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“My love,” Ban Ryu queried the next day.  “How soon would you like to marry me?”

Soo Yeon glanced up at her beloved.  “Umm…”  She shrugged.

“How would four days from now suit you?”

She blinked.  And calculated.  And her eyes grew wide.  “You want to marry me the day that my brother is marrying Jung Sook?”

“It’s an idea.”

“A double wedding?”  Her eyes lit up.  “I love it!”  Then she frowned.  “Will we continue to live here?  With Appa and Eomma?”

“And Soo Ho and Jung Sook?” he added with an amused twist of his lips.

She nodded.  “Will you have to return to the hwarang house after you marry me?  Or will you be allowed to return to me at night?”

“I think I can persuade the king to let me come home.  Unless I’m on the road, of course.”

She glanced at his leg.  Without meaning to.

“That is…if I’m ever permitted to join the hwarang again.”

“Ban Ryu,” she murmured tenderly.

“It’s all right.”  He delved the depths of her eyes.  “I have accepted the fact that I may never be one hundred percent again.  And I may not be able to fight anymore.  Saving your brother’s life was worth the sacrifice.”

Her heart melted.

“Besides, your father is training me on the diplomatic side of things.  If I cannot represent the king with my body, then I will represent him with my mind.”

“Don’t forget your heart and your tongue, my love.”

He smiled at her.  Then he cleared his throat.  And sneezed again.

She eyed him.  “Ban Ryu?  Are you going to be well enough to marry me in four days?  I don’t really wish to kiss a sneezing gentleman.”

He blinked at her.  While appearing offended.

She giggled.  “Can you blame me?”

He nodded.  “I can.  And I do.  You’re the reason I’m sneezing.”

“Oh!  Will you never let me forget that?”

“Maybe,” he sent her a calculating glance.

“What do you mean, maybe?”

“Come here,” he whispered as his arm reached out to slide around her waist and he tugged her towards him.

“Why, Ban Ryu, are you trying to flirt with me?”

“Maybe.”

But he ruined the effect of his intent by suddenly sneezing again.  Right in her face.

“Ugh!  Ban Ryu!” she gasped as she reached up to wipe her face.  “Sneezing is not in the least romantic!  And your bride does not wish to be sneezing on her wedding day!”

She jumped up and backed away from him.  “I’m going to go speak with Eomma and Jung Sook.  If you are well in four days, I will marry you then.  If you are not, we will wait.”

“Come on, Soo Yeon.  You’ve been torturing me for months.  Please marry me regardless of whether or not I’m sick.”

He was staring up at her with the appeal of a tiny boy begging for a treat.  She giggled suddenly.

“Ban Ryu, how are you so irresistible to me?”

“I haven’t the foggiest notion,” he murmured.  “But that is the way I feel about you too,” he admitted sheepishly.

“Oooh!  Now I want to kiss you again.”

“Good,” he grinned. 

“But I’m not going to.  We will wait.”

He groaned.

“Until we get married,” she finished.

“What?”  He gazed up at her in disappointed disbelief.

“Come now.  Surely, you can wait four days to kiss me again.”

“But…I’m used to at least seven kisses a day.”

“Hmm.  I shall save them up for you.  Then, I shall give you thirty-five on our wedding night.”

“Is that all?”

“Oh, no,” she smiled teasingly at him.  “That’s not even close to all.”

She was such a pretty flirt that if she hadn’t already been halfway across the room, he would have pulled her into his arms.  But she melted through the doorway with a giggle before he could even climb out of the bed.  He sighed.  He did suppose that Soo Yeon was worth the wait.  But he was praying that those four days would fly like the wind.  And carry his cold away with them.