It was a beautiful spring day. And she’d promised to meet him in his grandmother’s garden again. But he hadn’t yet been able to find his new friend.
“Sam Sook?” he called to her as he spun in a circle, his eyes frantically searching the flowerbeds for the older girl.
A giggle erupted overhead. He glanced up at the blooming cherry blossom tree. To find his girl perched on a delicate branch.
“Sam Sook!” he ejaculated.
“What? Cannot a girl climb trees too?” Her tinkling laughter rang out once more. As beautiful to him as his singing voice was to her.
He grinned, thinking of his prim older sister and his adventurous younger one. Younger than the eldest child that was. Yeo Jin was still three years older than he.
“Of course, girls can climb trees! Well, some girls anyway.”
He thought of ladylike Yeo Ri. She would never have considered setting her foot on a tree branch.
But sturdy Sam Sook, brave Sam Sook, would never have let a little thing like a skinned knee or a bruised palm stop her from climbing a tree. Or sprouting wings and flying into the sky.
The girl was simply fearless.
––
Yeo Wool awoke from the dream. But it hadn’t been a mere dream. It had been a memory. Playing itself out perfectly in beautiful color. And fresh sound. He felt as if he’d stepped into a time machine and traveled back to his childhood. To embrace his youth once more. And the best friend whose company he’d ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
How his heart longed to experience that connection again!
He had to find a way to open Sam Sook’s soul to him once more.
––
“Eomma? Can I go play at Bo A’s this afternoon?” Se Ri queried after school finished for the day.
Sam Sook laughed. “You certainly enjoy hanging out with your new friend, don’t you? But you don’t always have to play at her house. You can invite her to ours too, you know.”
Se Ri’s face went blank for a moment. “But I like playing at her house.”
“You do?” Sam Sook furrowed her brow.
But then she relaxed. If Se Ri was happy at Jung Sook’s house, that was a very good thing indeed.
“So…you feel safe there?”
Now it was the girl’s brow which wrinkled. “Of course, Eomma!”
“And…you would tell me…if you didn’t, right?”
Se Ri’s face turned mild once more. “What?” she asked, as though confused.
“If you didn’t feel safe somewhere, you would tell me. Right? If something were wrong…if anyone ever made you feel…uncomfortable, you would let me know. Yes?”
The girl bobbed her head.
Sam Sook breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s all right with me if you go home with Jung Sook. As long as they’ve invited you.”
Se Ri’s grin broke forth, lighting up her entire countenance. “Thank you, Eomma!” She kissed her mother on the cheek, bounced up and down on her toes, and ran over to tell her friend the good news.
Se Ri always felt safe when she was with Bo A.
If it were up to her, she would live at Jung Sook’s house. Along with her mother and Se Yeon.
––
It had started with a simple hand on her knee. Then that hand had grown bolder. Sliding up her thigh. Then farther up her thigh. Then dipping down between them. That was when her unease had grown past anything she wanted to endure.
But he had threatened her. So she couldn’t tell anybody. Besides, she didn’t want to admit to anyone that there was something wrong with her. Clearly, there must be. For a grown man to be attracted to a little girl. Had she sent out some weird sort of vibe?
Why did this keep happening to her?
She lay on her bed. In the bright light of early afternoon. Trembling. As his fingers slid along her skin once more. No one was home today. She had left the house with her father hours ago, but he had brought her home before heading off to court. In their absence, her mother had taken her sisters to the market. Leaving her to come home to an empty house. The other servants were lingering in the kitchen or outside as they completed their chores.
So he was free to do as he wished with her.
How ironic that the voice which was always raised in quick defense of her friends was silenced in this man’s fearsome presence! The hands which had been so ready to defend Yeo Wool from his bullies were now balled into helpless fists upon the blanket covering her own bed. She squeezed her eyes shut. And prayed for the day of her departure to arrive. Speedily.
––
Sam Sook abruptly awoke in the middle of the night. She sat straight up in bed. Beads of sweat were rolling down her face. The memories had been haunting her for a month now. Ever since the first night she’d slept in her old room again.
It didn’t seem to matter that the man was dead and buried. His fingers were still sliding along her skin. His hot breath invading the air around her head. The scent of him choking her. Memories she had spent years outrunning had come cascading back into her consciousness as soon as this room embraced her once more.
Should she ask her mother for a different set of rooms for her and her girls? Would it even matter? Or was it simply being home that had awakened those sleeping giants once again?
Whatever it was, she was in turmoil. If only the nightmares would stop! Then she might be able to find some semblance of peace. But rather than ceasing, they were growing worse. And they were beginning to meld with memories of that other incident.
Still trembling, she arose from her bed and went to check on her daughters. But they were fine. Soundly sleeping as they had been each time that she had sought them out in the middle of the night. At least, her girls were safe.
