The soft clicking of heels was heard across the halls of the Ha Mansion. Jae Kyung silently paced back and forth in the hall with a look of worry. Her stomach was in knots while she tightly held her hand closely to her. The ring on her finger that had for the past week felt completely weightless seemed to weigh a ton on her ring finger.

“Monkey please relax. It will be fine.” Came Woo Bin’s voice.

 

Stopping in her tracks Jae Kyung turned to face the man she had once called her boyfriend and was now her husband. They had eloped exactly a week ago with a couple of body guards of Woo Bin’s as their witnesses and that had been that.

“Fine."

"They’re not happy Woo Bin."

"My parents or yours,” She emphasized.

“They made big plans for us. Guests and. Damn it I sound like my mother,” Jae Kyung spoke when she thought about the angry voicemail that had been left by her mother two days ago. Woo Bin and Jae Kyung had disconnected from the world and had spent a lovely honeymoon together by the beautiful sea in Mexico. It was the last place anyone would look for them and it was why they had chosen it but nothing more could have made the two happier.

 

A chuckle was heard and Jae Kyung was embraced by her husband who pressed his forehead against her own.

“They’ll get over it. As long as we’re happy.” Woo Bin spoke.

“Have you met my mother?” Jae Kyung questioned.

“Have you met mine?” He retorted and Jae Kyung sighed.

 

The door of the study opened and Woo Bin’s father stood at the door there was a look of displeasure in his eyes which was aimed only at Woo Bin and Jae Kyung realized there might be a problem as to who they were blaming this entire situation on. Not a single word was spoken to them as both Jae Kyung and Woo Bin entered the study. Jae Kyung’s father was seated behind his desk with a cold glare aimed at Woo Bin. A painting stood above him consisting of Jae Kyung, her mother and her father. Jae Kyung’s mother stood beside Woo Bin’s mother both glaring at them and Jae Kyung was simply glad their anger was shared between the two and not just aimed at Woo Bin.

 

There was no time to sit and Jae Kyung and Woo Bin found themselves standing in front of their parents waiting for them to speak but it was Mr. Ha who spoke first.

“Do you have any idea what scandal you children have caused!”

The roar of a furious man whipped the tornado of chaos into a full run.

“How could you do this to us?” Mrs. Ha spoke angrily.
“We’ve spent months planning your wedding. Making sure every detail was flawless.” Mrs. Song interjected.

“The Media is having a field day with what you two have done.” Mr. Song raged.

“We’ve spent days trying to control the uproar of this… this whim.” Mr. Ha raged on.

But it was that word that caused Jae Kyung to frown.

 

There were many things that Jae Kyung felt towards Song Woo Bin. The man was downright stubborn, he was one of the worst womanizers she had ever met, he had made her wait and suffer for a while but, Woo Bin was not a whim. Jae Kyung could hear them all still screaming but her thoughts fade to the moment she met him.

 

The day is neither sunny nor cloudy just serene. There is a soft little breeze that lingers around the air. Jae Kyung is standing with her cousin Jan Di. She’s shocked to see her cousin with such short hair but Jan Di shrugs.

“Let’s just play. I’ll introduce you.” Jan Di tells Jae Kyung who nods. They’re at the Goo Mansion. The back yard has been turned into a small park exclusively for the Goo Children. There is a large slide, swings, sand, monkey bars, all the essential things any park needs. There is a group of boys playing together in the sand. One of them is adding water to the sand and mixing it. Another boy is neatly placing the wet sand inside a bucket and another is putting the bucket of sand down and then gently removing the bucket so that a castle is made.

“Mix the sand faster Yi Jeong!” A curly haired boy speaks. He’s surrounded by a lot of small castles around him while he sits in a chair. Jae Kyung scrunches her nose and she hears her cousin sneer at him, though the boy doesn’t pay any mind to them.

“Put the sand in faster Ji Hoo, so Woo Bin can make the castles!” The boy snaps angrily.

 

Jae Kyung’s eyes land on the dark haired boy then. He looks up at his friend while holding the bucket upside down. He’s wearing a small gray suit and Jae Kyung wonders why this is his preferred choice of clothes when they are all getting dirty. Upon noticing that his friends all seem to be wearing suits Jae Kyung understands.

“That’s it!”

The screech her cousin makes while walking over to the curly haired boy catches everyone’s attention and her eyes meet those of Woo Bin. Jae Kyung thinks her heart will burst. She’s never seen such big eyes before. There’s a commotion that breaks her thoughts and then Jae Kyung is laughing along with everyone when the curly haired boy is running around with a bucket of sand on his head and her cousin is yelling at him.

