It was the year 1791, when King Jeongjo of Joseon was ruling. Through the night the scream of a women was heard, she lied on top of her cotton bed cushion that was placed on the floor of her chamber.

"Madam Jung, push a bit more...just a bit more," one of the towns nurse pleaded, as another was wiping off the sweats that dripped from her whole body as she pulled onto the rope that was tied onto the wooden bars that were set up to attach the ropes with. "Madam just a bit more..." Another pleaded as she switched for a new towel.

Sir Jung contemplated outside the doors,  wanting to be by his wife's side. He watched the moon and the stars that shined so bright. At last he finally heard the sound of a babys cry.

"Congratulation," he heard the doors sliding open as he quickly stood up from where he was sitting, "you're wife has done a good job, welcome your baby girl." She walked towards him as she handed the small baby to him, "Do you guys have a name for her?" The nurse asked.

"Jung Yong-Joo." He smiled, at the nurses before heading into the room where his wife was still lying down at, "Yeobo," he sat beside his wife who looked pale as she slowly opened her eyes, "look at our baby girl, isn't she lovely, isn't she beautiful. The name you loved so much Yong-joo, that's her name." He smiled at her.

"Let me hold my baby," she reached out her arms as she grabbed for her baby girl holding her tightly to her chest, "Jung Yong-joo..."

"Did you not like that name?" Her husband asked in confusion.

"I had a dream I called her Nicole..." Madam Jung smiled lightly looking at her husband, "and she answered back.."

"Nicole?" he asked her again with an confused expression as the nurses enter the room, "I've never heard of that name before."

"Jung Nicole Yong-Joo is her name..." Madam Jung looked at the three nurses then back at her husband, "And also in my dream, I saw a willow tree...craved into that willow tree was the name Nicole and the meaning was people of victory. It's silly but I wish to call her that."

"Jung Nicole Yong-Joo, is a beautiful name." He smiled at his wife.

"Madam it is time we clean you up now. Sir Jung if you don't mind to step outside." She bowed before Sir Jung as he quietly left the chamber. 

"People of victory..." he quietly whispered those words to himself, "people of victory..." he let out a small smile as he stared up at the moon.

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The flowers bloom, the sun rises and sets, the leafs sheds its old memories, the sky cries water and ice...

"Jung Nicole Yong-Joo?  Ah what a beautiful name you have." Madam Bang smiled at Nicole who was four at the time, "It's been awhile since I've seen you." She turned towards Madam Jung.

"Ye," Madame Jung bowed her head as the servants brought in the tea, "how's your little boy doing?" She asked, as Nicole sat between the two older ladies, with a polite gesture that her mother had taught her everyday.

"Bang Yongguk is doing fine...maybe him and Nicole ought to meet each other, he's only one year older than she is." She took a sip of her tea before smiling at Nicole who shyly lowered her head.

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"Jung Nicole Yong-Joo?" Bang Yongguk looked at his mother as he tugged onto her dark navy blue chima dress then looking at the little girl in her green hanbok with her hair braided down her back.

"Bang Yongguk-ah, be a good boy and introduce yourself." Madam Bang smiled at Yongguk as she lightly pushed him towards Madam Jung and Nicole.

"Hello, I'm pleased to meet you my name is Bang Yongguk." He bowed towards them before hiding behind his mothers back once again.

"We're pleased to meet you too." Madam Jung lightly bowed as a smile swept across her face, "Nicole show your respect." She gesture her hands for Nicole to move forward.

"It's nice to meet you too." She bowed lower than her mom since she was a lot younger than most of the people surrounding her.

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The wind of the town, the silence that does not hear me, must I keep walking in circles?

"Nicole-ah" Yongguk whispered loudly from the hilltop down towards her who was washing her clothes down by the river, "Nicole-ah..." He loudly whispered again this time catching her attention.

