Taeyeon ran her eyes throughout the room a bit shocked from what had just happened. Her head buzzed as if alerting her from an imminent danger. She took a step back, feeling her chest rise up and down completely out of pace.

What did just happen?

“Lady… Mi-y” She couldn’t complete her words as she gulped nervously and ended up feeling the taste of Lady Miyoung’s kiss down . Her whole body got warmed up and a feeling of shyness overwhelmed her. Her hand trembled a little bit and she tried to hide it from the lady in front of her. Her eyes shyly avoided meeting Lady Miyoung’s.

“You are blushing…” Lady Hwang said, and Taeyeon felt a bit of despair engulf her. How was she supposed to deal with that? How could she maintain her composure when Lady Hwang has just bluntly kissed her? Something that Taeyeon had never ever pictured, not even in her most wildest dreams?

“Uh….”

“Was that so unexpected?” She asked, a bit amused and Taeyeon could only nod with her head. “I’m sorry. I didn't mean to get you so off guard.”

Taeyeon closed her eyes, feeling her guts twist up internally. “Why did you..” Taeyeon’s voice came out so lowly it almost sounded like a whisper. “Why did you…” She couldn’t process long sentences in her brain at that particular moment. She stepped back a few times and gulped hard. “Why did you…Kiss me?”

There was a second of silence and Taeyeon lifted her eyes to meet Lady Miyoung’s. Her mind went upon a reason Taeyeon didn’t really like. Lady Hwang seemed strangely composed for a highborn that just bluntly kissed a bastard born, and that left Taeyeon a bit surprised. “Lady Hwang...?”

Lady Miyoung lowered her eyes a level downwards. “I just…” She started saying. “I just...wanted to show you... how grateful I am...for everything you’ve been doing for me.”

“There are words for that. No need to kiss me, Lady Hwang!” Taeyeon replied faintly, making Lady Hwang chuckle.

“It’s not enough.” “Words are not enough.”

Is that it? Is that what it was? A kiss of gratitude? Nothing more?

“Is that all?” She asked the highborn lady. “A kiss of gratitude? Nothing more than that?” The room stood silent for a second or two. Taeyeon closed her eyes. “Lady Hwang…” She did not know how to feel about that. “Please…” “Please, don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

Taeyeon gulped. “Don’t fall in love with me.” Lady Hwang blinked, her eyes travelling back around the floor. Taeyeon sighed. A sudden feeling of guilt started to take Taeyeon’s soul. “We can’t be together, Lady Hwang. You know that, right?”

Lady Miyoung nodded her head.

“It’s against the law.”

“I know.”

“And...you’re married!” She remembered, just suddenly.

That seemed to stung her deeply, as her eyes stared at Taeyeon’s a bit fiery. “To the most despicable man of Joseon!”

Taeyeon felt bad for the person in front of her. “You’re still married.”

Lady Hwang turned her head to the side.

“And kissing me would be a treason, wouldn’t it?”

“Will you tell him?” She asked her, Taeyeon picked up a firm tone in her voice, making her feel a little intimidated.

“No…” She said, faintly.

“There you go, you don’t need to worry about that…”

Taeyeon closed her eyes. “Lady Hwang…” “I can’t deal with this. Please!” “We have a very long journey to go through. And if we develop feelings for one another, things will get complicated!”

“I know.”

“There are so many dangers around the corner for all of us. And if we allow this to become bigger, we can get in trouble. You can get into trouble! And you can get hurt. And I don’t want to hurt you, Lady Miyoung!” She said, faithfully. “And if you fall in love with me… that’s what will happen. I will hurt you.”

“Will you?” She asked curiously.

Taeyeon just nodded her head. “I will break your heart.”

“Will you?”

Taeyeon looked at the lady in front of her. “In ways you would never expect.” That seemed to make Lady Hwang a little insecure. “So..please...don’t fall in love with me.” Her plea came out as a whisper. “I’m not a good person for you to fall in love with.” “I’m actually the worst person for you to fall in love with…” Taeyeon finished, twisting her lips, nervous still by the sudden happening.

Lady Hwang gulped, lowering her eyes. “Just so you know…” Lady Hwang started saying, still looking at an invisible spot beneath her feet. “I don’t love you.” Taeyeon sighed, a bit relieved. “It was just a kiss of gratitude.”

Okay. Taeyeon could live with that.

“Okay. Sweet!” She said, still a bit awkward, clearing up . “So, I guess, uh…” “We can…forget that this ever happened... pack our stuff and leave this pla...” Taeyeon didn’t really know what to do when Lady Hwang just nodded her head and bluntly left the room without saying anything. “Lady Hwang…” She sighed, not really moving herself to stop the highborn to go wherever she wanted to. Her head falling down a level and her hand meeting her face out of embarrassment. “Ah, crap…”

Taeyeon stood there for a second, making no movement. “What do I do?” She asked to herself, insecure about what would happen between them after that kiss. What if she gets too close to Lady Hwang and that makes her fall in love with Taeyeon just like Heechul feared? Heechul! Oh, man, he would be damn furious if he ever finds out about the kiss! Taeyeon shook her head sideways, completely lost in that situation. No! She couldn’t really tell Heechul anything! If she tells him, there goes another argument; and Taeyeon wasn’t really in the mood to hear his rant about Lady Hwang. She took the decision to let her stay within the group, she can’t just change her mind and let the woman and her friends be forgotten in that place. Now Taeyeon has to follow her decision and bring Lady Hwang with her till Rosegarden.