 

It seems that things are done because Jae Kyung watches everyone go about somewhere else. Ji Hoo moves to sit with a pretty older girl in a pink dress who offers him a smile and begins to wipe away the sand of the boy’s clothes. Yi Jeong runs to another boy who ruffles Yi Jeong's hair and they go off to play together. Her cousin and the curly haired boy are separated from arguing by an older girl in a blue dress who hits the curly haired boy in the head.

 

Finding herself alone and not knowing what to do Jae Kyung heads to the monkey bars. She’s good at climbing things. While her friends do ballet and want to play tea Jae Kyung was taken to gymnastics. She hangs on the bars swinging rapidly before turning and heading back.

“Wow! You’re awesome!”

The voice of someone startles her and Jae Kyung falls glad that she’s fast to land on her feet but when she looks up she blushes.

“Hi. I’m Song Woo Bin. I’m Seven” The boy tells her. His smile is so big that it makes her want to smile back at him and her heart at the same time burst.

 

 

Jae Kyung can’t seem to know what to do and fiddles with her fingers behind her back nervously while swaying on her feet.

“Can’t you talk?” He asks.

“You were like Tarzan or a monkey.” He exclaims and his words make her frown.

“I’m not a boy.”
“Or a monkey” She adds to him. He grins at her brightly then.

“You can talk.”
“What’s your name?”
“Ha Jae Kyung. I’m Six and a half.”

Woo Bin looks at he and grins again. Somehow Jae Kyung feels funny and though the feeling makes her nervous she also likes it.

“Want to play with me?” He asks.

“Okay.” She tells him.

 

They spend the day on the monkey bars and going down the slide. She likes playing with Woo Bin he’s nice to her and then the rude boy calls Jae Kyung a monkey when he see’s her swing in the monkey bars trying to teach Woo Bin how to do it. She wants to cry and before her cousin can defend her Woo Bin pushes Jun Pyo.

“Don’t call her that! She’s my friend and only I can call her monkey.”

 

It might have been a child way of thinking but when Woo Bin offered her a smile and held her hand Jae Kyung knew she would always want to be with Woo Bin.

 

“We are going to hold another wedding with us included and the guest we’ve invited-”

“No.”

Jae Kyung’s voice is firm while she cuts her father off from speaking. The room is quiet again and Woo Bin speaks.

“We’re sorry for not including you in our wedding. But marrying Jae Kyung wasn’t on a whim.”
Jae Kyung smiles at her love of 13 years and Woo Bin smiles back at her taking hold of her hand.

“You chose to marry us to merge our companies, you chose when we would be engaged, when we were to be married, the dress, the guests. We’ve had no control of this marriage.” Jae Kyung speaks.

“But we chose to love each other years ago. Even if you never chose to merge the companies. Woo Bin asked to marry me on his own after you decided we were engaged. We decided to elope because we love each other and wanted our own wedding.”
“This was your wedding.” Mr. Ha spoke.

“No it was yours.” Jae Kyung spoke.

 

There’s a look in both Mrs. Ha and Mrs. Songs eyes that tell Jae Kyung they’re now understanding and Jae Kyung smiles.

“Our love isn’t based on a whim.”
“It’s based on every moment together.” Jae Kyung finishes. With those words spoken Jae Kyung and Woo Bin both bow respectfully to their parents and leave. The ride back to their new life is silent but they smile because together they’ve always set the pace of their life.

A/N Thank you for reading. There is voting currently going on regarding my book Bloom and I would love if you guys could vote. It is free on inkitt. I would appreciate if you guys would read it and leave a review also give it a thumbs up as it helps my books chances of being chosen. My rank is currently #2 I only need a few more votes to be #1 and I could use your help. If you have read it all you have to do is simply go here:https://www.inkitt.com/novelcontest?sort=most-voted and give my story a thumbs up. If you have not read the story the link is here https://www.inkitt.com/stories/134198/chapters/1?preview=trueI would appreciate the support as this is my dream.

Here is a summary of my book Bloom:

Bloom the first installment of The Kingdom of Archer series tells the story of Lyric Mason and Prince Parker Archer. Caught in the middle of a world where human males can transform into hybrid animals known as Novas and the world is divided in two. The Kingdom of Archer, a fair ruling kingdom and Cray; the kingdom of poverty and dictatorship. When Lyric is found to be the soulmate of not only Prince Parker but the evil Prince of Cray, Max. Lyric is caught in the middle of a tug of war and love.. Can Lyric, who has a painful past she wants to forget fit the role of queen an overcome her past demons and insecurities? Will love triumph over all?

Thank you for your time.