The horse neighed for attention. Chanyeol let her go. Waking from her daze Namjoo stepped back to give him space to lead the animal toward the tree and tie him up.

She perked up when they reached the courtyard. “Tomorrow…do you want to go for a walk?”

His big eyes conveyed his fascination, as if she had spoken another language. Inching wider. Namjoo’s heart raced as the seconds stretched.

“Yes, lets.”

ꞜꞜꞜꞜꞜ

The widest smile brimmed across his lips when he settled into his room. Laying with arms crossed under his head. Constantly rewinding the half hour beneath the setting sun. Right now, his heart was still palpitating very hard. He was very blissful. In a way he never knew he could be.

The excitement woke him up early. It was Namjoo who brought his first meal. Chanyeol ate in full gulps, because the food tasted even better than he remembered.

“Is it that good?” Namjoo wondered peering into his tray of food.

“Today, for some reason, it’s tastier.” Chanyeol replied.

“Really?” she asked rubbing her chin. “It tasted the same when I had it this morning. I wonder what the girls put in it.”

“You most likely wouldn’t know,” Chanyeol said. “You don’t step into the kitchen.”

“I know some things about cooking,” Namjoo shared. A strange light fluctuated in her eyes. Tightening her lips her tone dropped, “Someone taught me once.”

Something weird passed through him. Sadness for her. Sympathy. Aligning with the same waves of melancholy, as if part of him knew exactly what her mind was processing.

Setting his spoon down, he chirped up, “Lets go.”

Her eyes landed first on his unfinished food. “You’re not done.”

“I’m full.” Getting to his feet he started for the door. Turning around with the ray of light hitting his back. “Hurry up.”

He quickly slipped into his shoes urging her to be faster. Chanyeol wasn’t in a rush. He had sent Minseok to check with the town council in Gobu for an update about the riot. More than aware that if he stayed at the bathhouse for no reason for too long, the Jin family would have questions. Minseok would have questions.

Namjoo followed him into the forest. Past the grazing horse who didn’t have a name yet. Strolling through the field of wild plants and flowers sprouting numerously around them. Popping out in colors of pinks, purples, and blues. The smell of the earth so strong and fresh out here once they were away from the horse.

Tucking hands at his back he reclined his head to look up at the shade overhead. More than conscious about the presence walking beside him. Overjoyed that he could spend this time doing nothing with her. The mere thought made him sound so drunk to himself. It was highly unusual.

“Minseok mentioned that you’re getting married,” Namjoo piped up. Her gaze was filled with curiosity.

Flustered he couldn’t directly meet her eyes. Chewing his inner bottom lip, he blinked hurriedly. He felt conflicted. He didn’t want her to find out about Chunghee.

He was afraid hearing it would make her keep a distance from him.

Chanyeol didn’t want that to happen.

These things Namjoo did to him…he didn’t really dislike. In fact, he wanted to explore these emotions. She was an interesting person. None he had encountered before. The distinct way she spoke and so very casually with him like they were longtime friends and she had always known him. It set something off inside him he couldn’t describe.

He was very drawn to her.

“Why would he say that?” he kind of laughed, baffled.

“No?” Namjoo asked.

Chanyeol pressed his lips together again. “We haven’t formally talked about it. It’s all baseless talk.”

“Is it?” Namjoo wondered. Pulling on a smile, she said in hopes of reviving the pleasant mood, “I suppose it’s a topic for speech.”

Worry flurried through him. He didn’t know what to say or how to add to the conversation. Namjoo had simply pushed it aside like nothing, but she had also brought the topic up because she wanted to know.

It was troubling.

“Chanyeol,” she called. “When are you leaving?”

That was it.

This time, he met her eyes. Curious if she could feel it, too; that he had come here on a whim. Using the riot as an excuse. Staying longer than he should have, because the riot had honestly calmed down after day one.

What he was doing, what kinds of actions he was taking were all very out of his control.

“Soon.” He ambiguously said. There wasn’t an exact date. He might have to pack up tomorrow or perhaps hold it off till the day after. Chanyeol wasn’t keen on hitting the road toward the Jin manor yet.

Being carefree here was unlike anywhere else.

ꞜꞜꞜꞜꞜ

Marriage must be a bigger deal here than present day or was it the same kind of fuss?

“Of course it is!” one of the servant girls storing away her cleaned clothes exclaimed. “If a man has a daughter, he has to make sure she is married off. She needs a man in order to live a proper life or her life won’t prosper. A woman can’t survive by herself. Think of the shame she will bear for not being wanted. It’s for the sake of the family’s name. The groom’s side will need a woman to preserve the family name and she needs to fulfill her role for them.”

