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A knock sounded on the front door as Ni Na walked into her front sitting room to retrieve a scroll which she’d left there earlier in the day.  She turned around and headed for the door.  She opened it.  And was shocked to discover Lord Lee Beom Sook standing on the other side. 

“My lord!  What are you doing here?” she quizzed him.  His presence was most unexpected.

His lips tipped upwards in a rueful smile.  “Am I disturbing you?”

“No!” she gasped.  “Not at all.”

Quite to the contrary. 

She could happily study that beautiful countenance for the next hour.

“I was…walking through your neighborhood.  So I decided to see if you were home.”

“I…see.  Yes, I am,” she smiled brightly at him.

Reminding him of how friendly her countenance appeared.

“May I…come in?” he queried, his jade eyes seeking out her obsidian ones.

“Oh!  Of course,” she responded softly, stepping back to allow him to enter.

He stepped a few feet across the threshold.

“May I see it?” he queried quietly as he turned to face her.

Her brow crumpled in confusion as she closed the door.  “See what?”  Her heart was racing.  He had come – alone – to see her.  Could this mean something…important?

“Your handiwork.  Your pottery.  You have a pottery wheel, right?”

“Ahhh.  Yes.”  She smiled at him. 

No one had ever been interested in her pottery before.  Except Auntie Dan O.  And her friend, Lang Kyong.

“Um.  I have a room…back there.”  She glanced at him curiously.  “You really want to see it?”

He nodded his head definitively.  “Yes.  I do.”  His jade eyes seemed to caress hers.

She swallowed.  “All right.  Come this way then.”  She turned towards the back of her house.

Her heart yearned for him to reach out and slip his fingers along hers.  Seeking to hold her hand.  But he didn’t attempt to do so. 

She chastised herself.  She wasn’t sure what he was after.  But she was fairly certain that her attraction to him was one-sided.  What would a man of the world want with an innocent miss from the schoolroom?

Was he just…lonely?  Like she was?  Was he simply looking for a friend?

She heaved a deep sigh as she headed for her pottery room.  A few moments later, she led him into the well-lit room.

He glanced up at the three walls that held huge windows.  Sunlight poured into the room.

“It’s so bright in here!” he exclaimed.

“Yes.  Well, it’s also my painting room.  The light helps me to see everything clearly.  Appa had this room built for me.  He knows how much I love light.”

His eyes searched the room.  But for a pottery wheel and an easel with a side table full of painting supplies, it was rather empty.  He glanced at her quizzically.  “Where’s all your work?”

Her lips flipped upward into a smile.  “In a room that isn’t so well-lit.  Come.” 

She tipped her head to the side and led him back out into the hallway.  A few feet later, she turned into another room.  This one possessed only one window allowing the sun to flood the room with its light.  But it was stocked with pottery. 

“The room next door holds my paintings,” she murmured, gesturing towards a door in the wall that led to an adjoining room.

He looked around.  “Did your father also build this part of the house just for your artwork?”

She nodded.  “Actually, he did.  This whole section was an addition to the original structure.”  She beamed as she seemed to glance inward.  “He built it just for me.”

“Your secret sanctum,” he murmured, gazing at her intently.  “He’s quite fond of you, isn’t he?”

Her eyes collided with his.

“With good reason,” he intoned heavily.

As her eyes widened, his gaze left hers to travel around the room.  “He detected your obvious talent.  And wished for you to make the most of it.” 

He crossed to a particularly lovely pot.  He reached out to slide a finger along its rim.  “Do you sell your work?”

She chuckled.  “No, no.”  She shook her head emphatically.  Hoping that she wasn’t giving herself away.   “But I do give it away as gifts.”

He glanced up at her in surprise.  “Have you ever considered selling it?”

Her eyes widened in surprise.  “Why would I?  I was born into the nobility.  I would embarrass my father if I sold it openly.”

“Openly?”  His gaze sharpened on her.  “Does that mean that you do make it available to the public…secretly?”

Now he was getting too close for comfort.

