Dec 9, 2013

Seul-ki looked up and glared at him and without any word, she freed herself from Sunggyu and turned the other way, with her bottom lips jutting out and her face burning. She sniffed and pulled up the blanket that was covering only her legs up to .

"Yah, I was only joking... Lee Seul-ki?" Sunggyu poked her back and she jumped and turned her head to give him another glare. "It wasn't me asking! It was the ginseng! Um! Ginseng!"

"How can ginseng talks..." She mumbled.

"Of course ginseng can talk! Don't you know that in the past, ginsengs are all human beings but they were cursed because they were so so stingy to share their knowledge in medical fields and so this old grandma whose grandson was sick cursed them after they refused to treat her grandson?" He said, and it certainly attracts Seul-ki's attention when she turned over to look at him again, so he went on. "The grandma then cursed them that they became ginsengs and stay in the ground and to compensate their sins, they will have to act as a cure to people from then on."

"For how long?" She asked, with her eyes widened.

"Thousands and thousands of years!" He replied, putting up a rather smug face. "And so, sometimes people can hear ginsengs talk since they were once human."

"Wah..." She blinked rapidly and bit her thumb, digesting Sunggyu's words. "I wonder how long will they have to serve human before they can turn into human... Does Sunggyu-sshi think that if they are finally freed from the curse, then, no more ginsengs will exist?"

"Eh?" He laughed nervously and scratched his cheek. "Well, probably it will take another thousand of years before the spell is broken. Don't worry, we won't run out of ginseng supply."

"I'm not worried." She said, bluntly. "It'd be better if there is no ginseng since it makes Sunggyu-sshi... Weird." She looked at Sunggyu, distastefully and her ears went red and it made Sunggyu laughed a little.

"Ginsengs are good." He said, and added under his breath, "especially for man."

"Huh?"

"Nothing!" He laughed again and it earned him a sceptical look from her.

"But why does ginseng want to know if I'm wearing a bra or not?"

"Well..." Sunggyu cleared his throat repeatedly and not knowing what to reply, he pulled her onto him and she was squirming and making noises for him to let her go. When she was still, he patted her back, softly. "It was just ginseng asking in my stance."

"That is so yucky."

"Yah!"

She giggled softly and after much consideration, she spread out her arm to embrace him and buried her face into his chest. Sunggyu watched questioningly but he said nothing, smiling. He then went on patting her back, and slowly, they fell asleep, and woke up the next day with Seul-ki's head still on his chest and his arm wrapping her from behind, when they heard Sunggyu's alarm went off.

"Good morning..." She croaked, and rubbed her eyes, while sitting up.

"Morning." Sunggyu replied, beaming and dismissed his alarm. "Did you sleep well?"

"Um..." She yawned and looked around, studying the place; the fire was still burning and streaks of sunlight could be seen from some places, and dust were flying through the rays. Suddenly, Sunggyu threw his jacket to her face, which totally surprised her and made her a little angry.

"Put that on!" He said, and got up and then he was putting his own shirt and fixed his hair, looking the other way.

"What..." She complained and looked down herself and was in horror when she saw how her gown was see-through. Her face was burning while she put the jacket around her, glad that it covered down to her bum.

"Aish." Sunggyu began and opened the door, welcoming the cool morning breeze. He stood motionless for a while, trying to clear away his embarrassment, and felt as Seul-ki was approaching him. He gulped and sat down on the porch, crossing his arms. Seul-ki sat down as well, leaving some space between them, and her face was red. "Where are those people..." He muttered, clenching his jaw and he was jumpy and he couldn't stand still, not until Seul-ki started sneezing. "Are you okay?"

"Um. It's just cold."

"You should go wait inside then." He said, but Seul-ki didn't reply him as she looked up to see the trees and was hanging as she admired them. "Lee Seul-"

"It's so nice..." She said, and a smile spread over her face. "Sunggyu-sshi!"

"Y-yes?"

"Lend me your phone!"

"What for? Where is your phone?"

"They made me left it at the main house. I want to take pictures!" She said, excitedly.

"Of what?"

"The forest! It's so nice!" Sunggyu, making a face, handed his phone over to her but once she got it, she held it back to him. He looked at her questioningly. "There's a pin."

