It wasn’t often that the headmaster of the Kang Academy of Classical Arts and his wife were simultaneously away from the academy. They had received word via courier after classes concluded for the week that the father of one of their students had suffered a serious injury. His wife couldn’t spare the extra money to arrange for the transport of their son back to their village and so the headmaster and his wife took it upon themselves to the young man home personally. They normally would have waited until the next morning to depart on their one day journey to the student’s village, but the situation seemed dire and so they left that very evening. They made haste and traveled from mid afternoon and throughout the night, albeit at a slower pace via lantern light, but they managed to reach the village by midday the next day. 

Fortunately, when they arrived, the father was in stable condition and being tended to by a local doctor. Exhausted by their travels, they readily accepted the offer to rest at the student’s humble home while another family member tended to their horses. The husband and wife duo spent the night at the student’s home before departing the next morning without said student. 

Neither of them wanted to part with a student, but they both agreed that it was the best course of action in the end. 

“Just know that if the situation ever changes, he is welcome to attend classes again next semester,” the headmaster said to the student’s grateful mother. 

While her husband had infinite trust that all would be well at the academy in their absence, She Yoo was antsy to leave. Ever the pragmatic and pessimistic one, she could not help but worry over something terrible befalling the students and staff they’ve left behind. Perhaps it was the warrior’s instinct coupled with the maternal one in her, but she never wanted to leave their home vulnerable when she was the most skilled fighter on the premise. Her husband, on the other hand, rarely thought of such matters and so the safety of their little academy always fell under her jurisdiction. Shi Yoo was glad that neither Daesung nor Bora inherited their father's lackadaisical demeanor. She was sure that she would have died an early death running herself ragged trying to make up for their carelessness if that were the case. 

After a few remarks about being starved by his wife (to which Shi Yoo’s glare quickly put and end to) the couple traveled onwards in silence. With their horses fed, their bodies well rested, and without an additional rider on one horse, they were able to travel much more quickly and efficiently than before. They kept along the Southern Road that led up to the capital, ever vigilant against thieves since they were known to accost travelers and merchants alike on their way to the capital city. 

Shi Yoo was used to the countryside and the little villages and hamlets that dotted it, but her husband, the city boy and food connoisseur, was always curious about the local food and wares. After riding almost nonstop all morning, save a few moments of rest to water their horses, Kang Do Hyuk felt ravenous. His wife seemed unperturbed by the fact that their last full meal was last night at their student’s home, but it was now past midday and Do Hyuk saw that they were approaching a little riverside community.

“Dear, I think this is a fine place to rest for the evening,” he ventured bravely.

Yoon Shi Yoo frowned at her husband’s words, not even sparing him a glance. She surveyed the western horizon and the sun’s position to it before turning to address him.

“We will be home in a few hours time, well before nightfall if we ride swiftly,” she countered. Her horse seemed to whinny in agreement at her statement and she rubbed the side of his neck in thanks. “I don’t see a need for us to stop here.”

Her husband pouted, ever the child. "You forget, dear wife, that not all of us are a master of martial arts, like yourself. I’m the delicate flower to your sturdy fists, remember?” He started to sway a little, as if to emphasize his statement. “I’m so famished I could faint!”

“Stop with the dramatics,” she admonished and they continued onwards in silence. She shook her head in disbelief at her husband. A child would be more better behaved than him, she thought with a tinge of annoyance. 

As they traversed through the village center proper, street vendors called for their attention and announced prices for bundles of vegetables or freshly caught fish. Outside of a few homes and roughly built wooden stalls set out alongside the road, there were few actual buildings in the village itself. Being a farming community, the rest of the homes were dotted across the area and nestled between rice paddy fields. That was why even Shi Yoo was surprised to see what looked to be a two story inn near the center of the village. It had a large sign with the words Lotus Inn written in eye catching gold against a black backdrop. As soon as they came within sight of the sign, she saw her husband beginning to sway a little on his horse as if his body had suddenly grown weak.

Before she could lecture him on his riding technique, her husband suddenly fell off of his horse, startling the mare into brushing against her own steed, which spooked the poor animal. 

“Kang Do Hyuk!” she cried, panic creeping into her tone as she pulled on the reins to regain control of her horse. There was a heart dropping moment where she feared that he was actually hurt, but he rolled onto the ground in a manner reminiscent of the way they taught their first years how to correctly fall without hurting themselves during a performance and the panic gave way to annoyance. Luckily, her initial cries were immediately lost amongst the clamor of several alarmed villagers whom rushed to their aid.

Her husband was immediately surrounded by a small group of villagers. A few men helped him into a sitting position on the ground and Shi Yoo had to hide her irritation at her husband as she dismounted her horse and started making her way towards him. She politely reassured several elderly shop keepers that they were alright and fought to keep a gentle smile on her face when all she wanted to do was give hell to her spouse. 

