Seeing Mina's ashen face, Kenji turned to Jeongyeon. "I believe my daughter is tired. I am going to take her to the hotel."

"May I call on her tonight?" Jeongyeon asked.

Kenji pulled Mina protectively to him, his eyes holding a warning. "It depends on what you have to say to her." he said lowering his voice. "She's been through enough."

Jeongyeon smiled at Mina. "I believe she and I have a wedding to plan, don't we, Mina?"

"Do you?" Kenji asked in a deep tone that would have intimidated most.

But Jeongyeon seemed to lost in a pair of brown eyes. "Yes. We most definitely do," Jeongyeon answered. "And my parents have asked if you would all attend a luncheon they are giving tomorrow."

Sachi glanced at Mina. "Are you too weary for visitors tonight?"

Mina nodded her head. "I am weary, Jeongyeon. Perhaps we could talk tomorrow."

"Then we will say good night," Kenji said, leading his wife and daughter out of the building.

Mina leaned her head on her father's shoulder. She couldn't think straight. She had realized tonight that if she married Jeongyeon, she would destroy Chaeyoung, and she wasn't willing to do that.

Jeongyeon found Chaeyoung standing in the shadows of the porch and clapped her on the back. "I am perfectly content that everything will end well for Mina and myself. I owed it all to you."

Chaeyoung swirled whiskey around in her glass, her eyes boring into Jeongyeon. "Did you settle the part about having a doctor examine her?"

"That was all my mother's idea, and on thinking about it, I'm not willing to demand such a thing of Mina."

"A wise decision," Chaeyoung replied, her hand tightening on the whiskey glass.

Mina was dressed only in her nightgown and robe when someone knocked at her door. She expected it to be either her mom or dad, so when she opened the door and found Jeongyeon there, she was shocked. "I thought we agreed to talk tomorrow?"

Jeongyeon stepped around her and glanced around the room, looking for Kenji or Sachi, and was relieved that they were alone. She smiled, taking her hand and raising it to her lips. "We have a lot to discuss, my sweet."

"You shouldn't be here, Jeongyeon. My father won't like it when he finds out about it."

"There's nothing wrong with my being here. I'm going to be your wife. And soon your father will have nothing to say about what we do."

Mina decided this was as good a time as any to tell her what was on her mind. "I don't think we are suited for each other, Jeongyeon. I'm begging you to leave now."

"We're suited, all right. Any doubts I might have had disappeared the moment I saw you tonight. "In a quick motion Jeongyeon drew Mina into her arms. "I want to sample some of what will soon belong to me."

Mina smelled the liquor on her breath and froze in fear. This was not the Jeongyeon she had known and trusted. Her arms tightened around Mina, and the lass tried to wedge her arm between them. "Let me go!" the lass said, pushing at Jeongyeon. She reminded her of Eugene, and terror curled inside her. Major Yoo lips were wet when she pressed them against the lass. Her hands went up to cup Mina's s, and the lass cringed inside.

"I don't know you," she said, turning her face away from her. Jeongyeon's eyes were glazed with passion, and her breathing was heavy--the Japanese lass knew why Jeongyeon had come here, and it wasn't to talk.

Mina managed to push the officer away. "Please don't do this."

"You are mine. You belong to me."

Jeongyeon reached for Mina, but the lass managed to dodge out of her way. "You are drunk!" Mina felt sick inside--the back of burned from the bile that rose there. "And I'm not yours. I could never marry a person who treated me the way you have."

Jeongyeon shook her head as if to clear it. "I was sitting at a table drinking straight whiskey, and I knew what I had to do."

Mina moved a safe distance from the other girl. "What?"

"It's very simple. I'll take you to bed and find out for myself if you've been ruined. If they got to you, Mina, you will lose nothing by letting me make love to you."

Sudden tears stung Mina's eyes, and she clasped her hand over . "You have a very low opinion of me, Jeongyeon, if you believe I'd let you touch me. Get out and leave me alone!"

"I'll have you now, or I won't marry you at all."

Obviously the Major was past reasoning. "My parents just in the next room," she warned her, "and if I call out to them, they'll hear me. If you don't leave now you'll have to face my father, and believe me, you don't want to have him mad at you."

"You don't understand. It's eating me up inside thinking someone else had you before me. You're not the innocent I wanted to marry."

"And you are not the person I thought you were." Mina moved to the door and opened it. "Leave--now!"

"Mina, I want to recapture the love we found. Everything has gone wrong, but I'll make it right." She reached out her hand and touch Mina's hair. "You're like a well-bred filly and need to be handled gently. The only thing that would spoil it for us is if the Hong brothers sullied you."

Mina opened the door wider as she prepared to tell the first untruth of her life. "Then you are going to need to hear what I have to say if you feel that way."

Jeongyeon was beginning to sober, to see the results of her actions. There was fear reflected on Mina's face. She loved Mina--didn't she know that? "Your father told you I wanted you examined by a doctor, didn't he? That's what we'll do. You will do that for me, won't you, Mina?

"I'll never submit to such an indignity."

Jeongyeon drew near Mina and turned her slowly to face her. "I see now that all this has upset you. I was wrong to come here tonight, and I'm so sorry. Say you'll forgive me."

"You have every right to know what happened to me while I was with the Hong brothers, Jeongyeon. What would you do if you knew for certain that they me?"

The other girl swallowed several times. "I love you. We would work it out somehow."

"How do you work out something like that? Would you resent me later on because I was violated by them?"

"I want you for my wife, Mina."

"Would you resent me later on?" she asked again, looking into the other girl eyes to glean the truth.

"I had always thought the woman I married would come to me pure," she answered honestly. "I don't want you touched by any other men."

Mina remembered Chaeyoung telling her that if the woman she loved had been treated badly, she would only love her more. "You would feel that way even though the situation was none of my doing, Jeongyeon?"

Jeongyeon felt crushing pain. "The way you are talking, Mina, makes me think those bastards did you."

Mina ducked her head. "I will say only that I am not untouched, Jeongyeon. Don't ask me anything more. I will not speak of it to you ever."

Jeongyeon lowered her head. "What if you . . . if you were to have a baby?"

"What if I did?"

Jeongyeon shook her head. "This is more than I can live with, Mina. I love you, but I can't give my name to you. I don't think I could make love to you without thinking of another man touching you."

"That is the way I thought you would feel. I release you from your promise, Jeongyeon. You can say anything you want to save face with the other officers. I will remain silent on the matter."

"No one will ever hear about this from me, Mina." The major staggered past Mina and stood in the hallway.

Jeongyeon didn't love her with the unselfish love she wanted from the person she married. "I think this is goodbye for us, Jeongyeon."

She clasped her head between her hands. "When I saw you tonight, I remembered how much I loved you. I wanted you to be beside me the rest of my life. But I can't accept this, Mina. Try to understan