CHAPTER 17

I found myself rooted at my school entrance, staring wide-eyed at a young man who was waving enthusiastically at me, not caring about the crowd of female students surrounding him.

“Seo-Yun!” He called out, causing all heads to turn towards me.

“W-what…you…you doing here?” My mouth was trying to form a coherent sentence.

He grinned and walked forward, giving a slight nod to Yoo-Ri who had nodded in return. I looked at their silent exchange in confusion, not realizing what was going on until Yoo-Ri winked at me before dashing out of school, leaving me staring after her running figure.

I gave a burning stare at her back view. That betrayer.

“Hi.”

His voice’s brought me back to senses and I stared up at his smiling face. Something finally kicked started my thoughts and I reacted proper.

I replied his greeting with a scowl on my face before walking past him and out of school.

“Hey wait up!” He walked beside me, still grinning.

I continued walking.

“Nice day isn’t it?”

I made no reply.

“Ahh…but there’s dark clouds over there. It might rain soon.” He paused, expecting for my words.

I remained silent.

“Where are you going? How about a lift? I have a car parked just nearby and I ca-”

“What do you want?” I stopped my steps abruptly and talked to him sharply.

Instead of feeling rejected over my harsh tone, it only seemed to encourage his smile.

“I just want to know you better.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“Well I don’t.” I continued walking again, faster than before. Any longer with this guy and I might really hit a boiling point.

“Why not?”

“No reason.” I said through gritted teeth, trying to temp down my temper that he was able to rile up so easily.

“There can’t be no reason. So why are you mad? Did I do something wrong?” His sincere tone made me re-examine my own feelings. I was not one to get so worked up over anyone. Why him specifically? He wasn’t even someone close enough for me to bother about.

I stopped in my tracks and sighed. “I’m sorry.” I looked up to his surprised expression and realized my fault. “I shouldn’t have reacted so horribly to you.”

His eyebrow furrowed for a moment, as if trying to understand the sudden change in my behavior. But a smile soon graced his perfect features and he leaned his face closer to me.

“So does that mean we can know each other better now?”

I smiled in return.

“No.”

Without waiting for his reaction, I turned away from him and started walking again. My words seemed to have left him astounded. It took a few moments before he reacted and started catching up to me again “Why can’t we? How about just a lift? It looks like it might really rain now….”

As if the sky listened to him, a large drop of rain hit my nose. I looked up, incredulously. 

Surely Heaven isn’t trying to play a trick on me now?

But the sky answered me with yet another large raindrop on my cheek. From the corner of my eyes, I could tell that man was grinning from ear to ear. My lips twitched in annoyance.

“Be right back!” He merely said before dashing off.

I sighed and with a total disregard of his words' implication, I started walking quickly with my bag over my head, hoping to reach the nearest train station before the rain becomes a downpour.

A sudden horn sound scared me slightly as I turned my head to the left and saw a white sport car nearing the sidewalks. I stopped and stared at it dumbly, forgetting the rain for a brief moment. The black tinted car window slid down to reveal that grinning man’s face.

“Hop on.”

I blinked for a moment and continued walking again, ignoring his “Hey!” at me.

“Get in, the rain is going to make you wet.”

He continued driving near the sidewalks at my pace, ignoring the blaring sounds of car honking right behind him. I turned around and watched in astonishment at the line of cars he was hording up. I stared back at him in disbelief but his eyes remained patient and smiling, as if he couldn’t care less. 

“Get in.” His hand reached over and opened the passenger’s door from inside. I looked at his nonchalant smiling face and then to the long street of held-up cars. Blowing out an angry puff of air, I hopped in and slammed the door shut.

“Drive.” I said coldly.

“Yes, my lady.” He pushed the clutch and the engine started roaring to life. “Hang on.”

I held my breath at the car’s speed and grasped at my seatbelt. “Slow down!”

“What’s wrong?” He was startled by my panicked tone.

“A hundred miles per hour! Are you trying to get us killed?” I demanded. My eyes trailed over to him and I gasped when I saw his hand reaching for something at the bottom. “Put both hands on the steering wheel!” My words almost came out as a shriek.

He laughed as he pulled something out from the bottom and threw it over my head. It was a white towel.

“Dry yourself. You won’t want to catch a cold.”

I was about to nag at him once again when I felt the car gradually slow down.

“Better?” He asked.

I relaxed into my seat and started taking the towel to dry my face and hair. “Thanks.”

“So where to?” He questioned.

“Just to the nearest train station.”

He was silent for a moment. “You’re really cautious against me aren’t you?” He asked.

I turned to look at him and was surprised to meet his eyes staring right back.

“Keep your eyes on the road!” I said hurriedly and clutched my seatbelt again. With much reluctance, he tore his gaze away from mine and stared at the road.