“Sir, sir! Are you alright? Do we need to fetch a doctor?”

Her husband, the consummate performer, looked around in an exaggerated daze before summoning a flush of embarrassment that gave a hint of authenticity to his performance.

“No, no, please don’t bother. I just felt a bit light headed all of a sudden, please don’t make a spectacle out of it. How embarrassing.”

She had just reached the ring of people surrounding her husband and the opportunity to end the theatrics and insist that they be on their way was there, but another man spoke up and made an offer that she had been dreading to hear. 

“Sir, would you perhaps want to rest inside our inn for a moment? Our prices are very reasonable, I assure you.”

That was when she saw the spark in his eyes, but he worked hard to hide his excitement as he continued his little performance. Of course her husband, who had complained of being tired and famished before their journey began, just happened to “faint” directly in front of what looked to be the only inn in the entire village. 

“Your inn has a restaurant, I presume? Perhaps I can regain a bit of my strength if I had some food in me.” At that precise moment, he gave her a dashing smile that signaled he got precisely what he wanted in the end. It would have been a handsome smile if she discounted the mischief gleaming in his eyes. He was happy to out maneuver her, she could tell.

Through gritted teeth, she pushed her way through the semi circle of people surrounding her husband and grabbed him by the shoulder. Hard.

“Oh, my poor husband!” she cried in feigned concern. She took a bit of pleasure in knowing that her husband was fighting hard to keep up an unbothered expression as she dug her nails into his shoulder and arm. “What good fortune for you to collapse in such a convenient location. I suppose we have no choice but to stop for a moment’s rest.” She put emphasis on the moment’s rest to signal that she would not allow the return to the academy to be delayed.

Shi Yoo did not have the talent for performing like her husband and son did. A few people nearby, especially the women, picked up on the hostility laced within her words and turned away from what they knew would eventually end up as some sort of marital spat. Others started returning to their original business since the matter seemed to have been dealt with and the dramatics were over. 

“Oh, my dear wife...” She saw him release the slightest of winces and she smirked a little in satisfaction. “Thank you for being so kind and accommodating to your clumsy husband.”

“Of course, dear,” she answered and this time, she thought she did an excellent job of adding a hint of honey to her voice. She gave his arm one final squeeze, a promise of further reprimand in private, before releasing him.

 

---

 

Contrary to the beautiful and peaceful image that is conjured up by its name, the Lotus Inn was far busier than the husband and wife pair could have imagined. They were greeted by boisterous laughter coming from a large group of about a dozen young men sat across three tables in the center of the restaurant. They shouted for more alcohol and food to be brought to their table and conversed loudly with each other, oblivious to their volume compared to the relative silence of the other restaurant patrons. It was clear that the young men were not from the village or its surrounding area: they dressed in the standard military robes that were usually worn beneath a soldier’s armor. The remaining patrons looked to be locals who had spent the day working and were now treating themselves to a hot meal before the end of the day. They were all fiercely ignoring the uproar and focused on their meal, probably motivated by all of the noise to eat as quickly as possible in order to get away from the loud men.

Not even the slightest bit deterred from the ruckus, Dohyuk seated himself at an empty table and looked up expectantly at his wife.

“By the looks of it, the food mustn’t be half bad,” he commented as he looked over at the empty plates that had piled up at the soldiers’ table.

“That or they’re simply just too drunk to taste anything,” Shiyoo muttered under her breath as she took a seat. 

They were seated for only a brief moment before the clamor of broken china and the shrill sound of an angry woman’s voice cut through the drunken yammer of the young men.

“Dong Youngbae!” the unseen woman shrieked and Shiyoon’s ears perked up at the familiar surname. “You useless boy!”

There was a loud thwack and an “ouch!” that followed which made it apparent that a punishment was doled out. 

“You are meant to serve guests, not break our dishes!” the woman’s voice yelled out over the din of the drunken soldiers.

From across the room, Shi Yoo caught sight of a woman who looked to be the proprietor of the inn. She was yelling at a young boy carrying an empty tray in one hand and a small tea kettle in the other. It was obvious from the broken pottery at his feet that something had caused him to drop the tea cups, earning him the woman’s ire.

Shi Yoo was not a weak hearted woman. She was strict to the point of being cold at times and was usually not easily swayed by emotions. However, she was also a mother and when that child walked up to their table and offered them a shaky smile despite the red mark on his left cheek, something within her stirred.

“Apologies for my tardiness. It won’t happen again,” the child said demurely as he set out two cups in front of them and began pouring out their tea. Shi Yoo couldn’t help but stare at the boy, at the roundness of his youthful face and she was hit with a pang of familiarity. 

