“So are you going to tell us what brings you two to our neck of the woods?” Jae Hyun and Seung Hyun were riding side by side with Cadella in the middle as they ventured up the mountainside. Ha-Kyung had ridden ahead of them in a rush to bring this time to an end quickly.

“Or more importantly why you interrupted our busy schedule's…” Questioned SeungHyun as he rode his horse with a stern expression.

“Well, Ha-Kyung surprised me by bringing me here. I didn’t realize we were even in Japan until I saw the sign at the front entrance and talked with the lady who greeted us.” Cadella looked to Jae-Hyun and took in his image a bit. He had a strong build like his brother but a playful spirit of a younger brother. “and while he was changing I just went in his phone found a Japanese number and invited you guys because I want to meet more of Ha-Kyung’s friends since there’s a lot I don’t know about him yet and I was hoping you could fill in some of those blank spaces?”

“Well we haven’t seen him in years, and I have talked to him in several months so I’m not sure we can be the greatest help.” JaeHyun adjusted removed his watch from his wrist putting it in his pocket and undoing the top button of his shirt. 

“Nonsense.” I looked at the path ahead of us and saw how steep it would become and was grateful we were on a horse rather than on foot. “The only memories I have of Ha-Kyung are when I woke up an engagement ring on my finger. I’m sure you can tell me more about than what I’ve experienced so far.”

Jae-Hyun and Seung-Hyun looked between each other communicating all that needed to be said without a single word. “Well, Ha-Kyung didn’t want us to tell you this...” Jae Hyun started to say.

“Jae-Hyun” Seung Hyun cut in.

“No Hyung, she needs to know.”

 Focusing her attention back on the discussion Cadella stopped looking ahead and looked between the two brothers confused. “Know what?”

“Well, when you woke up...”

“Yeah.”

“Choi Jae-Hyun!” Seung hyun spoke again.

“Ha-Kyung didn’t tell you everything.” As Jae Hyun continued more, his brother warning seemed to be falling on deaf ears

“Please tell me...” Cadella became more and more curious to know what Jae Hyun was referring to, and what Seung Hyun wanted to keep away from her. Seung-Hyun looked at Jae-Hyun doubtfully. “Is it cancer?” Cadella questioned.

“What?” 

“Is he about to be poor?”

“No”

“Does he have a secret family in another country?”

“Ani Ani Ani Don’t keep guessing because well be doing this all day.” Jae Hyun smiled internally at the innocence of her questions 

“I’m stronger than people think so please tell me.”

“Ha-Kyung isn’t your fiance...”

“He’s not?”

“He’s your husband.”
Cadella held her reigns in her hands and lowered them. “Oh.” she looked at the back of the horse she was riding as she paused for a second to figure out what that meant exactly. 

“I’m not sure for how long because like I said we haven’t been particularly close lately but I just wanted to let you know.”

“I don’t understand why wouldn't he just have told me in the beginning?”

“He didn’t know how much you would remember and he didn’t want to pressure you.”

“Really?”

Cadella saw  Ha-Kyung on his horse as he was sitting and waiting ahead of them. Jae-Hyun looked over at Seung-Hyun who was smiling devilishly to his brother. While she faced against him Jae-Hyun held up a thumbs up in response although on the inside he felt guilty. He hadn’t know Cadella very long and he felt bad for taking advantage of gullibility. She held genuine concern for Ha-Kyung who held none of those feelings for her. 

“Do you think he really loves me?” Cadella questioned. Jae-Hyun looked at Cadella and her eyes were so dark that he couldn't bring himself to lie to her again and tried to find a loophole but no words seemed to come out. “I know what your thinking. ‘Shouldn’t I be asking him that?’ but he’s just a hard person to read and I don’t want to misinterpret. I mean there’s no guarantee that I’ll love him as I did before my accident, let alone that I love him at all. I just don’t want to disappoint him, ya know?”