“I know that stuff,” Namjoo waved her hand.

The girl huffed. “Then why ask?”

Propping her elbow onto the round table in her room, Namjoo eyed the door like it may burst open any moment.

“What about a prime minister’s daughter?” Namjoo questioned.

“That’s an even bigger deal,” the girl seemed to gasp.

“Then it must be like the CEO’s daughter getting married to an important figure in her father’s company, like the chief administrative officer,” Namjoo muttered to herself. Even quieter, “His rank can’t be that high.”

“What?” the girl frowned.

“Can the prime minister’s daughter ask for a marriage?” Namjoo glanced at the girl kneeling on the ground beside her drawer. A fine silk purple cloth lay on her lap because Namjoo had interrupted her work.

“Well…” she pondered her answer, “if her father’s the prime minister, I’m sure he’ll make it possible.”

“So it’s all about power,” Namjoo finished leaning her chin into her palm.

“Then…yes…I suppose,” the servant girl uncertainly nodded confused what she was on about.

Baseless talk Chanyeol had brushed it off, but he knew about it. Lady Chunghee wanted to marry him. How formidable she must be, backed by her father.

So in this world Namjoo had dropped to the rank of a blue collar with no importance. She was basically no one.

Groaning, Namjoo buried her face into her hands.

She was just a peasant.

ꞜꞜꞜꞜꞜ

One and then the next plopped into the pond. A tiny ripple started. Stretching into three rings then disappeared. The nightly world stood like a clear mist around him. A black sky hanging above the outer buildings. No moon. No stars.

Chanyeol was standing in the courtyard. The cherry blossom tree bare. branches stretching out as if to grasp for what it had lost. Someone was crouching in front of the pond. Her long hair loose and trailing over her back.

Dread poured through him. The uncertainty so daunting he feared approaching. His mouth moved except no voice came through. He noticed the trembling of her shoulders. Heard no sound of weeping. He couldn’t even hear the wind rustling her hair.

In fact, he realized, he couldn’t hear anything at all. The world was at a standstill. Nothing moved.

Chanyeol couldn’t even step forward. His feet were glued to the ground.

It came blasting into him all at once. A rush of wind that made his clothes flap in the direction it was traveling. His heart immediately broke into irreparable pieces when the figure turned around and stood. Tear streaked. Agony ripping her apart as she bawled.

The soles of his feet loosened. The momentum propelling him forward. Chanyeol started at a run. Increasing his pace to reach her, but no matter how hard he ran the distance between them grew longer and longer. Until the fog drifted down. Thickening in the matter of seconds and Namjoo disappeared on the other side, her sobbing still loud as day.

A cry seeped through his mouth. The lantern beside him clattered onto the ground as his arm swung out when he jolted up. Panting. Struggling to catch his breath.

Confused, Chanyeol wildly blinked. Trying to fixate his eyes on the items in his darkened room. Still, he couldn’t see anything. Yet realizing he’d had some kind of dream made him feel safe and at the same time, panic.

What had just happened?

Throwing the blanket off Chanyeol crawled toward the door. Feeling suffocated he located the door and slid it open. At once the cool night breeze welcomed him and he took big, greedy gulps into his lungs.

There, in front of him, the crescent moon shone very strongly. The stars were magnificently shimmering.

That’s right, his world wasn’t so dark or eerie.

Calm washed over him. Lasting only a minute until he blinked seeing the figure by the pond. Recognizing who it was instantly.

A gulp shot down his throat. Starting on urge he shuffled to his feet. Sliding into his shoes beneath the two stone steps and hurried toward Namjoo. Quickening his pace because the space between them might lengthen, but it didn’t.

Chanyeol snatched her shoulder. Listened to her yelp shocked as she twisted around. Staring up at him wide-eyed.

He panted. A cruel awakening, because she wasn’t here crying for him.

“Sorry,” he breathed dropping his hand.

Namjoo eyed the surrendering limb then rose. Asking, “What?”

He peeked at her. Could still hear her sorrow from his dream as if it had trailed after him. Confused why he had dreamt such an ominous picture.

“Nothing,” he lied. “Do you never sleep? You’re always up.”

“What?” A brow dipped over her eye.

Catching himself, he hurriedly added to save himself in case she figured out that he had been watching her nightly, “I mean…do you constantly walk outside at night? It’s not safe for a lady.”

Namjoo eyed him weirdly then laughed like he’d made a silly remark. “What do I have to be scared of?”

“Well,” Chanyeol reminded, “you might run into a bad guy.”

“But I’m sure you’ll hear me screaming and wake up. You’ll come find me.” Namjoo grinned.

