Eun’s diary

The old lady’s son came over last night – well, this morning to be more precise. Stupid, he sure took a long time finding us. My wife had trouble accepting it all, I suppose I can’t blame her for that, I’m glad she didn’t get hurt. On the bright side, it’s clear that she has fully recovered, seeing how fast she moved around while fighting with him. Seeing her fight, radiating that charisma which can only be seen when she kicks someone’s , really made my heart stop. How can she look so dashing like that? The way she fought was like a dance, a beatiful dance with the sword, her steps were graceful yet fast, and her force was impactful yet so very silent – and her balance was perfect.

Believe it or not, she’s still sleeping now. It’s almost noon and she’s still sleeping! Unbelievable! Maybe I should wake her up or something, I’m starving – I haven’t had breakfast yet. Is that what it’s like? Waiting for someone to wake up so you can have breakfast? Is that why Soondeok hates it when I sleep in? 

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(Eun goes to the bed to wake Soondeok up)

‘S…Soondeok ah~’

(Eun pats her on the shoulder)

‘Deok ah~’

‘Mmm…’

(Soondeok turns the other way and continues sleeping)

‘Wife…honey…wake up~ It’s almost noon…’

(Silence. Eun smiles at his wife.)

‘Honey. Wake up~ Darling wake up~ Wake up~~~~’

(Soondeok mumbles)

‘Just…5 more minutes…’

‘Hey, that’s my line!’

(Soondeok moans as she wiggles away from Eun. Eun gets into the blanket and lies close to his wife, his chest touching her back.)

‘How can your back look this pretty, hm? Deok ah, answer me.’

(He smooths her hair with his fingers and runs them down her arm as he whispers to her ears)

‘Deok ah, wake up. It’s almost noon. You don’t want to keep your husband waiting, right?’

(Silence. Eun starts to get naughty.)

‘Well Park Soondeok, you’re the one who made me do this.’

(Eun softly kisses her on the neck, trying to wake her up)

‘Deok ah, wake up~’

‘Umm…stop it…’

‘I’ll kiss you on the cheeks now if you don’t wake up.’

‘Stop…just let me sleep…’

(Eun climbs over, gets into position and starts doing push-ups, kissing his wife everytime he gets down)

‘One – muah~ Two – muah~ Three – muah~ Four – muah~’

‘Oppang…’

‘Five – muah~’

(Soondeok starts giggling, Eun speeds up)

‘Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Te-’

(Upon Eun’s 10^th peck, Soondeok wraps her arms around his neck and keeps him down while locking her lips with his)

‘MMM!!!’

‘Ten. Good morning, Oppa.’

(Soondeok slowly opens her eyes, those eyelids seem extremely heavy this morning. Eun blinks fast at this unexpected morning surprise)

‘Did you sleep well honey?’

‘I…I suppose so. That is, before someone woke me up.’

‘Ya, aren’t you being too much? It’s almost noon! If I don’t wake you up now, heaven knows how long you’ll sleep! It’s not like you’re a bear that hibernates, and it’s summer now as a matter of fact.’

(Soondeok grins as she looks up at her husband)

‘Well I’m glad the first thing I see when I open my eyes is this handsome gentleman right here.’

(Eun seems flattered)

‘I…hmm…well, you’re not wrong…I do look pretty handsome today.’

‘But Oppa…’

‘Hm? What is it darling? Ah, are you going to ask about the picnic? Don’t worry, I’ve got everything well prepared! We’ll finish our breakfast…wait, at this hour…we’ll finish our lunch, yes lunch, then we’ll go to the temple. After that we can have a light picnic during tea time, how’s that?’

‘That sounds great, Oppa. But I was going to ask-’

‘Ah, and don’t worry, I won’t punish the maid from last night, though I wanted to this morning when I saw her in the kitchen. You know what crazy thing she did to me this morning? She almost dropped an entire bowel of flour on my feet! Glad I jumped backward fast enough – she’s got some serious issues, no? But anyway, all I did was talk to the housekeeper about it, I won’t fire her, not yet I won’t. And-’

‘Oppa!’

‘Oh, sorry. What is it darling?’

‘I wasn’t going to ask you that.’

‘Then…what did you want to ask me?’

‘I was going to ask you…when do you plan to get off of me…’

‘What?’

(Eun looks around and realizes that he’s still on top of his wife, he felt too comfortable that he’d hardly noticed)

‘Oh dear! Sorry! Up I go! Darling, are you hurt? So sorry about that, I didn’t realize – I was just so excited…’

(Soondeok laughs as she sits up)

‘I’m fine, Oppa. It was just…awkward…that’s all. Well, now we’ve had our morning kiss, let’s have lunch.’

(As Soondeok’s about to get out of bed, Eun pulls her back in)

‘What? I thought you said you’re hungry, Oppa.’

