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Ban Ryu didn’t like it.  But over the next few weeks, he gave in to Soo Yeon and visited her whenever he could get away.  Or even better, she’d come meet him outside the walls of the hwarang house.  He felt safer there.  Visiting her home, he always risked running into her mother…or even worse, her father.  But they managed to keep their love affair secret during the five weeks following his return. 

Soo Yeon demanded his kisses upon each of their rendezvous.

On one particular day, seated on the loveseat in her private sitting room, he finally pulled away from her laughing.

“Soo Yeon, you are a glutton for punishment!” he scoffed after giving her the requisite seven kisses.

She stamped her tiny foot on the floor again as she frowned up at him.  “No,” she cooed suddenly.  “I am a glutton for you.”  She leaned towards him, beaming affectionately up at him.

His gaze slid over swollen, pink lips then her rosy cheeks before catching her shining obsidian eyes, which were blinking guilelessly up at him.

He snickered.  “And to think…you look so innocent.”

“Come here,” she pouted up at him.  “You didn’t visit me yesterday.  So,” she grinned, “now you owe me another seven!”  She lifted her pretty face towards his and closed her eyes.

Chuckling, he bent his head and brushed his lips across hers again.  Several times.  Until she was satisfied.  Or, if not satisfied, at least, appeased.

Then he glanced around.  Nervously.  “I should be going.”

“No!” she cried out and grabbed his arm.  “Don’t leave me.  I hardly ever see you!”

“You’ve seen me four times this week,” he murmured dryly.

“For five minutes at a time,” she mourned.

He smiled down at her and tugged her closer until she was firmly tucked into his side.  “I know, my love.  I am sorry.  But if your father catches me here…”  He gazed anxiously at the flimsy door that was concealing their mad passion from the world.  Or, at least, from her household.  “If one of the servants discovers us and reports us to your father…”

She sighed.  “Then I’ll never see you again.  And I’ll suffer house arrest just to ensure my virtue is safe from such a dreadful scoundrel as you,” she uttered dramatically.

He glanced down at her in alarm.  “Is it as bad as that?” he queried.

“No,” she giggled.  “Appa has never grounded me.”

Still, they both jumped when the door suddenly slid open.

And sighed with relief when Soo Ho slipped into the room. 

“Ban Ryu!  What are you doing here?  Are you crazy, man?”  Soo Ho rolled his eyes at his friend.  “If my appa discovers you alone in a room with Soo Yeon, you’d better pray you’re wearing your sword!”

Ban Ryu’s eyes grew as round as saucers. His tan skin intensifying their whites brilliantly.  “You expect me to challenge your appa to a duel?” he exclaimed, aghast.

“Hardly,” Soo Ho murmured dryly.  “I was thinking you could use it to demolish that grate over the window and escape through it.”  He snorted.  Then shook his head.  “I can’t believe your boldness, Soo Yeon!  Are you hoping to be married off overnight?”

“Yes.  To Ban Ryu,” she nodded firmly.

“No, I meant to Lord Lee Beom Sook.”

She groaned.  “Don’t.”

Ban Ryu quirked a dark eyebrow.  He gazed quizzically down at his beloved.  “What’s this?” he breathed.  “Are you to be promised to this man?”

She sighed.  “My parents have been arguing for years over my eventual marriage.  Lord Lee Beom Sook is one of the two most recent favorites.”

“Who is the other?” he asked, trying to size up his competition.

“Choi Hong Hwan.”

He was familiar with them both.  “They are good men,” he muttered, his heart slipping to the floor.

She reached up and framed his face with her hands.  “Not as good as you!” she declared faithfully.

And he sighed.  Casting his eyes to her lap.  If she really knew him, if she knew what he had done, she wouldn’t love him.  Not anymore.

He reached up to grasp her hands gently and direct them away from his face.  Then dropping them, he stood up.  Gazing down at her, he asked, “Which one do you like better?”

Confused, she blinked up at him.  “What?”

“Choi Hong Hwan or Lee Beom Sook?”

“I don’t particularly care for either of them.  Though, Lee Beom Sook was kind to me once.”

“You should marry him then,” he muttered darkly.

She jumped to her feet.  “What nonsense you spout!  Kissing me one moment and telling me to marry someone else the next!” she cried, outraged.

His face hardened.  “You know that you can’t marry me.”

“Then why are you kissing me?” she questioned, despairing.

“That’s a good question,” he retorted crossly.  “I don’t deserve your sweet kisses.”

With those cryptic words, he turned towards his friend.  Who was watching this dramatic display with some discomfort.  “I’m headed back to the hwarang house.  Care to join me?”

Soo Ho nodded as his gaze slid to take in his sister’s alarmed face.

She pounced on his friend in the next instant.

“Ban Ryu!  You will come see me tomorrow.  Right?”

He caved when he glanced down into her distressed face.  Bobbing his head, he followed Soo Ho out into the next room.

“Until then, my love…” she sighed.  Quite troubled as her beloved left her alone with her thoughts. 

Just why exactly did Ban Ryu think that he didn’t deserve her kisses?  And how did one deserve a kiss anyway?