Sam Sook awoke late in the morning. Startled to find herself in a strange bed. In an unfamiliar room. As she lay there, the events of last night suddenly crashed down on her, and she sat bolt upright.
Where were her girls? Were they all right? And how had she come to be in this bed?
—
“You fell asleep. Sitting up. In the chair. So Yeo Wool carried you to bed. And took your place in that chair. Until I woke up. Then I sent him to bed. And sat in that chair myself.”
Sam Sook stared in shock at Jung Sook. “Yeo Wool never left? He waited until I fell asleep so he could watch over the girls himself?”
Jung Sook nodded. “He’s still sleeping in one of our guest rooms.” She grinned suddenly. “The one next to yours. On the other side.”
Sam Sook furrowed her brow at her friend. “Don’t,” she warned in a low tone.
“Don’t what?” her friend quirked two dark eyebrows innocently.
“Yeo Wool and I are just friends.”
“And why is that exactly?”
Sam Sook was saved from having to answer that question by Se Ri who entered the room at that precise moment with Bo A close on her heels.
“How are you?” her mother instantly questioned her.
Se Ri smiled at her mother. “I’m fine, Eomma. I…” She glanced around. “Do you know if Yeo Wool arrested him?”
Sam Sook inhaled a deep breath. She didn’t want her news to hurt her daughter. “He did.”
“And what happened? Is he in prison?”
“He is…awaiting his execution this morning.”
The girl gasped. “What?” Her eyes grew wide. “They’re putting him to death? For…?”
“…what he did to you. Yes.”
The young lady burst into tears.
“It’s not your fault, sweetheart,” Sam Sook assured her as she reached out and pulled her daughter into her embrace. “The king decided his punishment. Not you. You did not encourage that man to harm you. Or to break the law. And now you will know that he can’t ever hurt you again. He will not be able to reach you.”
Se Ri squeezed her mother tight. “I just didn’t think that…”
“I know. I was a bit surprised myself. Apparently, the king has no tolerance for men abusing children.”
“As well he shouldn’t,” Jung Sook murmured.
She remembered what she had suffered as a child. And as a young bride. And then she thought of all Bo A’s pain and terror at the hands of her own father. And now of little Se Ri. Abused by a servant. And, she suspected, even Sam Sook had weathered some sort of mistreatment. Although that woman’s experiences had been hidden from the world by her tight lips.
Still, Jung Sook had a sixth sense about these things. And she was pretty sure that her friend had also suffered abuse at the hands of some man. She wondered if that was why Sam Sook was holding Yeo Wool at bay.
“Would you girls like some lunch?” the teacher queried. Trying to lighten the mood.
“Lunch?” Sam Sook glanced up at her. “What time is it?”
“A quarter till noon.”
The young mother gasped. “That means…”
“He is gone,” Jung Sook muttered. Nodding.
Se Ri peered up at her mother. “That man is dead?”
Her mother nodded.
Se Ri buried her face against her mother’s chest and began to tremble.
“Honey,” Sam Sook breathed.
“I’m all right,” the girl’s voice quavered. “I am. I’m relieved that he can’t ever hurt me again. But death is so…final.”
“Yes. It is,” her mother uttered heavily. “But I am so thankful that he can’t ever harm you again.”
“And he’ll never hurt Se Yeon,” Se Ri pointed out gratefully. She hugged her mother tight for a few moments, and then she drew back.
Se Ri glanced at her baby sister. “Se Yeon, do you want some rice cakes?”
The tiny girl bobbed her head up and down. And bounced on her seat. “Yes! Yes! I want rice cakes!”
Se Ri smiled. “Come on, my baby. I’ll get you some.” She reached her hand out towards her sister.
“I not a baby!” exclaimed the disgruntled child. “I a big girl!”
Sam Sook and Jung Sook glanced at each other while biting back their smiles.
“You ladies head to the table. We’ll join you in a moment,” Jung Sook promised.
She waited until the girls had entered the dining room. Then she turned towards her friend.
But Sam Sook spoke first. “I don’t know how to thank you, Jung Sook, for everything you did for me and my girls yesterday. And today.”
“That, my dear, is what friends are for. No thanks are required.”
“But I will always be grateful to you for listening to Bo A and helping my daughter feel safe enough to tell me the truth.” Tears filled her eyes. “I hate that she went through this. But I could not have asked for better friends than you and Bo A have been to us.”
“Don’t forget Yeo Wool,” her friend commented.
Sam Sook shot her an annoyed glance. “I could never forget Yeo Wool.”
“I know you love him, Sam Sook. So…what’s the problem?”
She drew a deep breath. “I don’t wish to speak of it.”
“Ah. So your daughter must spill her secrets. But you will keep yours, I see.”
Sam Sook’s eyes crashed into hers then, and alarm spiraled across her countenance.
“I don’t believe I ever told you all that I endured at the hands of my father. And my husband,” Jung Sook asserted quietly a moment later. She closed her eyes and winced. She didn’t really want to talk about it now. But she had the distinct impression that her friend needed to hear her story.
