sorts of intense pangs as his eyes hungrily drank in the beauty of her countenance.

“I love you,” he whispered, unable to keep the words within the prison of his teeth any longer.

He felt free as he spoke them, so he uttered them again, a little louder this time.  And with more emphasis.  He added her name into the mix too to avoid any confusion.  Because his heart was crying out that beloved name.

“I love you, Eunbyeol.  I love you.”  His fingers followed his words and slid down her soft cheek.

Then he leaned towards her as he allowed his lips to trespass upon that revered slope.  His mouth sank into her downy skin.  He buried his nose in it and inhaled.  The metallic tang of her blood was still clinging to her.  But beneath that acrid scent lay a subtler fragrance.  Mint.  

Of course.

She was always drinking that mint tea she made by steeping the leaves in a pot of water left out in the sun to absorb its heat.  On many occasions she had offered him a glass of the refreshing concoction.  As his eyes grazed her lips, he wondered if she tasted of it too.  He bent close to her, his nose brushing that hallowed curve of her mouth.  He inhaled her sweetness.  

He smiled.  She did smell of mint.  An overpowering longing to taste those lips instantly assaulted him.  Instead, he ran the tip of his nose along her bottom lip.  She shivered and ran her teeth over that lip as though he’d tickled her.  He drew back instantly.  His eyes flying wide open.  He watched as she drew her lip into her mouth in an attempt to scratch it along the sharp edge of her teeth.  This sight did not decrease his desire for her.  Suddenly, he rolled towards the candle and blew it out.  

He lay, facing the outer edge of the bed, and decided he must love to be tortured.  He had agreed to sleep in a bed tonight with a woman he now desired above every other girl on the planet.  How was he supposed to endure this agony without touching her?

He couldn’t.  He rolled towards her.  He had to, at least, hold her in his arms.  He scooted across the bed towards her.  In the dark, he could no longer make out her beautiful features, but he knew exactly where she was lying.  

He reached for her and drew her into his arms.  Until her head was pillowed against his chest.  Her hand crept up his torso until it came to rest over his racing heart.  Thankfully, she was asleep and could not witness the velocity that pounding organ was attaining. 

He grinned to himself.  Her long form fit perfectly snug against his side.  She was just right.  Like the missing piece of his puzzle.  He settled his chin against the top of her head and inhaled the fragrance of mint and the tang of blood once more.  He wouldn’t miss the smell of her blood.  

But he could never get enough of that mint.  He wanted to bury himself in its aromatic folds.  Embrace her lips until he’d teased that flavor from them hundreds of times.  Soak his nose in her hair until its silken strands had imprinted his brain with that tantalizing aroma that spoke only one name to him.

Eunbyeol.

He hugged her close as his eyes slid shut.  It felt good to hold her.  And to inhale and smell her.  And to absentmindedly run his fingertip gently up and down her arm.  Feeling the satin slope of her skin.  And to listen to the soft inhalation of her breath and its deep exhalation.  Like music to his ears.  Especially after the terror of earlier this evening.  She was still breathing.  Here.  With him.

Still.  He was lacking one thing.  The taste of her.  He was panting for it now.  He forced his eyes to remain shut.  He told his heart to steady itself.  He turned his mind to dreams of Eunbyeol.  Eventually, he did fall asleep.  With the love of his life curled up against him.  Her head pillowed against his solid chest.  Her heart beating in unison with his own.