Do Hyuk, always the observant one at the most inopportune of times, cocked his head at her, but said nothing. Instead, he turned to the boy and offered him a warm smile.

“You are hardly tardy if neither of us even noticed your absence,” Do Hyuk declared. “We’d like to order two of your finest local dishes. I hear that this area is well known for its samgyetang and fried fish.”

The boy brightened.

“Yes! Our samgyetang uses locally grown herbs in the recipe giving it a fragrant and aromatic flavor. It’s my favorite dish,” he declared. “It was my mother’s favorite dish as well.”

Neither husband nor wife missed the fact that the child spoke of his mother in the past tense. They both, however, decided not to comment on it.

“Then we’ll have two orders of samgyetang and a fresh pot of tea,” Shi Yoo listed off their orders and watched the boy walk off towards the kitchens to recite the order to the cook. Once the boy was out of earshot, Donghyuk leveled a gaze at his wife. By then she was uncharacteristically distracted, her brows furrowed as she wracked her brain for an elusive thought. 

He tapped the sides of his teacup a few times with his fingers before saying what was on his mind.

“You’re hiding something from me,” he said matter of factly. There was no accusation, just a pure statement of truth that he knew his wife could no deny. 

She frowned. “Not hiding.”

“But you’re not telling me something,” he clarified. 

“It’s not that I’m willingly withholding information from you,” she explained slowly as she snuck another glance at the boy. 

They both conjured up a smile for Youngbae, who was hurriedly en route to their table with a new pot of tea, when the table of soldiers broke out into renewed uproar. Two unsteady soldiers stood up abruptly, shouting incoherent words to their friends who were betting on who could finish their last order of alcohol the fastest. One of their arms jutted out right in Youngbae’s way, sending his piping hot pot of tea tumbling to the ground. 

The headmaster and his wife stood up immediately and rushed to the boy’s side, but before either could take stock of any injury he had, the Matron’s shrill voice pierced the air and a hand pulled Youngbae up by the collar so fast, neither had time to react when she struck the boy across the face even harder than the last time. 

“I should throw you out into the street! You are absolutely useless!” the proprietor of the inn spat, her face absolutely red with rage. 

Dohyuk stood up immediately to try and diffuse the situation as the group of soldiers were shocked into silence.

“That is no way to treat a young child! Anyone can see that it was an accident!”

The matron sneered at Dohyuk and pulled Youngbae up by the arm harshly.

“Just because you come in here with your fancy clothes and your city accent, it doesn’t give you the right to stick your nose in matters you know nothing about!” the woman spat. She glowered at Youngbae, who seemed to shrink under her scrutiny. “I had the decency to take in this bastard whelp after his mother passed and he can’t even bring himself to pull his own weight around here!”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Youngbae cried, his eyes glimmering with unshed tears. His words and tearful visage unlocked a memory that Shi Yoo had not thought about in years.

“It wasn’t my fault!” a voice cried shrilly in her memory. Shi Yoo could see the girl in her mind’s eye, tears streaming down her face and hand cupping her bruised cheek. She had the same teary-eyes as Youngbae did, the same indignant expression on his face.

It can’t be, Shi Yoo thought to herself, but she knew in her heart of hearts that she was right. One last look at Youngbae was enough to confirm her suspicions.

“You! You dare raise your voice at me??!” the woman was absolutely seething now, her face contorted with anger and hands shaking as if she was rearing up for another strike.

Dohyuk moved to shield the child, but Shi Yoo was already three steps ahead of her husband. Before the owner of the inn could even take one more step towards Youngbae, Shi Yoo had pushed the child safely behind her while simultaneously grabbing the matron’s outstretched hand. In a low and chilling voice, she stared directly into the innkeeper’s eyes and said, “Don’t you dare lay another hand on that child!”

The woman redirected her rage filled eyes to Shi Yoo and quickly wretched her hand out of the other woman’s grasp. She rudely pointed an accusatory finger at her as she spoke.

“And who do you think you are, huh? Who are you to tell me what I can or can’t do in my own restaurant!”

Without so much as blinking, Shi Yoo grabbed the woman’s arm once more and held it with an iron grip. The innkeeper struggled to free herself, but the headmaster’s wife was not budging.

With the same tone of voice as before, Shi Yoo gave her one last warning.

“This child is my sister’s child and if you lay another hand on my nephew, I will be forced to break it.”

Kang Do Hyuk watched the exchange between the women with wide eyes. He was a peace loving man that abhorred injustice. When he married, his private circle of friends openly doubted whether or not his union with Shi Yoo would ever last. Two children and almost two decades later, they had proven that against the odds, the heavens shone brightly upon their union. It explained whyn even though he was a peaceful man, Dohyuk could not deny that his heart skipped a beat as he watched his wife stand up for what she thought was right.