“Seems like he was right about not telling you about the whole husband thing.”

“Uh, you’re right!” 

“What took you all so long? I know you haven’t ridden in a while but good lord!”

“Well, we were just talking about all your secrets and crazy things you've done that you're too embarrassed to tell her yourself.” Seung Hyun who had been silent majority for the ride up suddenly chimed in 

“Please. Embarrassing myself is not in my nature.” Ha-Kyung stood beside his horse adjusting his suspenders on his outfit. 

“Yeah and if you did maybe you wouldn't be so grumpy all the time.” Cadella blew a raspberry as she made a face in his direction.

“Speaking of time.” Seung-Hyun quickly interjected while looking at his watch. he hadn’t changed anything about his outfit since he had arrived and still managed to look cool. Meanwhile, cadella felt if they kept on riding eventually Jae-Hyun would have taken off his shirt or something. “We actually have to get going. We have a meeting in the city to get to.” 

“...and meeting you Mrs. Beyonce has been nothing short of a pleasure if I do say so myself.” Jae-Hyun hopped off his horse and made his way towards cadella’s horse.  He took her hands and kissed the knuckles of each as he looked up at her. 

“At least somebody likes me being around,” cadella said smiling at him.

Seung-Hyun cleared his throat and bowed silently to Cadella and Ha-Kyung as he pulled his horse in the opposite direction. Cadella watched Jae Hyun climb his horse and quickly follow after his brother riding back the path that they had just taken. It wasn’t until Cadella realized she was starring that she felt a pair of eyes burning into her. 

“I like your friends,” Cadella said sweetly smiling back at him. “Especially Jae-Hyun, he is absolutely adorable.”

“He’s immature for his age.”Ha-Kyung climbed back on his horse and started to trot onward. 

“Immature or not he’s easy to talk to.”

“He talks too much.”

“Well, his talkativeness worked in your favor on our little ride just now so you should be thanking him if anything.” Ha-Kyung looked at Cadella as she held a silly smile on her face as if she were in a K-drama, and shook his head in disappointment. “Did you ride horses when you were younger?”

“Obviously. My family is quite wealthy if you haven’t been able to tell thus far.” Ha-Kyung didn’t realize how snarky he sounded when he said that and started to correct himself but was interrupted by her response instead. 

“Does your mom do the same thing as your dad, like is that how they met then?” 

Ha-Kyung paused before he responded and tried to answer through gritted teeth. “No, not anymore.” 

“I haven’t met her yet, was she traveling the day I met your father?”

“No.”

“Did she not want to meet me?”

“No” Ha-Kyung exhaled deeply before answering her. “She’s dead.”

“Mianhae.” Ha-Kyung prepared himself for yet another question but his response to her last seemed to have caught her off guard as she looked saddened but only for a second. 

“We should get back as storm is coming and we shouldn’t be up here when it comes.” ha-Kyung’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket and before even looking he nodded for cadella to go ahead of him a little to speak in private. “you can go ahead first I have to take this.” Ha-kyung took out his phone only to see that his important call was just a casual call.

    “Yoboseyo?”
“Yeah, Jae-Hyun told her that she’s already married to you. He figured it’d help. She doesn't know that you know about it so maybe use it your advantage sometimes.” Ha-Kyung heard Seung Hyun's words and liked what he was being told.
    “...”
    “And for goodness sake be just a little less of a sassy to her!” Ha-Kyung pulled the phone from his ear hearing Jae-Hyun shout distantly through the phone. Ha-Jyung looked down the path as she and her horse became smaller and smaller. 
“...”
“We’ll take your silence as a thank you. Call us next time we’re in Seoul and I’ll let you if I hear anything else about that cobras.” Ha-Kyung grunted and hung the phone up as he had lost sight of Cadella and the storm was moving faster in then he had thought.  