Nicole looked up to find Yongguk who was dressed nicely that day in his black baji pants with his golden po robe and his gat hat on. She wiped away the small sweat that had formed at the tip of her forehead with her pulled up sleeves. She wasn't wearing her regular hanbok dress today but a dull peasant echogorie grey jacket and a lose black baji pants she had taken from her father. Her braided hair was up in a bun as she stood up from where she had been squatting down finishing up the laundry she had been cleaning. She waved at him who made his way down the small stairs that would lead him to her.

"Yongguk-ah," she smiled at him, "what are you doing here?"

"I came to visit the beautiful Nicole Yong-Joo" He smiled at her as he stood beside her with both of his hands behind his back.

"Aren't you handsome today?" She giggled, "I've heard quite a lot about you noble Bang Yongguk." She leaned towards him.

"Aishhh, who hadn't heard about me?" He raised his left eyebrow as his gummy smile showed across his face.

"Enough already," Nicole lightly nudge Yongguk's right arm as she bent down to grab the basket filled with her chima dresses and jeogori tops.

"Why isn't your servant doing the laundry again?" Yongguk asked as he bent down to help Nicole lift the basket filled with wet clothes.

"I wore the clothes I should be cleaning it." Nicole gave him a light smile as the two stood up and began walking up the stairs towards the hilltop then back down another stairs to get to the main road.

"If I hadn't come how were you going to take your clothes home?" His deep low voice asked her.

"Then I would've spent the night at the river." Nicole giggled, "Thank goodness we're almost home."

When Nicole and Yongguk got to the front of the Jung's Resident, Nicole's servant came out with one of Nicole's silk hanbok. Nicole gestured for Yongguk to put the basket on the ground, as she grabbed her hanbok and quickly enter the yard of their house while Yongguk stayed outside. The servant took the wet clothes inside to hang them dry. Nicole quickly changed into her hanbok as she let down her bun hair. She grabbed the peasant clothes and put them in her dresser for the next time she was going to clean her clothes again by the river.

"Oh, Yongguk what brings you here today?" Madam Jung spotted Yongguk standing outside their home, she waited for him to bow before she did, "Are you looking for Nicole again?" She smiled as she walked towards him, "Come inside, don't stand there by the gates." Yongguk walked inside as he lowered his head, "Are you here for Nicole?"

"Ahh, yeeee..." He smiled, "I'm sorry to had come without sending one of my servants to speak of my arrival." He bowed once again, as he heard Nicole's giggle escaping out from her lips into his ears as he looked up to see her dressed up in her navy jeogori top and red chima blouse, with her braided hair down her back.

"Hello Bang Yongguk-ah," Nicole politely greeted Yongguk as she bowed towards him.

"Nicole why don't you take Yongguk inside for some tea." Madam Jung smiled leaving the two alone.

Nicole smiled with her pearly white teeths showing as her eyes also smiled. She then stuck out her tongue at Yongguk before leading him inside. Yongguk quickly grab onto Nicole's right elbow as he pulled her towards him.

"What?" She asked.

"You sure know how to put on a play don't you?" His gummy smile appeared once again, "Ahh, Nicole sure is the best."

"They seem so perfect for each other," Madam Jung said as she turned her attention away from Nicole and Yongguk who were still talking in the yard, "don't you think so yeobo?" She smiled as she poured the hot jasmine tea into her husband cup."

"She's at the age where she needs to find a husband." Sir Jung smiled back at his wife, "They'll be perfect together."

"So what do you think?" Madame Jung put down the cattle of tea beside her, "Should we arrange the marriage soon?"

"No, I want us to wait a bit longer...if he truly loves her he'll come ask for her hand."

"Yeobo," Madam Jung's expression changed as a worried look crossed her face, "Why wait...the two kids are fond of each other, they grew up together, they are both lovers at young."

"Like you said dear, they grew up together, they are fond of each other, they are lovers at young.  If he truly loves Nicole like you said he'll come ask me for her hand himself."