“Do you know the story behind that wall?” He suddenly asked.

“What wall?” I pondered over his stranger question before added, “you mean that palace wall?”

He nodded his head slightly. “That day…I was thinking about that story and I got a little muddled.”

“Story?” I probed.

The corners of his lips turned up ever so slightly. 

“There was once a crown prince who had a terrorizing Emperor father….”

I listened to his words as I turned my head back to gaze out of the window, staring at the crying gray scenery passing me by.

“Emperor Father was always fearful of his subjects who might usurp his throne. So he always killed off subjects whom he suspected. With each killings, the crown prince has one less person to talk to…with each killings….the crown prince’s heart gets colder and lonelier……”

My mind trailed to imagination with each word he spoke, trying to envision the scenes he was describing.  Consciously, I knew the words he said were from a story, but somehow….he made it sounded as if it was part of his tale.

“In the end....he could not sleep without some warmth to comfort him from the coldness and loneliness. So each night, he would disguise himself as a nobleman and scaled that palace wall to find a gisaeng house. By the break of dawn, he would return back to the palace by scaling that wall again….”

So the crown prince is a playboy as well….

I had to stifle back a laugh as I imagined the esteemed crown prince, climbing up and down the wall each night and dawn just to find some entertainment.

“But one morning, he overslept and he hurried back to the wall, hoping no one of the crown prince’s residence would discover his disappearance. As he was climbing on the wall and was about to get down to the other sight, he caught side of a young girl staring up at him.....”

He stopped briefly for a moment.

“Go on…” My voice was unable to hide my curiousity as I faced him. He seemed to snap out of some daze and started speaking again.

“He was so enchanted by the young girl’s innocent eyes that his foot slips and he fell to the ground. When the young girl went up to see if he was fine, the crown prince, in his moment of anger and embarrassment, started questioning her appearance and even accused her of being a thief......”

I listened on intently, amazed that his story-telling enabled me to imagine up each scenes easily, as if I had personally seen the events by myself.

“The young girl, in her indignation, explained that she was her mother’s companion in the visit of  Empress Dowager. She turned the tables around and started questioning the crown prince’s appearance and even accused him as the thief! By then, the servants in crown prince’s residence had discovered crown prince’s disappearance and everyone were frantically searching for him. In his haste, he lied to the young girl that he was an officer in disguise and ran away with her to hide. The young lady was doubtful about his lies and tried to question him again. But the crown prince scoffed about what a young girl would know. She surprised him by berating him with words from wised scholars, a feat that no common lady could have accomplished during that time. In his amazement, he asked for the young girl’s name. The young girl replied her name is Yeon-Woo….”

My body froze upon the name and I looked at him.

A coincidence perhaps? My mind tried to rationalize.

Yet, I shouldn’t shake off this slightly uncomfortable feeling within me so I stared at him intently, trying to find some answer from his eyes. But he only looked ahead in a daze, as if he had entered the world of story-telling....

“.....and she asked for his identity. Of course the crown prince couldn’t reveal his identity to her. So he gave her a riddle to ask her to figure out his identity and name instead. With that, he left her with a puzzling riddle, half-hoping she would not guess it, half-hoping that she would. But in the end, the girl did.”

He chuckled to himself before continuing.

“A voice not my own but is the most powerful voice of all

A name that chases away the rabbit but welcomes the calling of a flightless bird

An identity that has been set out yet not recognized

Till the time is right”

Half-absentminded, I said “Hwon, the rising sun and crown prince.”

The car suddenly came to an abrupt stop. I had to push my hand against the head board to prevent my body from being jerked forward. My lips parted, readied to question his driving skills in anger, but he beat me to it.

 “How did you know the answer?” His eyes were wide, surprised and something else….I couldn’t quite apprehend.

His intense stare quickly dissolved my initial anger and I looked away nervously.

“Well….a voice not my own but is the most powerful, that would be the voice of the people. The rising sun is something that chases away the rabbit which represent the moon and it is also the very thing that welcomes the calling of rooster, a flightless bird. And the last line reconfirmed my suspicions that the rising sun is the crown prince, for the sun needs to wait till its high up in the sky before it can rule the land.” I explained my answer, though deep down, I was surprised by my speed and easiness in solving it.

Somehow, the answer just came to me unconsicously, as if it has always been lodged deep in my head.

I looked back at him, taken aback by the tears suppressed in his eyes. 

“Are you alright?” I asked, concerned.

He reached out one hand and pulled me into a tight embrace. I sat still as he held me by the waist and pushed my head to rest against his neck collar.

“Have you remembered me?” 

His voice sounded choked and my heart felt pain. I was about to push him off and gently reject him when he muttered something that sent a chill down my spine. “Yeon-woo ah….”

Every fiber of my being froze.

The thought ‘A coincidence perhaps?’ immediately vaporized in my mind.