Cadella was galloping quickly up the mountainside thinking about what Ha-Kyung had just told her. She not fully paying attention to her body she didn’t realize how quickly the horse was picking up pace. She looked behind her and saw Ha-Kyung slowly approaching from behind her. Cadella saw a mass of dark clouds as the horse galloped higher and higher up the mountain. Cadella looked over her shoulder and Ha-Kyung’s horse was becoming smaller and smaller in the distance.“Ha-Kyung!”
Cadella looked turned around as the horse suddenly cut a sharp turn continuing up the path. Cadella remembered the lady telling her that to make a horse go faster you hit its side with the heels of your feet, however, she missed the part about how to make it stop. Cadella tried to not touch its sides with her feet but with the force that it was running, she couldn’t help it. “Hajima!”
“The horse was gaining more and more speed and Cadella wasn’t sure what to do at this point. Cadella could see the forest getting thicker and thicker ahead as it was getting harder to see through the surrounding trees. She leaned forward and let go of the reign wrapping her arms around the base of its neck as she closed her eyes.
“...Cadella...” Cadella heard her name in in the distance as she clung to the horse as best as she could. 

“Cadella!”

Cadella started to open her eyes but the wind of the storm and speed of the horse uphill was making her eyes water and her vision blurry. 

“Cadella!!” Ha-Kyung shouted again for the girl and her horse again but she wasn’t answering. ‘Damn that horse is fast!” Ha-Kyung sped his horse up faster to catch up with her, at least he still had his eyes on her. 

You can barely keep this girl under control and in your reach do you really think you’ll be able to finish what you set out to do?

This is not out of control
You have a handle on everything, just as much as you daddy loves you… Oh, wait...he doesn’t!
Shut up
You haven’t even been able to bed her yet, let alone have an heir for your father
Shut up
You’ve disappointed everyone you’ve ever cared about so why not quit while we’re ahead
No
Let her disappear at least some of the blame won't fall on you
I have failed in many things but not this. Not this time.
You know why he made you that offer…
Shut up
...because he needs an heir to his empire…
Shut up
...and heir he can be proud of…
Shut up
… an heir that he can finally be proud of and make up for the areas you could never full fill…
Shut up
...he can never take pride in something like you…

Ha-Kyung saw the skylight with a flash of lightning and waited for the sound of the thunder to quickly follow. He was finally close enough to Cadella holding gon to her horse. “Cadella!”

At the sound of the thunder, the horse had had enough and kicked itself onto its hind legs. Cadella was thrown off the back of the horse. You would have heard how hard she fell but the sound of the heavy and sudden rain drowned it out. Once the horse was back on all four’s it took off down the remainder of the trail dragging its reigns and saddle. 

Cadella held her head between her hands, with her eyes closed tightly trying to silence the ringing in her ears. She felt cold everywhere. She couldn’t tell if it was from the heavy downpour of rain, or from the muddy dirt path she was laying in. Cadella could feel the ground thump under her body.

“Cadella! Kwenchana? (Are you okay?)” Ha-Kyung knelt over her as she was curled up on the ground. Ha-Kyung turned her body towards him and was relieved to see that she was muddy and conscious but looked like she were in pain. “Kwenchanayo?” Cadella just kept trying to open her eyes through the rain without saying anything in return. Ha-Kyung picked Cadella up and placed her on the back of his horse and propped her against its neck so he could climb and ride behind her.

Cadella couldn’t understand what Ha-Kyung had been saying to her because the ringing sound was still there. She was still trying to balance herself on the horse when she felt Ha-Kyung sitting behind her. He pulled her body against his chest and held pressed her body against his with one hand while his other held the reigns as they rode back to what she hoped was someplace warm.

Ha-Kyung’s inner demons quieted as they rode back to the ranch. At first, he held Cadella’s body against his body then she started to relax as her head rested between his shoulder and next loosely. Ha-Kyung worried that she might pass-out but the rain on her face kept her awake, which he was growing more and more fortunate for as the ranch came into sight.