She lifted her chin.  “And what if I did?”

He grinned at her.  “I would say, ‘Good for you.’”

She elevated her eyebrows in surprise.  “Would you truly?”

He bobbed his head.

She stared at him in wonder.  And was tempted to spill her secrets.  But she really didn’t know him well, so she kept her lips sealed.

He wandered around the room.  Studying the various vessels which she’d designed.  She had created several elegant, stemmed cups.  She’d taken the time to engrave intricate patterns into the gray clay before it had been fired.  There was even a set of eight matching glasses.

“These are amazing!” he murmured.  He glanced up at her.  “My mother would love these.  May I buy them from you?”

Astonished, she simply stared at him for a moment.  “You’re serious?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Her expression melted from surprise to sweetness.  “You may have them.  Take them to her.  A gift from me.”

He frowned.  “But you must have spent an extensive amount of time making these.  Several hours, at least.  I would like to reimburse you for your time.”

She shook her head.  “I have much time on my hands.  My studies take up only a little.  The remainder is for me to spend at my leisure.”  She smiled dreamily then.  “So I while away those hours quite happily at my pottery wheel.  I would derive great pleasure from knowing that your mother was not only appreciating my work but utilizing the utensils.  Please…take them to her.”

He tilted his head slightly back as he gazed down at her respectfully.  “You bring them to her.  Return home with me tonight.  You may join us for dinner.  And present them to her yourself…as a gift from you.”

She gaped at him as she tried to discern the motives of his heart.  She cleared her throat.  “Lord Lee Beom Seok, why are you here?”

“Pardon?”

“At my house?  In this room.  Alone.  With a schoolgirl?”

His expression grew sober.  “I was curious about your work.”

She nodded her head.  “All right.  But…if that was all, then…why invite me back to your house?”

“I find you…interesting.  I’ve never met a woman like you.  So full of creativity and ingenuity.” 

His gaze strayed towards a shelf lined with bowls and jars.  He scrutinized the fine details that she had carved into the bowls.  Their wide stands had been lovingly crafted.  The long-necked jars also bore the stamp of her artistry. 

The shelf beneath that one was replete with round, lidded cups.  They also had a wide foot base.  She’d created several horned cups as well.  Many tall, bulbous vases filled another shelf.  She had also fashioned some stunning lamps. 

And a whole other cabinet full of shelves contained her more fanciful creations.  Each a different figure.  He spied a bunny rabbit.  And a fox.  A wolf.  A leopard.  A deer.  A miniscule mouse.  And a horse.  Then an entire set of horses that each carried their own warrior.  Her details were impeccable.  Simply amazing. 

She’d also created an entire village of tiny houses.  He smiled as he studied each one.  They were nearly…whimsical.  Each was unique in some way.  Its details separating it from its fellows.  The windows were each covered by an intricately designed latticework.  And the roofs had clearly been built one tiny beam at a time.

“You must have spent months working on these pieces.”

“Years, actually,” she corrected him with a small smile.

“These are…stunning,” he breathed as his eyes took in the room as a whole.

“Thank you.”  She turned away from him to hide the tears flooding her eyes. 

No man had ever admired her work.  Other than her father, that was.  Few people had acknowledged her gift.  Sometimes, it made her sad.  For she worked alone for long hours.  Creating masterpieces that she loved.  And her greatest desire was to openly share them with the world.  She longed to see people delight in them with her.  But, thus far, she had mostly operated in secret.

His eyes slid towards her.  She had turned away from him.  Had he embarrassed her?

“Your work truly is amazing.  I am sure that my mother would enjoy any piece in this room.”

“Take your pick,” she mumbled.  And her voice sounded strange.

“Are you all right?” he quizzed her gently.  He took a tentative step towards her.

“I am not…used to other people appreciating my work,” she uttered in a voice thick with emotion.  She cleared her throat.  And reached up to wipe her eyes.  Before turning to face him again.

He studied her face.  Had she been crying?