Sam Sook’s eyebrows flew up to dance among the tiles of the roof. “Your husband?”
Jung Sook had shared a little bit about the similar childhoods she and Bo A had experienced. But she had never mentioned her husband.
“I was married before Soo Ho.”
“You were?” Sam Sook responded, astonished.
The other woman bobbed her head. “Yes. When I was sixteen, my father married me off to a friend of his. He was…a brutal man.” She swallowed. “But that was not his only problem.”
Sam Sook frowned, furrowing her brow.
“And I was too young and inexperienced to realize that his problem was not my fault. He blamed me for it. And made me pay for it.”
“Jung Sook,” Sam Sook murmured softly, “I’m sorry, but I’m not following you.”
“He was impotent,” she finally explained explicitly.
Sam Sook gasped. “Oh.”
“And he thought that marrying a young bride would solve his problem. But it did not. So he took out his anger on my flesh. He punished me for his humiliation.”
Sam Sook closed her eyes. “Dear God. Jung Sook, I am so sorry!”
“I am telling you this because I trust you. And I want you to trust me.”
Sam Sook’s eyes fluttered open and met those of her friend. “You think I was abused,” she realized, understanding dawning. “But my husband was not like yours. He was very good to me. Very gentle with me.”
Jung Sook breathed a sigh of relief. “I am glad to hear it.” She paused. “If it wasn’t your husband, then who was it?”
“What?” Sam Sook’s gaze blurred a bit.
“Who hurt you?”
The young mother swallowed. “I…was…like…Se Ri,” she stated haltingly.
Jung Sook studied her countenance as she gazed off into the corner, her eyes no longer focusing on her current surroundings. Sam Sook was staring back at the past. At the face of a wicked man.
She shuddered suddenly.
“You mean that someone hurt you as a child.”
“Yes…not just someone…Moon Won’s father.”
Jung Sook gasped. “What?”
“That’s why I blame myself for what happened to Se Ri. His son gave me the same uneasy feeling. But I thought I was simply associating him with his father’s misdeeds. So I failed to protect her from him.”
“Oh, Sam Sook! Don’t walk down that path! You are a wonderful mother. And you are quite protective of your daughters! You did your best.”
“But it wasn’t enough. She still got hurt.”
“Yes. She did. But she knows how much you care for her. And anyone can see that you dote on your daughters and do your best to protect them.” She paused a moment. “Sam Sook. Do you realize that I didn’t have that?”
“What?” her friend glanced her way finally, her eyes focusing on the teacher’s face.
“My mother knew that my father beat me. And she never lifted a finger to stop him. She was too afraid of him herself to even try to protect me. At least, Se Ri has a mother who strives to protect her. You may have failed to protect her from every danger. But you tried.”
Sam Sook’s eyes clouded with grief for all her friend had suffered. “Oh, Jung Sook.” She had no more words. What could she possibly say to make Jung Sook feel better?
Nothing had ever made her feel better.
Jung Sook stood up and reached for the other woman’s hands. She squeezed them. “If you ever want to talk about anything that you endured, please know that I am here for you. And I won’t ever look down on you. Or treat you like you’re made of spun glass. I know that you are, in fact, quite resilient. And so is your daughter. She’s going to be all right.”
A sob suddenly broke loose. “I’m not sure,” Sam Sook admitted. “Will she? I still carry the echoes with me. How can she not?”
“I know you do. So do I. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t choose to be happy now. My first husband soured me on marriage. But then Soo Ho showed up in my life. And he fought for my attention. And he proved to me that not every man is evil. There are good men in this world, Sam Sook. And I happen to know one who adores you.”
Sam Sook sighed. “I know he does. But I…I can’t be with a man again.”
Confused, Jung Sook puckered her brow. “Why not? You said that your husband was good to you.”
“He was. But I never…enjoyed our physical relationship. He was kind. And gentle. He did his best not to hurt me. But because of what I experienced as a child, I could never relax. And I wasn’t attracted to him physically. He was forty years older than me!”
Jung Sook winced. “Yikes! I would have had a hard time with that much of an age difference too.”
“Don’t get me wrong. In many ways, he was an excellent husband. He treated me as an equal. He valued my opinions and thoughts. We had much in common. We were very good friends. I just…I don’t ever want to crawl into bed with another man. And Yeo Wool deserves someone who desires him as much as he desires her.”
Jung Sook studied her friend. Why did she have the feeling that Sam Sook was lying? Not to her so much. But to herself.
“You’re not attracted to Yeo Wool at all?”
Sam Sook withdrew her hands from the other woman’s grasp and turned away from her. “It’s too complicated,” was all she would say. Then she changed the subject. “I am hungry. Shall we have luncheon now? I imagine the girls are wondering where we are.”
Jung Sook sighed. She had tried to reach Sam Sook. But the woman had efficiently closed her out. It did appear that Yeo Wool was on his own. She wished him success. For his sake. And for Sam Sook’s.
