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Mi Sook stared down at the colorful jars of powder on her easel tray.  She wanted to paint something.  For him.  But…she wanted it to be beautiful. 

Perhaps, she should practice on parchment first.  She stared longingly down at one of the scrolls as she unrolled it.  It had been so long since she had indulged in sketching.  She felt her heart rate pick up speed just thinking about enjoying it again. 

And she privately blessed Dan Se for his thoughtfulness.  And Jung Sook for drawing out her secret.

Frustrated that she still hurt too much to sit, Mi Sook picked up the quill, the block of ink, and its little white well before heading for her bed.  Thankful that she still had some water in her glass.  She spread the scroll out on her bed and dragged the chair all the way up flush with the side of her bed.  Then she prepared the ink and set its well down on the seat of that chair before lying down in bed and picking up the quill again. 

She was going to get in a bit of sketching before her husband returned.

––

Dan Se greeted his friend in the hallway.  “Yeo Wool!  What’s going on?  Why are you here?”  He furrowed his brow as he noticed the troubled frown on his friend’s usually placid face.

“It’s Seon Woo,” Yeo Wool asserted.  He took a deep breath.  “There’s been an accident.”

Instantly on alert, Dan Se queried, “What kind of accident?”

“He was fencing with Ban Ryu.  His blade slipped, and it pierced Seon Woo.  But it only happened because Seon Woo passed out.”

“Where?”  Fear was creeping along his nerves now.  His eyes delved the depths of his friend’s.  “How bad is it?”

“The cut isn’t bad.  He just nicked his shoulder,” he breathed.  “But…he hasn’t regained consciousness.”

“I’m coming with you.”  Dan Se glanced back towards his wife’s bedroom.  Should he tell her?

He acknowledged then that he kept leaving her.  Without a word of comfort.

“Hold on a moment.”  He rushed back into her bedroom.  And found her settling herself in bed with a parchment spread out in front of her.

He smiled.  “I’m glad to see that I’m already occupying you,” he murmured as he approached her swiftly.  “I have to leave.  Seon Woo passed out.  He has not awoken.  I must go be with him.”

Alarmed, she rolled to her side, completely unaware that her robe had fallen open and slipped down to give him a very revealing peek at her assets.  But for a momentary glimpse, his gaze riveted to hers.  “I don’t know when I will return.”

“It’s all right.  Go take care of your friend.  I’ll be fine here.”

He wanted to kiss her.  But he didn’t feel like the breach between them had been completely mended, so he simply bowed to her before disappearing through the doorway again.

Leaving behind a concerned Mi Sook.  And a sighing wife. 

––

She spent the afternoon sketching a beautiful scene.  And discovered that the gift which she’d once possessed had not evaporated during the years when she had not put it to use.  She waited patiently for Dan Se to return, but he did not.  So the hours passed while she put pen to parchment in an attempt to sketch his magnificent eyes.  She wanted to get them just right.

But she was having great difficulty.  So she switched to a nature scene instead.  And discovered that it was much easier to capture a tree than a man.

––

Though both Ah Ro and Dan Se sat with Seon Woo all afternoon, he did not awaken.

“Ah Ro, do you have any idea why he’s still asleep?” Dan Se asked, troubled.

She shook her head.  “These bouts are getting worse.  When I first met him, he passed out from time to time.  But he usually awoke within a few minutes.  He has been out for hours now.”

He could see the fear in her countenance.  He glanced down at his friend.  “His pulse is strong, is it not?”

“It is,” she nodded.

Dan Se reached for Seon Woo’s foot and ran his finger down the bottom of it.  The man curled his toes, but he did not wake up.

“His reflexes still work.  Surely, that is good.”

“It is,” she nodded again.

Dan Se stood up and wandered around the room.  “Seon Woo!  Wake up!” he suddenly hollered at the unconscious man.

“Must you yell?” his friend muttered a moment later.  “My head hurts like crazy.  And you’re not helping.”

“Seon Woo!” gasped Ah Ro as she bent over her husband.  “Are you all right?”

“No,” he moaned.  “My shoulder is on fire.  Why?” he queried as he lifted his other hand to brush the bandage now surrounding his wound.

“You were injured fencing with Ban Ryu,” Dan Se murmured smoothly.  “Have you no recollection of it?”

“No,” Seon Woo answered faintly.

