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“Have you heard the news?” Soo Ho asked Jung Sook the next evening as they wandered through the garden together.

“News?” she echoed, her thoughts still far away.

He nodded.  “My sister is engaged to be married.  To Ban Ryu.”

“Ah, yes,” she smiled faintly.  “I knew she’d find her way.”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.”

He stopped walking and turned towards her.  He furrowed his dark brow.  “Jung Sook?  What’s wrong?  Where are you today?  You’ve been unusually quiet.”

“Do you still wish to marry me, Soo Ho?”

“What?” he exclaimed.  “What kind of a question is that?  Of course, I still wish to marry you!”  He frowned.  “Why?  Don’t you still wish to marry me?”

She looked up at him then.  And he knew that he was in trouble.

She didn’t answer him.

“What’s this about, Jung Sook?” he reached for her, sliding his arms around her and tugging her close.

She sighed.  And planted her eyes firmly on his chest.  Then she began to speak in a soft voice.

“I just…I was petrified the morning you returned from your ill-fated trip.  I thought,” her voice caught.  She cleared her throat and pressed on.  “When your eomma sent the servant to find me, I thought you were dead, Soo Ho.”  Her fingers picked at the edge of his robe.  “I thought I’d lost you.  And such a thought tore my heart in half.  I couldn’t breathe.”

Truthfully, she’d felt as if she’d lost her anchor.  And that feeling had terrified her.  She had never depended upon anyone before.  She’d never had anyone upon whom to depend.  No one who had faithfully loved and protected her.  Until she’d met Soo Ho.  And then he had become that refuge.  One whom she hadn’t sought.  But he’d found her anyway.

And she had finally begun to relax.  But then Soo Ho had nearly died.  Ripping away the illusion of safety once again.

“I understand.  When I watched Ban Ryu fall, I thought he was dead.  When I discovered he was still breathing, and I saw all the blood, I thought for sure that he would die.  And I realized then how much he had come to mean to me.  But…that can’t even compare to how much I love you, Jung Sook.”

Her eyes met his then.  And she read the passionate sincerity in his gaze. 

“The night I saved you from Bo A’s father, for a split second, I feared losing you.  I saw the knife pressed against your chest, and your blood bleeding through your robe, and I…” his voice broke.  He cleared his throat and mumbled, “If I ever were to think that I’d lost you…I wouldn’t be able to breathe anymore either.  Nor would I want to.”  He gazed intently down at her.

She stared into his eyes.  “But…do you understand?  I’m terrified, Soo Ho.  And I know that you have to return to the hwarang.  That you’ll have to put your life on the line again and again.  You have pledged your life to the king.  But I can’t,” she gasped and stopped speaking.  “I can’t lose you.”  She’d finally forced the words out.

He sighed.  “Your husband fell from a horse.  Your father drowned in a bottle.  People die sometimes, Jung Sook.  There is always the chance that I might lose you.  Or that you might lose me.   You are not a hwarang, yet I nearly lost you that night.  At your house.

“But what is the alternative?  That I let you go now and live without you now?  I cannot do it, Jung Sook.  I must take the risk.  I must love you.  In spite of the risk.  And allow you to love me.  Even if we risk eventually losing what we have.”

She gazed mournfully up at him.  But he wasn’t done speaking.

“Even if I had died that day in the forest, my love would never have left you.  It is yours forever.”

Then he bent his head, and his soft lips brushed her cheek.  Before turning to seek her mouth. 

After a sweet, lingering kiss, he murmured against those tender lips, “Please, Jung Sook, marry me.  Today.”

She gasped.  “Today?”

He bobbed his head.  “I don’t want to wait another second.  I want you.  Tonight.”

“I think, my love, that your eomma might object to such a rushed wedding.”

“When will you marry me then?” he muttered as his eyes devoured her.

She blinked.  “In a week?”  She frowned.  “Surely, that’s enough time for me and Lady Bit Na to plan everything.  Don’t you think?”  She glanced up at him.

“I haven’t the foggiest notion.  Nor do I care.  I would marry you here in the garden under a full moon with only a priest in attendance if you would but say the word.”

Her expression melted suddenly.  “Soo Ho,” she purred.

“What, my love?”  His lips curved into a wide smile.

“Come here,” she whispered.

He happily obeyed her instruction.  And was rewarded with a luscious kiss.

After several long, delicious moments of enjoying her favors, he sighed into her ear.  “I suppose we should go inform my eomma of our plans.”

She nodded.  “Yes.”  She glanced up.  “Do you really want to marry me under a full moon?”

“Hmm.  Why do you ask?”

Her lips flipped upwards suddenly.  “Because if you do, then we shall have to wait two weeks to marry.  The moon is but half smiling down upon us today.”

He peered up at the sky but couldn’t find that glowing globe.  “How do you know?”

“I saw it a moment ago.  Before it hid behind that cloud.”  She pointed up at the moon’s pale shroud.

But Soo Ho was gazing down at her face.  A moment later, his vision became clearer as the moon peeped out from behind that cloud once more to cast its reflection down upon her countenance.

“So beautiful,” he murmured.

She blinked as she shifted her eyes towards his.  “A week then, Soo Ho?  Ban Ryu will be strong enough to stand up with you then, don’t you think?”

“As one of our witnesses?” he bobbed his head.  “Indeed.  Is that what we’ve been waiting for?” he asked teasingly.

She nodded.  “You know it is.”  She peered down at his arm.  “And for your arm to be healed.  Is it well enough, Soo Ho?”

“Hmm.  Let’s test it out.”  He grinned down at her as he used his injured arm to embrace her and draw her near for another kiss.  “Seems to be working just fine,” he muttered against her soft lips.

She giggled.  And shook her head.  “I think, Soo Ho, that you enjoy kissing a little too much.”

“Well, lucky for you, I hear that there are other things we can do together on our wedding night.”

“Soo Ho!” she snickered again.  And swatted him on the shoulder.  Before surrendering her happy lips to his yet again.

“My love,” he remarked a moment later, “let’s live in the moment, shall we?”

Her eyes sobered for a few seconds.  But then she smiled at him tenderly.  “We shall,” she replied. 

Before granting him another of his heart’s desires.  Yielding her lips to his once more.