‘You said we had our morning kiss.’

‘Yes…didn’t we?’

‘That wasn’t a kiss, it was a peck on the lips.’

‘Same thing.’

‘No it’s not! A peck is just touching, like…you know what I mean.’

‘S…sorry then, for getting it wrong, my dear husband.’

‘Don’t you dare mix up those two things again, understand? It’s not like you don’t know how a kiss is 100 times way better than a simple peck…’

‘I’ll try.’

‘You know what? I should give you a proper lesson. This is what you call a kiss.’

(Eun kisses her before she can make any move. He starts with her upper lip, slowly first then faster, deeper, longer, carefully moving down to bring the bottom lip into the dance as well. His hands keep her head still while he digs into her, not stopping until she responds the way he likes. Soondeok can hardly breathe so she’s gasping for air, but as she opens bit by bit, it slowly synced with Eun’s moves – that’s when she starts to get the hang of it, returning the kiss Eun’s been longing for. Rusty skills, but Eun’s got to give her credit for trying.)

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Soondeok’s diary

Something happened last night, someone visited us. Well, visit is hardly the correct word, more like, almost killed us. A small screeching sound woke me up in the middle of the night and immediately I reached out for the sword at the end of the bed as I jumped out. We had a fierce fight, it was close to dawn and the sky’s starting to light up. At last Eun lighted a candle and I finally got to see the face of that person – whose sword skills weren’t too bad. At first I thought I had seen wrong, he looks like Bogum, very very much like him, had he not spoken I would’ve been sure that was the Bogum I know. Turned out, he was finding his mother, and his mother is that old lady whom I have saved and is somewhere safe with the girl called Mi-ah now. So after knowing who he was, we told him where he could find his mother, I should be thankful Prince Jung gave me the letter yesterday, right? Then, he left. The prince didn’t seem scared, perhaps it’s because he sort of expected this to happen, whereas for me, I was extremely worried, not for myself but for the prince. What if someone has sent an assassin to kill the prince like what happened in the temple?

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(In stable)

‘Come on honey, let’s go.’

‘Wait…’

(Soondeok looks around at the empty stable – well, empty except for one horse right in front of her)

‘Oppa…where are all the other horses?’

‘We’ll just ride on this one.’

‘One? How?’

‘Together of course!’

‘But…’

‘The other horses are not here now, they’re…they are somewhere else! Yes, somewhere else. So you’ll have to ride with me today, I’m afraid.’

‘Well…alright…’

(Then as Soondeok was about to get on the horse, she hears another horse neighing from a distance. Eun freezes.)

‘Oppa. What was that sound?’

‘It’s nothing, Deok ah.’

‘Wait a minute…it was a horse.’

‘Probably just a horse walking by outside, take no notice. Wait, Deok ah! Where are you going?’

(Soondeok heads off to the garden while Eun follows her, trying to stop her)

‘Deok ah, stop!’

(Soondeok discovers that someone had sent all the other horses to the garden. That certain ‘someone’ is having his head down – like a kid ready to be scolded)

‘My my my, would you look at that? So HERE are the horses…’

‘Deok ah…’

‘Oppa, why are all the horses here? Hmmm, I wonder why.’

‘I…Please don’t be mad…’

(Soondeok cracks up)

‘HAHAHAHA! Oppa! Do you want to ride with me that badly?’

(Eun nods his head)

‘Why didn’t you just ask me then, instead of dragging all the horses out here?’

‘I…I thought you’d reject me…’

‘Aigoo…how could I possibly reject my prince if he wants to ride with me?’

(Eun brightens up)

‘So, it’s a yes?’

‘Yep! But! I’ll be in front.’

‘Ya! I want to be in front! I want to have your arms around me as we ride though the forest, how romantic that would be!’

‘Well Oppa, in case you’ve forgot, I’m not a girl, I’m a warrior, and I call the front seat.’

‘Not if I say no. I’m still your husband, Deok ah.’

‘Oh yeah? First one on the horse gets to be in front!!!!’

(Then Soondeok runs towards the stable)

‘YA! PARK SOONDEOK!!!! THAT’S CHEATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’

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(Horse trotting slowly in the forest. Eun’s the one with his arm around his wife’s waist – Soondeok’s not really accustomed to this, but after a while, she liked that feeling. In truth, she wanted her prince to be even closer to her, she starts having this thought of him wrapping tighter around her and-)

‘Deok ah!’

‘Yes?’

‘Ya ya ya. What are you thinking about? I’ve been calling your name 3 times!’

‘You…you have? I’m sorry…I was…it was nothing…’

‘You know I won’t take nothing for an answer.’

(Soondeok tries to switch topic)

‘I…I was thinking how awesome it would be if…if I can capture this moment.’