Even if she did so while threatening to break another woman’s arm.

---

Needless to say, the husband and wife duo were kicked out of the restaurant before their food even arrived (despite the fact that the threat of physical harm was never carried out).

A few of the soldiers from the group followed them out to apologize for playing a hand in escalating the situation, but neither of them had any ill will towards the young men. From what he managed to gather, the innkeeper wasn’t a particularly well liked woman either for no one stepped forward to intervene on her behalf. In fact, after seeing the deadly look in his wife’s eyes, Dohyuk knew that he had to be the one to step in and de-escalate the situation before his wife could do something she would later regret.

Somehow, he managed to talk both ladies down and he agreed to leave the restaurant and only pay half of what they ordered. 

(His wife looked ready to murder him over that decision, however he knew that the matron wouldn’t allow them to leave without some form of payment).

Shi Yoo was in an absolutely horrid mood after that and so Do Hyuk found himself prepping the horses for their departure alone. He brushed their manes and distributed apples he had bought from a local vendor equally between them. After he made a few minor adjustments to the saddles and was satisfied with his preparation, Do Hyuk went off to find his wife.

He didn’t have to search for very long for his wife had found an old wooden table to occupy along with their newest acquaintance. The young child from the inn was looking up at Shi Yoo with curiosity as she took out a small pouch she always carried on her person. 

Dohyuk watched on with a smile on his face as his wife’s expression transformed into a more gentle and inviting one in front of the child. He was glad that the owner needed little convincing to part ways with the boy. Do Hyuk doubted that Shi Yoo would have been able to leave if the owner had decided otherwise.

“Your mother, her name was Kim Minjung, wasn’t it?” Shi Yoo asked gently as she lowered herself to Youngbae’s eye level.

The boy nodded at her slowly and Dohyuk heard how his wife’s breath seemed to have caught in as tears welled up in her eyes.

“I didn’t know my mother had a sister,” Youngbae said quietly as Shi Yoo pulled her favorite handkerchief out of her pouch and used it to dab medicine on Youngbae’s reddened cheek.

“We’re not related by blood, but she has always been my sister,” she explained quietly, her eyes expressing a mix of emotions that even Do Hyuk couldn’t decipher. “We became estranged and I lost contact with her over a decade ago. I’m …I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to be a part of your life until now.”

She wasn’t able to finish that last sentence without shedding a few tears and Dohyuk felt his heart clench in sympathy for her as he saw the anguish upon her face. To learn that a sister she had once searched for was dead and that she had bored a child and singlehandedly raised him in a place that was only a stone’s throw away from where they currently lived…he couldn’t even imagine the kind of emotions his wife was feeling now. 

With the innocence of a child, Youngbae was quick to forgive his new found aunt. 

He spoke with an understanding that didn’t seem to fit a child his age. "It's okay. We can't change the past, but I'm glad that you're here now." Youngbae wiped away Shi Yoo’s tears and offered her a small smile.

It was exactly the words she needed to hear and so in-tune with what her sister would have said once upon a time that Shi Yoo couldn’t help but hold the child tightly in her arms.

As much as he didn’t want to interrupt this moment, Dohyuk knew that they had to get going if they wanted to stay on schedule and arrive home in time to prevent unnecessary worry. He approached the two loudly and with the reins of both horses in tow.

“We will arrival shortly before nightfall if we leave now.”

Upon hearing her husband’s voice, Shi Yoo stood up and wiped the rest of the tears away from her eyes. With practiced ease, she mounted the horse effortlessly while Dohyuk helped Youngbae scramble on behind her.

“Where exactly are we going?” Youngbae asked with a hint of apprehension in his voice. 

Dohyuk clambered onto his own steed and gathered the reins into one hand before finding Youngbae’s eyes and holding his gaze.

“We’re bringing you home, Youngbae, where you belong.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the faintest of smiles gracing his wife’s lips before she took off ahead of him while he brought up the rear.

Youngbae held onto her for dear life, being completely unfamiliar with horseback riding. He took the opportunity to bury his face into her back as they rode, hiding the tears that came rushing forth at the thought of once again having a place to call home.

---

A/N: 

Just to keep everyone on the same page: 

Yoon Shi Yoo - Daesung's mother. Martial artist and wife to Kang Do Hyuk. 
Kang Do Hyuk - Daesung's father. Headmaster of the Kang Academy of Classical Arts.

Shi Yoo may seem to have accepted Youngbae very quickly, however rest assured that the others at home will be more wary of the new addition to their family. Her actions are very out of character for her and her kids will be befuddled by it all. 

Do Hyuk just loves his wife enough to trust her reasoning and doesn't put up any resistance to her choice. 

Also: 

*wife threatens to break another woman's hand*
Do Hyuk: 😍😍😍😍 THAT'S MY GIRL!