CHAPTER 10;

Without lifting my eyes away from my work, I pointed a finger up, to the person before me. “Just one moment.”

The said person simply shrugged and took a chair to sit behind me.

“Done!” I smiled, examining my finished piece.

“So….what is it?” Taemin stopped munching his biscuit and peered over my shoulders. “A comb this time?”

**********

"Lady Yeon Woo! Where would you like your gifts to be placed?"

I frowned at the numerous silk wrapped boxes. "Please return them."

"But there are gifts from the Young Masters of different households!"

"Do return them and tell them I could not accept such a generous gift…."

"But!"

"However, I do appreciate their kind intentions to wish me on the day of my birth. That will be all. Do accept my stubborn request for once." I smiled apologetic at them before leaving the main court.

Returning back to my sanctuary, the garden back yard, I turned around and faced him, unable to ignore the look of worry etched across his face any longer.

"Do you feel have any trouble, Woon? You seemed restless today."

".....there is nothing, Lady Yeon Woo." He assured, but I caught on the hint of hesitation in his tone.

"You are lying."

"Your humble servant dares not, Lady Yeon Woo." I frowned at him, upset that he committed that bad habit again.

"Woon." I reminded him. "You need not put yourself down. I have never see anyone here as a servant."

I held my smile up with a bit of effort. This feeling of sadness and pity....the social status that grants people with different wealth and power, yet the very same thing has set wide distance between people. I wonder if he realized this feeling in my heart?

"Rather,all of you here are my friends." I looked at him in the eye, hoping he could see the sincerity of my words.

His eyes tightened.

I waited for his response, my heart strangely felt torn, wanting to free him from this dark despair he had never voiced out. I pushed away the thought, attributing the condition as a friend's genuine concern for the other.

He said nothing, only taking out a piece of wrapped red silk handkerchief from his sleeve and guided my hand to receive it

I looked down, staring intently at the red cloth in my hands. Though I was confused by his action, I slowly unwrap the handkerchief, only to see something unexpected that let out a soft gasp from my lips – a beautiful comb, carved exquisitely from the shells of the white pearls; the rim of the comb was decorated elegantly by painting of purple plum blossoms.

"This is....?"” I silently marveled at the item before me, never had I seen such a lovely comb in my life.

"A gift." I met his gaze, and saw his russet eyes that seemed to be piercing right through me, as if he was trying to search for an answer, a reaction. "A humble gift, for the day you are born."

I looked down at the comb in my hands. "Thank you, Woon.” I held it to my chest and glanced up at him, smiling. "I will treasure it."

He smiled slightly.

**********

“So this Woon guy…” He paused, taking another bite out of his biscuit. “is your servant?”

“Savior.” I corrected him with a frown, annoyed by his off-handed comment. “And don’t you have an MV to film?”

“My parts are done.” He shrugged and slapped the crumbs off his clothes. “What are you doing here?” He extended his hand out.

I sighed and passed my black sketch book to him. “Unnie forgot her documents again.” I shook my head in defeat and gazed at my surrounding. “I seemed to be coming to the studio warehouse almost every day.”

He peeked out from my sketch book with a grin on his face. “I’ll get to chat with you everyday.”

“You got your hyungs to accompany you.” I pointed out.

“But that’s different…” his smile turned to a pout. “And you are more interesting than all my hyungs combined.”

I chuckled at his expression. “My dreams you mean?”

“Well…that’s part of the reason.” He admitted. I stopped chuckling and looked at him, bemused by his unexpected reactions. These dreams shouldn’t be interesting to him…these dreams should come off as strange and bizarre.

“So…” he broke off my thoughts as he focused back to the drawings again. “Does that mean you have finally seen the face of your mysterious savior?”

I shook my head. “Not really.”

“Not really?” he repeated, baffled.

“I felt that I have seen his face in my dreams. But when I woke up, I can’t seem to recall.” The image of his face came flittering to my mind again, but it was so blurred, l felt like I was staring at a pixilated image of beige puddle.

The curiosity tormented me softly.

“Don’t you think your drawings seem to resemble from Joseon Dynasty?”

 “So you noticed?” I replied absentmindedly as my hand stretched across the table, reaching for my pencil. The many unanswered questions were throwing my mind in a snarl. I need an avenue to channel out, or at least distract me away from, my silent frustration. So I spun the pencil in my hand; staring at it instead of him.

“Well….” He did a few more pages of flipping. “The buildings and items you drawn looked like the one I saw in Sageuk dramas...”

He said more but his words slowly drowned out as my eyes locked their gaze at the pencil on my hand, spinning continuously into forever....

Rustling leaves of the forest.

Dark night.

A bright full moon.

A voice whispering by my ear.

Don't forget me...

Don't ever forgive me...

My eyes snapped open at the tinkling sounds as the pencil fall and bounce off the gray floor slightly. I blinked my eyes rapidly, confused as I found myself staring at the fallen pencil rolling to a stop.

Had I fallen asleep?

A gentle but anxious shake on my arm brought my attention back to reality.

“Seo Yun? Are you alright?” I could hear the minor frantic tone in his voice. I couldn’t find mine to answer him back yet so I simply nodded and forced out a slight smile.

I bent down quickly to grab my pencil, trying to calm myself from the images that reeled in my head moments ago.

 They were bizarre, random, and simply make no sense. So what are they trying to tell me?