(Eun turns his head sideway to have a better view of Soondeok)

‘Honey, what do you mean?’

‘Well…like, I enjoy riding through the forest, the trees and all, it’s relaxing and…I feel happy when I’m here. I’d love to keep this moment, so whenever I’m sad I can just take this moment back out from a box or something and feel better again.’

‘That’s impossible, Deok ah.’

‘I know, that’s why I thought how wonderful it would’ve been if it was possible.’

(Eun nods)

‘Indeed…that would be wonderful. Why? Are you sad these days?’

‘Of course not! I’m with you, how can I be sad? By the way, Oppa, what do you like about the forest?’

‘Mmm…I like the sound of it. Try close your eyes and listen carefully – you’ll be amazed at how many types of sounds this forest has to offer. And you’ll never get tired of it.’

(Soondeok shuts her eyes and listens well)

‘Wa!!! Daebak! Oppa you’re right!’

‘See? I told you.’

‘It sounds so nice that I wish I could listen to it at home too!’

‘Deok ah, that’s exactly what I wanted too! Ever since I was but a child, I’ve always thought of how fantastic it would be if we could somehow collect sounds and listen to them anywhere we want!’

‘Too bad it’s impossible…how on earth can we collect sound? We can’t keep it in a jar, nor can we keep it in a box – the closest thing we have is a shell from which we could get the sounds of waves from!’

‘Exactly…but wouldn’t it be nice if it’s actually possible?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Deok ah, do you think it’s possible for humans to fly?’

‘Fly?! Oppa, you must be joking! Of course not! We don’t have wings!’

‘But guess what? Jimong said it’s possible! He said that someday, humans will be able to fly in the sky and travel around like the birds!’

‘Daebak! But, how?’

‘Don’t know…there was a prototype in his office, it’s huge! I should show it to you one day. It looks exactly like a bird – a giant bird that can carry men! Isn’t it great?’

‘It’s hard to imagine.’

‘Deok ah, if Jimong manages to make the giant bird, let’s ride on it together!’

‘It’ll be dangerous, Oppa!’

‘Oh but honey, think about the many places we can go to! We can go to find Yixing anytime we want, we can travel around anywhere we want too! Imagine going to far off places like Persia or Rome! And Egypt too!!!’

‘Alright alright, you’re excited, I get it Oppa. But I doubt we’d be able to do that in our lifetime…forget about flying, we can’t even leave the country.’

‘So are you saying that you’ll agree if it’s possible?’

‘I guess…’

‘And if what you said is true, how about in our next life time?’

‘If we meet in our next life that is.’

‘Of course we will! I told you, I’d be sure to find you.’

‘I doubt it… Sure you won’t mix me up with Haesoo?’

(Eun pulls hard on the horse’s reins, making it halt suddenly, causing Soondeok to jerk back)

‘Ya! What? What happened? Why…why did you stop like that, Oppa? We could’ve fallen right off the horse!’

‘Why do you think?’

‘Why? I have no idea…’

‘Ah wait…did I tell you about our rule?’

‘Rule? What rule?’

‘That you’re forbidden to mention THAT PERSON’S name in front of me – FOREVER!’

‘But…why? Why can’t I say Haesoo’s name?’

‘URGH!!! Because you just can’t! That’s the rule!’

‘Do you still like her, your highness? So every time I say her name it’ll remind you how she rejected you?’

‘Absolutely not!’

‘Then what’s the big deal about it?’

(Eun pulls Soondeok closer to him – tighter)

‘I said shut it, Park Soondeok.’

‘And if I don’t?’

‘Well just you try, you utter her name one more time and I swear you’ll regret it real bad.’

‘My curiosity is killing me.’

‘I dare you.’

‘You think I won’t say it?’

‘Try if you have the guts.’

‘You really think I don’t?’

‘Park Soondeok, you’re smarter than that. Let’s just drop this, okay? It’s for our own good.’

(Eun’s being real serious this time, but Soondeok still didn’t see what’s going on – she thought he was just teasing her so she innocently played along)

‘But…I love seeing you like this, Oppa.’

‘Like what?’

‘Threatening me. I like seeing you do that to me, it’s…y? Wait, is that the right term?’

‘Oh? So you don’t like cutey little prince no more, hm? You like a manly y cold-hearted prince, yes? And you think I’m just kidding now? That I’m not taking this seriously like I’m saying I am?’

‘Now, I didn’t say anything about you being cold-hearted…I just said-’

‘Oooh, our little Soondeok’s all grown up now~ You prefer more excitement between us. Fine, as you wish! I’ll be hard on you.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean? And why are you talking like that? Why did you suddenly lower your voice like so?’

‘Because you like your husband being rough.’

‘I’ve never said that, Oppa.’

‘Well, you implied it.’