His heart jumped. Namjoo shyly glanced at him then away. Chanyeol couldn’t restrain the smile growing wide across his lips.

That she hoped. She knew he would go look for her if anything happened.

Tucking his hands at his back, he gripped onto his fingers. Controlling himself from heehawing. Turning to face the cherry blossom tree, he wondered, “Why are you awake?”

“I just am.”

“The water,” he gestured to the pond, “do you like it?”

Her eyes swiveled from side to side. Melancholia floated across her irises when she gazed up at the moon.

“I’m familiar with the water,” her voice came soft. “It brings me good memories. Then again, I’m not entirely certain I know it the way I used to.”

Chanyeol looked at the pond. The meaning of her words gone lost in transition.

“The water always recedes, but it comes back to the shoreline the same. A drain might empty but it’ll fill up with water again.”

“What are you saying?”

Her head lowered coming to level with his shoulder. “That people change.”

“We’re human, so we’re incapable of staying the same,” Chanyeol reasoned. “Now will always stand apart from then. It becomes a scrap of memory, isn’t that what you said?”

“For better or worse, it somehow ends up some kind of regret.” She quietly said. To herself or to him he wasn’t sure.

“Bygones has to be bygones, don’t you think?” he asked.

If they were talking about regrets, disappointments, and changes he wasn’t the type to think too hard. Times were hard as it was. Praying for survival out in battle. Putting on a façade of fearlessness because it was expected of him. Learning from a young age when his father died that he shouldn’t grieve too long. The living had to keep moving in order to live. Scrabbling for food, clothes, a roof over his head.

There was no point hanging onto a shard of memory as if it was his life.

“That is true. We can’t change what already happened,” Namjoo said then angled her head to look at him, “but Chanyeol, I hope you never change even if your view on the world becomes different.”

ꞜꞜꞜꞜꞜ

Namjoo didn’t climb into bed when she retreated to her room. Pulling out a chair she sunk down. Entwined her arms on the table and leaned into her wrists with the side of her face.

Nighttime it was that she always became homesick. Reminiscing the city, her office, her achievements, and the museum. And her boyfriend.

Since when, she wondered, did she become so self-absorbed that she disregarded the importance of her relationship with Chanyeol? All the times he wanted to spend with her mattered no less than the next meal. The heat of their relationship had disintegrated into smoke because she had chosen herself over him.

Selfish.

Greedy.

Pompous.

Prideful.

Turning into an egocentric human, like her father. Nothing had mattered more than the company. Success drilled into her head that that was all she saw.

Her own success that would lead to even greater means.

Not even thinking of a future with the man who tried hanging onto the thin string she was prepared to cut any day, any time if her job needed it be done. Fretting over the growth of the museum instead of appreciating what she had.

Chanyeol.

A good man who could have vied for someone else.

He could have walked away. Threatened to break up with her many times, but he hadn’t. Because he was loyal and devoted. He loved her.

Now he was in a coma because she hadn’t thought to save him the moment he fell into her pool.

It was mouth dropping how conceited she sounded to herself now.

Analyzing her worth because general Chanyeol, in this time and era, would be getting married. To a noble woman.

Marriage…

It had swayed her when Chanyeol screamed it. That he had thought of marrying her on their third anniversary of being a couple. Man and woman. Spending a lifetime together. Despite her busy life and the countless dinners she had missed.

Marriage…

It was quite a special union, wasn’t it?

All these thoughts spurred through her mind into the darkest of the night. Rousing only when she heard, “Young Miss. Young Miss.” and someone was shaking her awake.

Namjoo’s neck cramped. Her back ached. Her arms were even harder to untangle because her elbows were so stiff from remaining entwined the whole night.

Groaning, she touched her neck, “What time is it?”

“It’s not important.” The servant girl stepped back. Namjoo saw, in the gap between her and the table, Minseok standing in the open doorway. The usual amused grin sat on his lips.

Abruptly standing, Namjoo blinked hurriedly. “Oh…uh…”

The girl bowed her head before exiting leaving her alone with Minseok.

“I didn’t know,” Namjoo started, “you were here.”

“I just returned.” Minseok leaned into the threshold. “I stayed overnight in Gobu.”

“Was the riot serious?” Namjoo wondered.

“The people have calmed,” Minseok answered.

“Then…why…”

“Nothing,” he continued grinning, “I just wanted to say goodbye before we leave.”

“You’re…” Namjoo’s heart did a strange drop, “leaving?”

“It looks like a war might break out up north,” Minseok explained.

Even graver, Namjoo repeated, “War?”

***I think this is the first time the romance has picked up this fast lol 

***all right, hang in there my few subscribers! The story will be cut short, but I will make it good! I have the ending set up, I just need to get there