“Well,” he murmured sweetly, “you should be.  It is truly a shame that all of these are hiding in a back room of your house.  I…I could find buyers for them.  If you were interested.  They wouldn’t need to know where they’d come from.”

She smiled at him then.  Quite genuinely.  This man was so sweet. 

Then she snickered.  “What need have I of silver?”

“It is a form of recognition,” he pointed out logically.

“That is true,” she murmured.

“And you could use the income to buy more supplies.  Clay, parchment, silk, paints, ink,” he added, thinking of all her hobbies.

“Why are you so interested in my…affairs?” she asked heavily. 

Her eyes probed his.

No man – outside of her father – had ever paid her any attention.  Not really.  She spent most of her life indoors.  Away from the rest of the world.  Holed up in her pottery room.

“I told you.  You…intrigue me.”

She wrinkled her forehead.  “I fail to see why.  I am just an ordinary girl.”

“No,” he breathed, “I think you are not.”

Was it just her imagination, or was something delicious warming the air between them?

She found herself trapped within his mesmerizing, jade gaze just then.

“You are brilliant.  You have a mind that may surpass even my own mother’s intellect.  And your creative abilities are…astonishing.  To say the least.  You are calm, quick-witted, kind, and humble.  You are a rare creature, indeed.”

She didn’t know what to say in the face of such bald compliments.  She tore her gaze from his and planted it on the floor.

“What is your aim?” she whispered.

The trouble was that the more time that she spent in his company, the more attracted to him she became.  And she didn’t want to begin to set her affections on him.  Only to have him disappear from her life.

“May I speak freely, Miss Choi?”

The serious tone of his voice startled her into glancing up at him.  She nodded her head.  Even as her heart began to pound for some inexplicable reason.

“I am in want of a wife.”

She stopped breathing.

“Full disclosure: I went to your school to…check out the possibilities.  I didn’t really expect to find anyone who would capture my interest.  But…you did.  That very first day.”

She had?  Her plain, quiet self had attracted the notice of this gorgeous, brilliant man?

He was truly looking for a wife?  The other girls had postulated such a motive, but she hadn’t believed it.  She couldn’t imagine a man of his years, wealth, status, and temperament shopping for a wife among a classroom full of silly schoolgirls.  Yet…he was admitting to such a circumstance right now.

“Truly?  You were hoping to find a bride among a bunch of immature girls?”

“They’re not all immature,” he breathed soberly.  His eyes contained mysteries at which she didn’t dare to guess.

She crumpled her smooth brow.  “You…you must be…close to thirty?”

He nodded.  “I will, in fact, be thirty in two weeks.”  He paused a moment as he considered her.  “It is not unusual for a man to marry a woman fifteen years younger than he.”

“I know it.  It’s just that…you’re different.”

He quirked one enquiring eyebrow.  “How so?”

She swallowed and dropped her gaze.  She shrugged her shoulders.  “I don’t know.  Truly, I don’t know very many men.  It’s just that the ones I do know often act quite immature.  Goofing around, carousing, not taking much of anything seriously.  Or they’re the opposite.  Older, responsible, burdened by the affairs of the kingdom.  Or business.  But you seem…different somehow.  A man of leisure.  Yet soberly minded where it matters.  You are interested in more than your own affairs.”

“You are a very good judge of character, I think, Miss Choi.”

Why did she long for him to drop her surname?  And simply breathe out her given name?  Like a caress?

She cleared her throat and backed away from him.  This man made her long for things to which she had heretofore given little thought.  How could he wield such a power over her?  And after such a short time?

Was it all of Ae Ri’s nonsense?  Every ridiculous expectation that she kept pouring into her ears?  Had her heart somehow begun to accept those words as possible truth?  And bent in his direction with the hope that he would soon choose to spend the remainder of his life loving her?

It was preposterous.  They barely knew each other.  And there was something that she had yet to understand about him.  An underlying sorrow in his gaze.  Which informed every aspect of his life.  She was certain it was so.  And she wondered what had so damaged his heart.

And if it was a wound which she had the power to heal.