‘I can’t say you’re wrong.’

‘And I swear, one more spark from you and I will turn into a beast.’

‘Doesn’t sound like a convincing threat. Wait. Why did we stop again? Let’s keep going, Oppa or we’ll be late. The temple is just over that slope over there.’

‘It’s not my fault you mentioned the-person-who-must-not-be-named.’

(Soondeok turns around to look at her husband. She twitches her eyebrows. Eun frowns. He can read her mind, she’s testing him, and he’s not going to let it slide this time – it’s time to teach his wife a good lesson.)

‘Oh, you mean…’

‘Don’t you dare-’

‘Haesoo?’

(Soondeok smiles, she did it on purpose – of course she did, but the smile meant more than that, the smile was a challenge, it was her throwing a challenge at the prince, as if saying “I’ve said her name now, what are you going to do about it?”)

‘I warned you, young lady.’

‘What will you do now, mister meany~’

(Eun kicks the horse hard and have it run as fast as possible, the speed could’ve send both of them flying off the horse had Eun not held onto the saddle tight enough)

‘OPPA!!! YOU’RE INSANE! WHAT IF YOU RUN INTO SOMEONE? SLOW DOWN NOW!!!’

‘I TOLD YOU YOU’D REGRET IT!!!’

(Soondeok’s spent much of her lifetime on a horse, but this time was really frightening – not because of the speed, but because of the fact that the prince was able to handle such a speed, and the determination behind it promises, yes, a punishment which Soondeok was certain she’d regret. At last they made it to the south side of the temple where people stay over and the moment the horse stops, Soondeok jumps off, hoping to run away from her husband before he could enforce that ‘punishment’ on her.)

‘PARK SOONDEOK!’

(Eun grabs her by the wrist as she was trying to run inside a room)

‘I’m sorry Oppa! I shouldn’t have said her name. I really am sorry, I thought you were over with Haesoo and-’

(This time really was an accident, a slip of tongue, Soondeok knew spot on that she’s done for, she covered but the words were well heard. Eun’s face twitches in anger.)

‘What did you just say?’

‘I…I didn’t mean to, not this time-’

(Eun pins her by a pillar and looks at her straight in the eye – the stare was so sharp, it could kill. Soondeok knows that he wouldn’t really kill her, but she wasn’t going to make it out alive easily either.)

‘I clearly told you not to say her name in front of me again!’

‘Oh my…your highness…you really are angry.’

‘WELL OF COURSE I AM! You know what’s the problem? I’ve been too nice to you – well guess what? The fun is over. Park Soondeok, I’m going to make you show you who my woman is, and how much I love her – right here, right now.’

‘Your highness…’

‘You’re my woman, my one and only woman, and I’ll be sure to make you remember that so you won’t utter HER name again, understood?’

‘Your highness, stop, wait! Don’t! Hold up! Uh!’

(Eun quickly goes for the neck, kissing hard, making sure to leave marks there for days to come. Soondeok tries to push him away but that only made him even more reckless. He swiftly unties the knot of her outer garment – he presses his body onto her and cups her face as he kisses her on the lips without giving her a break. Eun starts panting, he’s letting it happen, he’s letting himself get loose. Soondeok can feel that this time he really meant it, and that there’s zero chance of escaping it – he’s going to do it with her there and then. No choice. She gives her arms a chance to break free, but her husband is literally sticking her to the pillar with no room for escape.)

‘Uhhh…Oppa…’

‘Shhh, don’t talk.’

(Eun’s hands begins to slide on her back and down, lower and lower. Soondeok desperately looks around, on one hand, hoping for someone to pass by and tell them to stop, on the other hand, hoping that no body will see them doing what they’re doing. She can hear someone moving about in the building.)

‘Oppa, at least…at least get inside a room.’

‘I like the view here, Deok ah.’

‘Uh! O…Oppa, just pause for a moment, gosh you’re insane.’

‘I’m not that crazy person who made this happen.’

‘Please get inside, not here…someone could walk by any minute…and this is a temple for heaven’s sake! The room behind you, let’s just get in…then I’ll let you do whatever you want. Please?’

(Eun pauses then looks at her, he smirks.)

‘Sounds like you’re anticipating it too, hm?’

‘I never said that.’

‘Well, you didn’t break my bone yet, though you’re capable of it.’

‘You’re strong, how could I?’

‘You just want to let me continue, don’t think I don’t know, I’ve slept with you plenty of times, I know when you want it and when you don’t.’

(Then Eun carries Soondeok as they continue to kiss. Eun kicks open the door behind them and falls right on top of his wife as they landed inside the room. It’s summer and being in a small room is stuffy as well as unbearable, so Eun gets on his knees to take off his clothes but suddenly, he freezes, for they’re not alone in the room.)

To be continued.........................