But how to do that without making Lady Hwang grow any feelings for her? If that kiss was just a kiss of gratitude, then it wasn’t that much of a problem. However, that didn’t mean Taeyeon was safe from Lady Hwang developing feelings for her.

The journey to Rosegardan would be long and harsh and if not careful, Lady Hwang’s affection for her could get quite big. How to stop that affection from getting big? How to maintain it as just a good friendship?

Would it be a good idea to tell Lady Hwang she was actually a woman to make the Lady fall back and stop any feelings from emerging?

No. That would be stupid.

Telling one person about her deepest secret would be Taeyeon’s downfall.

If everyone knew she was actually a woman this whole time and they would feel betrayed. They would leave her stray and Taeyeon wouldn’t have her friends anymore.

No.

Telling Lady Hwang about her gender is out of question.

Then… what should she do?

Get distant?

That could work.

If Taeyeon stops their little talks and ventures, that could help Lady Hwang not grow feelings for her.

But how to stop their little talks? What to do to prevent Lady Hwang from getting closer to her?

When a sudden idea emerged in her head, Taeyeon actually gasped, pleased by the realization.

~~*~~

She knocked on the door twice and waited for the invitation to get inside the room. But when Lady Hwang actually slid the door open to the side and faced Taeyeon there at the entrance of the room, Taeyeon gulped. Her hand trembled again.

“Uh…” She closed her eyes, the feeling of embarrassment coming back at her. She looked at her feet. “There’s a person I need to talk to…”

“Me?” Lady Hwang’s voice sounded firmer.

Taeyeon still didn’t dare to look at her face. “Seohyun.” She answered.

“Seohyun?” Sooyoung and Yuri echoed together.

“Juhyun?” Lady Hwang frowned.

“Me?” The Hwang servant left out, surprised.

“Yeah..” She turned her eyes at the servant. “You.”

“What do you want to talk to Juhyun about?” Lady Hwang questioned.

Taeyeon felt her forehead sweating. “It is not of your concern.”

That made Taeyeon’s shoulders get heavy as she felt Lady Hwang’s eyes squint at her, not pleased by the remark. Taeyeon felt somewhat suffocated, she ended up saying “Sorry” in her mind for the lady in front of her.

Lady Hwang stepped aside and made a sign of approval to the servant, allowing Seohyun to follow Taeyeon along. Taeyeon exhaled in relief when Lady Hwang ended up out of sight.

“Is everything alright, Lord Taeyeon?” The servant asked when they were both by themselves inside Taeyeon’s room.

Taeyeon sighed. “Don’t call me that, okay, I’m not a lord.”

“Sorry, My lord.”

“My birth class is lower than yours, you know that, right?”

Seohyun blinked. “I’m not used to dealing with bastards boys, My lord. I apologize.”

Taeyeon scratched up her head. “Uh, okay. Still, don’t call me that. Call me anything but Lord Taeyeon, okay?”

The handmaiden seemed to be a little uncomfortable with that.

“You won’t be rude if you call me just by my name. No need to put fancy titles on me.”

She nodded her head, and gulped. “What do you want to talk about?”

Taeyeon thought for a second or two if her plan was actually a good one, but it was the only one she could think of, and as such was the one she would follow.

“I need your help.”

“My help?”

“Yes. I’m afraid that your Lady Hwang…” Taeyeon paused for a second. “Might grow some feelings for me.” The handmaiden blinked. “And uh… We have a very rough journey till Rosegarden and uh… it’s not really wise of her to do that… it’s illegal, you know? And uh...”

Seohyun gulped, her gaze falling down a level.

“And uh… I need your help to make sure she doesn’t feel this way about me.”

“How am I even supposed to do that?” The servant questioned, surprised by the sudden asking.

Taeyeon didn’t know the answer for that either. But she came up with a solution. “Stay with her at all times. Stick to her as dirt on her shoes, like… fingernail and flesh! ”

“I already do that...”

“Well, stick to her harder! Like if you were joined at the hips!”

Seohyun blinked, not really sure what to do. Taeyeon sighed, a bit tired. “Just… stop her meeting up with me.”

“Meeting up with you?”

“Yeah, like, at night, when everyone’s asleep, don’t let Lady Hwang come closer to me.”

“Was she doing that?” Seohyun asked, surprised.

“Well, yeah... Where were you at those times, anyways?”

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