There can’t be so many coincidences happening so often in a day…can’t it?

I was about to open my mouth to reply when the blaring sound of car horns broke both of us out of reverie. I finally pushed him off and he allowed it by quickly releasing his hold over me. I sat up straight as the car started moving once again.

“I…”

“I…”

Both of us started speaking at the same time and stopped. An awkward silence drifted in between us. “You first…” He finally commented.

“I…" I wanted to say more but I changed my mind. "You can just dropped me off here. The rain has stopped.” I said hastily, unable to bring my raging heartbeat to calm down.

He wanted to say something as well, but he sighed instead. “Further ahead?”

I nodded.

“Looked….I….” He was struggling to find words to say before he suddenly burst out laughing. “the story sounded awesome right? I made it up!”

I stared at him, astounded.

“Got you!” He smiled, his eyes holding up a teasing look.

Though I believed not a single word in that sentence, I laughed weakly in return. “Haha. Very funny.”

 “Thanks for the ride……” I got out of the car, my word trailed off when I realized I had no idea how to address him. “I’m sorry….what’s your name?”

“Make a guess?”He continued teasing.

I gave him a tight smile. “I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? Since we won’t be meeting ever again….but thanks again.” I said and promptly shut the door before turning on my heels to walk away.

The sound of a car horn made me turned back to face the car again.

His mischievous, devastating smiling face popped out of the window to look at me. “The riddle answer shares the same name as mine and….” He, Hwon, threw a wink and laughed slightly. “See you again!”

With a casual hand wave, he left me staring dumbly after the departing white sport car.

What does he mean by that?

I bit my lips as I continued looking at the car that was now a white dot in the horizon. So many questions swirled in my mind.

Why did he call me Yeon-Woo?

A strange question, one I had never thought of till now, started surfacing in my muddled sea of thoughts.

Are my dreams…merely dreams?

**********

“Welcome back Miss”

“I’m home!” I called out as soon as I stepped into the living room. I was about to greet my parents when my eyes caught onto the stacks of nicely wrapped up boxes on the table.

“What are all these?” I pointed to them.

My father scratched his head and shrugged sheepishly. “Well….”

“Your father’s boss has kindly gifted these to us for the ball event!” My mother gushed and opened up one box to reveal a sapphire blue gown. “Isn’t your buddy sweet?”

My father sat down and shook his head. But he was smiling. “Really, Seung Woo shouldn’t have gone to such expenses. It’s kind enough of him to invite the whole family to the ball…but…”

“Wait…” my head finally caught on to the words. “What do you mean by ball?”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you this morning.” My father said as he made an approved nod at my mother’s gown.  “Seung Woo, my boss and also my buddy...he’s holding a welcome party for his son who just came back from the State. It will be in two weeks’ time.”

My eyes widened in surprise.

Two weeks’ time?

“It’s not an event which we should be going….but it will be rude if we didn’t accept such a generous gesture of his…” My father smiled and looked at me expectantly. I swallowed a lump in my throat.

“Yes Father, I understand.”

I was gripped by a sudden agony of despair as the promise ran through my mind.

“So let’s meet again for Kibum’s hyung birthday!”

 “Okay! Let’s meet in a month’s time”

My fists clenched tightly as I walked up to my room. The first thing that greeted my sight when I entered my room was a sitting Snoopy on my bed, staring back at me.

I rushed forward and hugged it tightly, trying to soothe the troubles in my heart. I sighed as I leaned back to stare at Snoopy.

 What should I do?

#Author's Note =D

**gisaeng house can be considered as a hostess club. Empress Dowager means the mother of the Emperor.  Crown prince is the prince who will become a future Emperor. The english translation of Hwon is 'Rising Sun'.

Woot woot, another update with no Taemin =x. You have to forgive me. Because Hwon plays just as an important role as Taemin in this story. The main reason being, Hwon has a huge huge impact on Seo-Yun's life and dreams. Ah... I want to say more, but I can't for now. Again, do forgive me (>_<) 

Actually I have no intention to make Hwon such a central character initially....but the more I wrote him, the more I just adoreeeeee him. I hope you readers will come to adore Hwon as much as I do in the subsequent chapters. Kekekekekekeke =x

And finally.....here's presenting..........

LEE HWON!!!

Lee Hwon/Crown Prince  Lee Hwon. 22 years old.

The richest, most eligible and devastingly handsome bachelor in Korea, there's nothing he can't have. Careful, confident and cheekily charmful, they all are just a facade to hide his deeply complex and wounded spirit. Remembering every single details of his past as if it was just yesterday, the present feel so foreign and detached to him. That was until....he met her, the only person who shares an intimate link with his past.

Now he's determined not to let her go again, not to let her get hurt, not to let that horrible tragedy happen again.

This time, he will be the one to protect her.