The moon was high up in the sky as the stars splattered around the night sky the clouds were surrounding the moon. Nicole and Yongguk sat up at the hilltop under the blue willow tree as they stared out towards the lake with the moons light reflecting back at itself.

"Nicole, guess what?" Yongguk asked Nicole who was sitting to his right.

"What?" She didn't take her eyes away from the sky.

"You're just like the moon," he smiled lightly while staring at the side view of her face.

"I'm like the moon?" She asked now tuning to look at Yongguk, "Then does that mean you're my star?" She smiled at him.

"No," he flatly replied now turning his attention towards the moon, "I'm like the clouds..."

"Why?"

"Because I'll always comfort you even when the stars don't...people say the stars are the lights that comforts the moon, but as I see it the moon is the light that comforts the stars...the clouds covers the moon when rain pours and snow falls."

"But isn't it the clouds fault that is why there is snow and rain?" Nicole asked in confusion to where Yongguk's story was leading her. 

"You're not getting it..." he let out a soft sigh as he turned his head so he could see Nicole, "My mother told me a story once when I was young..." His voice became softer as Nicole moved closer towards him, "it's about the sun and the moon."

"Weren't they lovers?" Nicole interrupted him once again.

"It was said so, but the story my mother told me was different. Long ago there was a beautiful girl by the name of Moon, she was so beautiful that everyone wanted her to be their bride, men after men came to ask for her hand but her father refused due to her request...one day a young peasant boy came by the house and begged the father to let his beautiful daughter to be  his wife. The father laughed at the peasant boy and refuse to let his daughter live under such harsh condition. The young girl who heard the young peasant boy pleading came out of her chamber and saw the young man herself. She asked him his name and he replied, my name is Cloud, she turned to her father and bowed before him, she agreed to marry the peasant boy. Her father outrage by her decision refused profoundly at his daughters request. She told her father no matter what she will be leaving that night. Her servant that had served her since young packed her belonging, that night before she left her father and mother cried deeply for they knew their only child will live such a harsh life with this peasant boy. When she enter her new home near the hilltop where the peasant boy lived with his mother and father she warmly greeted her new family. The house was small but she was able to live. The son of a noble man heard of this and became angry for he had also gone and asked for this young beautiful ladys hand to be turned down. On the full moon he would go up to the hilltop and snatch Moon to become his wife. Cloud had asked Moon on the full moon to why she had agreed to marry him though she  knew life would be tough. She smiled at her husband and said, because you had the courage to come ask for my hand I knew you'll have the courage to protect me like how you've been doing for the past months I've married you. When I'm cold you've given me warmth, when I'm hurt your tears are the ones that are falling...money and wealth doesn't mean anything. To this Cloud finally understood, that night when all was quiet Sun and a few of his men came by the house and broke in kidnapping Moon away as they burned down the house. She cried for her husband that was still inside, she was taken and became the wife of Sun...one day as Moon had fallen ill she told Sun, you'll always follow behind me, the clouds will be my protection...we'll never be together...for you've taken me from the only man I had loved..." Yongguk smiled at Nicole who seem sadden.

"She was taken away from the one person she loved against her own will." Nicole let out a small sigh, "How cruel."

"That is why the moon and sun are never together, my mother said when the eclipse happen it's because Sun is coming to steal Moon but the clouds will protect her for it is fate that Sun had messed with." Yongguk proudly stated, "So I'll be your clouds, when you cry I'll cry, when you're cold I'll wrap around you to warm you up...I'll comfort you."

"Yongguk..." Nicole smiled.

"Am I being to obvious?" He stood up, "Well let me send you back home before your parents become worry." Nicole stood up and the two headed down the stairs that would lead the two of them to the main road.

Once they were outside the Jung's Resident Yongguk watched as Nicole enter the house before heading back home. Nicole went straight towards her bedroom as she changed into her sleep wear. Nicole blew out the candle light as she lied down on her cotton mattress on the floor. She tossed and turned for awhile before closing her eyes and falling into a deep sleep.