"Ah." He considered taking it back but looking at her pale face, he cleared his throat. "9095."

"Eh?"

"That's the pin."

"Why 9095?" She asked, curious. "That's-"

"TVXQ's song. Yeah, I know." He said, smirking a little.

"Is Sunggyu-sshi becoming TVXQ's fanboy?" She asked.

"No way!" He retorted. "I just thought that it's a nice number, that's all!"

"Ehhhhhhhh." She smiled, widely and tested the pin he gave. When it worked, she beamed more brightly and began taking pictures. "But how does Sunggyu-sshi know that song?"

"You mentioned it before." He said, looking away.

"Did I?" She tilted her head and took a picture of the sky in between the trees. "That's actually my favourite number."

"I know."

"You know?" She turned to look at Sunggyu but he gave her no explanation but took away his phone and put it in front of their faces.

"Let's take a picture." He said, with a rather serious face that Seul-ki thought it was ridiculous.

"But my face looks ugly and puffy."

"Yah, how could you say that?" He said, not looking at her, but at the frame on his phone. "That's the face I'd be waking up next to for the rest of my life. How could it be ugly?"

Seul-ki felt it, how her heart was becoming 'flowery' and fluttering and her cheeks turn rosy as she turned her gaze to look at his side profile. Without her knowing it, Sunggyu snapped a picture but complained loudly that Seul-ki wasn't looking at the camera.

"Come on, here we go again!" He said, loudly, to hide his nervousness and he smiled when he saw Seul-ki smiling widely at the camera and feeling his own heart fluttering, he snapped their first selca together.

Back at the main house, Sunggyu was complaining endlessly to his halmeoni, about how irrelevant the whole plan was, and how it was dangerous to put them in such place, with the probability that wild animals like boars and bears might be lurking. He kept on ranting away, and his halmeoni was only making a bored face, listening to him.

"So did you do it?" She asked, so suddenly and Sunggyu couldn't be anymore thankful that Seul-ki wasn't there.

"Halmeoni, how could you ask that?!"

"I set up the most perfect situation for you to seek each other! It worked for your father!" She said, proudly.

"Then I guess I was made in that very house?" He asked, clearly vexed and annoyed and found that the whole thing was ridiculous. "Halmeoni." He sighed. "I know what I'm doing. But we're not ready for this. Seul-ki isn't ready. She's just too... innocent for me to just jump at her. I will let her take her time and when she's ready, then..."

"Is that really the reason?" Halmeoni asked, sceptical. "Your wife is almost 20, she is an adult, a woman. And she bears the responsibility of carrying your child. Why would she want to take her time?"

"Halmeoni!" Sunggyu raised his voice a little but regretted it when he saw his grandma glaring at him. "She's my wife. I will treat her in my own way." He bowed and got up, walking up to the door.

"Just remember, Kim Sunggyu." Halmeoni began, with a stern voice. "If your wife isn't even willing to give herself up to you, then, you should better be aware of the real reason behind it."

"What real reason?"

"Who knows." She said, laughing a little, and it made Sunggyu freaked out a bit. "When two people are arranged to get married, who knows what kind of past they will bring into their marriage. Other... people, perhaps."

Sunggyu felt himself taking a deep breath when he turned to face her. "As far as I know, it's my past that is causing problems in our marriage. The problem isn't with Seul-ki. It's me."

He stormed out of the room, with a tight face, feeling really angry that Halmeoni had just said such thing about his wife. He couldn't believe his own ears, hearing her saying that Seul-ki might have other reasons to not let him touch her. He reflected on the previous night event, and it was clear that Seul-ki had no problem in even throwing herself at him, although she was in the end, too scared to proceed. He decided to just dismiss the thought, reminding himself that his Halmeoni had always been that crazy and went to Seul-ki's room to find her moping around by herself. Her eyes brightened up when she saw him and his heart immediately felt as ease.

He thought that there was no way that Seul-ki would reject him because of... other man.

"We're leaving." He said, when she stood up.

"Aren't we going to say goodbye to Halmeoni first?"

"I already did so." He said, and picked up their bags, avoiding her gaze. Seul-ki approached him and looked at him, with the usual quiet stare she was always making. "What?"

"Nothing." She said, and looked awa