“Well, that is hardly surprising since Ban Ryu said you fainted before his sword pierced you,” Dan Se remarked dryly.

“Is the wound bad?”

“Not nearly as bad as some other wounds you’ve suffered,” Ah Ro answered quietly.

“You’re going to be fine,” Dan Se muttered.  “You’ve a knack for surviving.”

Seon Woo opened his eyes and met the other man’s gaze.  They both lived with shared regret over Han Sung’s death.  Yet they had managed to remain the best of friends.

“I am glad you are awake, my friend,” Dan Se finally commented with a wry twist of his lips.

“I’m not sure I am,” Seon Woo remarked as he grabbed his head.  “These blasted headaches keep getting worse.  And now there’s this raging fire in my shoulder.”

“So you said,” Dan Se pointed out with a chuckle.

“Seon Woo!  Have you no thought for your poor wife!  How can you not be happy just to be alive?” Ah Ro rebuked him.

“If you could feel this pain, you might understand.”

“Don’t you remember?  I took an arrow for you!  I know pain.  First-hand.  You’re going to be just fine.  Here.  Drink this.  It should help with the headache.  And the sword wound too.”  She held a cup up to his lips.

Dan Se breathed a sigh of relief as he watched her husband consume her offering.  Dan Se had been quite concerned that he was about to lose his dearest friend.  But it appeared that Seon Woo had pulled through again. 

If only they knew the origin of his weird fainting spells.  And how to cure them.  But even the good doctor had yet to figure out the painful mystery.

Dan Se sighed.  “I should be going.”

“Going?” Seon Woo challenged him.  “No.  Stay.  Regale me with a story.  I need something to take my mind off this pain.”

“Me?  Regale you with a story?  Do you not remember who you married?”

Seon Woo rolled his eyes.  “I have heard all of Ah Ro’s stories.  I need to hear something new.  Tell me the tale of Dan Se and Mi Sook,” he urged his friend, his pained eyes fencing with the other man’s.

Dan Se groaned.  “It’s not a tale you want to hear, my friend.”

“What?  Is there trouble in paradise?”

“You know there is!” Dan Se ejaculated.

“I know that her father is a mean brute of a man and always has been.  But I think, Dan Se, that you are her knight in shining armor.  Are you not?”

“If I am, don’t you think that I should return to her?  I left her to come nurse you back to health today.”

Seon Woo chuckled but then winced.  “What need have I of you?  I have Ah Ro.”

“Indeed.  So what need have you of me?” Dan Se chortled good-naturedly as he eyed his friend dubiously.  “You have both a fine doctor and a brilliant storyteller in your wife.  So I should head home to mine.”

“Aye, aye.  I hear you.  Fine.  Off with you then.  Give my regards to your darling.”

“My darling?” Dan Se queried doubtfully.  Despite recognizing his favorite appellation for Mi Sook.

“Aye, you can’t fool me, Dan Se.  I’ve seen the light in your eyes when you speak of her.”

Dan Se gazed coldly at his friend.  “You must be imagining things again.”

“Sure.  Sure, I am.  You just keep telling yourself that.  But look at how eager you are to return to your beloved.  I nearly died today, yet you can’t wait to join Mi Sook.  Choosing your wife over your best friend.  It’s a tell-tale sign that you have surely lost your heart to the woman.”

Dan Se glanced at Ah Ro.  “Did he hit his head on his way down?”

She scoffed.  “Oh, no.  His faculties of reason are completely intact.  I have to side with my husband on this one.  You’re a goner.”

Dan Se leaned towards her conspiratorially.  “Shhh.  Keep that to yourself.  Don’t let my wife hear one word of your speech.”

“And why not?  You don’t want her to know that you adore her?”

He shook his head.  “Not really.”

“Why not?” Seon Woo joined the fray.

“Because I’m not really sure that she’s all that fond of me.  And if she knew how much I enjoy her, she might use such knowledge against me.”

“Hmm.”  Seon Woo tried to nod but winced instead.  “Wise man.”

“Wise man!?” Ah Ro huffed.  “You need to tell that woman exactly how you feel so that no misunderstanding lies between you.  Trust me.”  She eyed him confidently.

“Ahhh.  I will consider it.” 

