Eric couldn’t sleep. Usually he was like a rock but tonight was different. He got up and rubbed his head. He then glanced at the side of the bed. It was empty, like it had been for the past thirty or so years of his life. Hadn’t Youngmin tried to help him with his love life? None of the girls he had been matched with had been his type. They were always so shallow, or money-hungry or both.

But then there was Eunsun. For a while he’d believed she was the right one. She was everything that normal women weren’t. Kind, shy, sweet, she’d stolen his heart without her even realizing.

Now she was with the king. The one man Eric would never betray even if it meant getting what he wanted. The only thing that soothed the aching deep inside knew that she was happy. And that’s what mattered to Eric more.

However, he was getting older and finding a wife would get harder. He knew what he wanted. Someone like her; someone who had that same gentle nature as she did. Maybe for once one of the members of his old vocal group would have someone in mind. It wouldn’t hurt to ask and he figured Hyesung would know females that fitted Eunsun’s type; if she could be fit into a stereotypical box.

He went for a walk down the hall to the kitchen to get something to eat. A woman was there sweeping.

“What are you doing awake?” He startled her and she dropped the broom.

“I’m sorry I just….” She bowed awkwardly. He stood there watching her. She was tall like Eunsun but had more of a triangle shape to her. Broad shoulders, a round jaw with small eyes. If her single lids had been less obvious and the ball of her nose lower down, then she would have been the splitting image of Han Ji-woo.

“Have I seen you before?” He asked, scratching his head.

“No I… Mostly clean at night,” she replied, hence the apron and the work clothes. “I work only on the weekends.” He nodded.

“I see,” he stopped he was feeling strange. “May I ask…? Your name?”

“H-Heo Min-Jung,” Eric smiled.

“A pretty name for a pretty woman,” in the dim lighting Eric could see her cheeks flush.

“So what do you do during the day?”

“I help madam Hyori,” Min-Jung replied, “I’m her new personal trainer starting this week.”

“Wow really?” Eric was impressed, “I was wondering why I hadn’t seen your face around.” She nodded.

“Well, in that case I better let you finish,” Eric said starting to leave, “make sure you get plenty of rest tonight.” Min-Jung nodded.

“Thank you,” Eric began to leave before his heart nearly leapt out his chest. He ignored the rising feelings and suddenly turned back.

“I know this is going to sound too much… We only just met but umm…” He stopped, his face starting to redden, “if you ever want to… You know have dinner or something…” He lifted his head to see her reaction. From the expression on her face he could tell she seemed to like this.

“I… I’ll leave a note at your office or something… It’s near the king’s isn’t it?” Eric couldn’t believe his luck.

“That’s great,” he smiled, “I’ll wait to hear from you.” With that he slowly left again. When he was out of her sight he punched the air with triumph.

***

Eunsun couldn’t sleep either. She woke facing the ceiling, being careful as to not move too much she raised herself up to sit in the bed. Her hair fell over her face. She turned to her husband who was asleep next to her; even while resting he looked handsome. Her face drew into a smile, but it was an expression which also hid insecurity. She had this bad feeling still, and nothing would alleviate it nor help her know what to do about it. In the end she carefully slipped out of bed, changed into a pair of track pants, an oversized jersey and her purple sheepskin boots.

The garden was busy for once. The wind was whipping around the flowers causing creasing and rustles. The fish in the pond with the waterfall were restless too. Eunsun had to hug herself, it was cooler than she realized.

“Your majesty,” a guard accidentally startled her, “f-forgive me.” He bowed to her in apology.

“It’s alright,” she assured him, “you have done me no harm. You just want to look out for me. I understand.” The guard was alerted by someone talking through the ear piece.

“Yes she’s with me; we’re at location Chayune Lake.” Eunsun stopped, the name of the place alarming her. “D-did you say this was Chayune Lake?” The guard nodded, looking puzzled.

“Yes, this place was built for her previous majesty Queen Chayune.” Eunsun turned to the lake, watching the fish rise to the surface to blow bubbles before lowering back down into the depths.

“I see,” she had to brush it off. Otherwise she was going to be paranoid and that was the last thing a queen should be.

***

The rest of that month proved to be stressful. News from the northern towns and cities reported of outbreaks of violence amongst the people. Out of each town around five hundred to a thousand people were abducted or kidnapped. Unfortunately the result of these outbursts caused there to be at least four cases of manslaughter.

The political parties of the South argued that it was the soldiers from the North who were kidnapping these people while others claimed it to be those in union with the North. The Russians, the Chinese for example. Donggun had nothing to say on either of these matters, his statement to the people was only one sentence, “We will do our best to maintain order.”  The A.R.S made no statement though there was nothing yet to prove that they were involved. Also nobody seemed to recognize the growing numbers in the federal prisons.

Youngmin was stressed as ever. Hodong could see how much it hurt Eunsun to watch him suffer from stress, the constant questioning and the tiresome debates at parliament. For a monarchy not many of the ministers and chairs of house really did not respect him or show that they did.

Boring end part; we needed to get into some information and have the actual raids start.  On another note, yay we have a possible love interest for Eric. It was going to be his assistant but well… I sort of forgot about her, whoops. Hope we like Min-Jung though. I will update again later this week, the next chapter shall be more action packed. The name of this chapter came from the Song before the song by Miley no morals (sorry) Cyrus and Nick dating Delta (whoops) Jonas