Dan Se waved goodbye to his friends before heading out the door.  He glanced up at the sky.  There were still a few hours of daylight left before the moon would rise in the vast dome of night.  He wondered what Mi Sook had painted today.  Perhaps he would find out in a few minutes.

–– 

Dan Se tripped down the hallway and knocked on her door a little while later.

“Who’s there?” came her already beloved voice.

“Your husband,” he murmured in his deep tone.

He heard her gasp.  “Wait a moment!”

Then he heard a little bit of shuffling.  Finally, she called out, “Come in!”

He opened the door and entered their room curiously.  He really wasn’t sure whose room it was now, so he was simply going to think of it as theirs.  Immediately, he faced her.  She was standing in front of her easel with a bright grin on her face.

“Stay right there!” she gasped.  “Close your eyes.”

“What?” he queried, taken aback.

“Come now.  Close your eyes.”

“All right,” he chuckled.  And did her bidding. 

A moment later, he felt her fingers slide along his.  She curled her hand around his and squeezed lightly. 

“You can open your eyes now.”

He tilted his head downward so that their clasped hands were the first thing his eyes contacted after he lifted his lids.  Then he glanced up into her pretty face.

“Look!” she smiled and gestured towards the easel with her other hand.

His gaze followed the direction of that hand, and his face melted in awe.  He stepped forward until he was standing directly in front of the painting that she’d created while he was gone.

A gorgeous, dark green stand of conifers.  A brilliant forest that seemed to catch the light of the rising sun that beamed down upon them in the painting.  The needles of those evergreens appeared to glisten.  He felt as if he could reach out and touch them, and he would walk away with some of their sticky sap clinging to his fingers.

“Mi Sook, this is beautiful,” he breathed.

She peered up at him with a vulnerable expression cloaking her features.  “Do you really think so?”

“Absolutely.”

A bright grin suddenly suffused her countenance with joy.

His eyes traveled back to the painting.  “But…why did you paint a forest?”

She smiled sheepishly.  “Oh, I have my reasons.”

He glanced down at her then.   “Oh, you do, do you?”  He tugged on her hand.  “Come now.  Tell me.  Why a forest?  What does it mean to you?”

His eyes searched hers seriously.  He was wondering what memory had prompted this painting.

“Did you and Han Sung run through this forest once?”  His lips flipped up as his thoughts turned fanciful.  “He chased you past a bubbling brook hidden within these tall pines?  Or perhaps caught a butterfly floating on one of their branches?”

His eyes continued to caress the boughs that she’d painted on the silk that he’d bought for her.

“Can you smell them?” she queried quietly.

“What?”  Confused, he glanced her way.

“They smell like you,” she murmured as her eyes held his.

He stared down at her.  Still perplexed.

“I have no memories of Han Sung in a forest,” she mumbled as she fought to retain his gaze.  “You’re the one who reminds me of pine trees.”

He wrinkled his brow.  “I do?” 

She had painted this scene because it had reminded her of him?

“Do you not realize that you smell like a forest of conifers?”

He blinked.  Then he shook his head. 

She knew what he smelled like?

Of course, he was cognizant of her own fragrance.

“Can you paint a lilac?” he whispered.

A tiny ravine popped up between her eyebrows.  “A lilac?” she wondered at his quick change of subject.  But she considered his request before nodding her head.  “Mmm.  Yes, I believe I could paint a lilac.”

“There’s more silk.”

“What?  Where?”  She gazed up at him out of those beautiful, wide eyes of hers.  Innocent.  Like the girl whom he’d first met nine years ago.

“Under your easel,” he answered her as he gestured with his free hand towards a sack on the floor.  “Mi Sook, will you paint me a lilac?”

She bobbed her head.  “Certainly.”

“Excellent,” he murmured.

She smiled up at him.  Wondering why he’d chosen a lilac as her next subject.  But before she could ask him, a knock sounded on her door.

“Yes?” she called out.

“Ma’am, I’ve brought your dinner,” came a muffled tone.

“Oh!  I am famished!” Mi Sook exclaimed as she released his hand and reached for the door. “Come in.  Leave the tray on the table.”  She gestured across the room.

A moment later, the girl bowed and left.

And Mi Sook glanced down at the inviting tray of delicacies.  Then she glanced up at her husband.  “Dan Se, would you like to join me for dinner?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” he murmured with an odd light in his eyes.