03/08/13

Taecyeon and Yoona's first meeting. How will it go?

Warning: a little bit of foul language at the end.

            Sitting in the Palace waiting room, Im Yoona’s hands were shaking. She couldn’t believe she was able to summon up the nerve to go to the Palace and request an audience with the king and queen. But her parents had recently died, and her uncle just told her that he had sold her to a brothel. Yoona was desperate, and this was the most reasonable thing to do.

            “Miss Im,” a man’s voice brought Yoona back into the present. She looked up and saw the advisor that had let her in to the Palace. He motioned her to follow him, and with hesitation, Yoona stood up and walked behind the advisor.

            He led her to what seemed like the grand hall, and announced her presence to the five people in the room. She had heard of them before, and by the way they dressed and acted, Yoona was able to immediately distinguish who was who.

            Realizing that they were expecting her to speak, Yoona walked forward and bowed, hoping that her shaking was not noticeable. “My king and queen, my name is Im Yoona. I am a recently orphaned girl who had just been sold to the brothel by my uncle. After hearing this news, I immediately escaped and ran over here. My request for the two of you is to send me to a respectable temple so I can pursue the modest life of a monk.”

                                                :::::

            There was silence. Nobody had expected the girl in tattered clothing, the girl who was supposedly Taecyeon’s future wife, to request access to the monastery.

            Nichkhun turned to Taecyeon. “This is the girl you’re going to marry?”

            But Taecyeon wasn’t listening. He was too busy staring at the newcomer.

            Victoria was the first to gather her wits. She walked over to Yoona and took her hand. “I am sorry for your loss, my dear, and I understand that you are trying to seek safety from your wretched uncle, but why would you, a young and beautiful woman, want to seek refuge by becoming a monk? If you do, you’ll have to shave off your hair and maintain abstinence for the rest of your life. There are other choices out there, like—”

            “Nothing is safer than a place without red-blooded men,” Yoona blurted out. Realizing there were four men in the room, she added a brief, “I’m sorry.”

            The girl didn’t even try to correct her wording. Victoria observed. Yoona must have had bad experiences with men. A young maiden girl as beautiful as she was, raised in a poor family… Who knows what rich and spoiled men think they’re entitled to do.

            If it wasn’t for Taecyeon, Victoria would have immediately granted Yoona her wish. But… If she did this, she knew Taecyeon would be devastated. And she owed Taecyeon Nichkhun’s life.

            “How about this,” Victoria offered. “Work for me. You’ll be given food, clothing, and wages. You’ll have everything you need to survive. In addition, as a queen’s maid, you’ll be under my protection, and if anybody hurts you in any way, I’ll punish them appropriately. You’ll be safe from men’s advances without giving your life to religion.”

            Yoona hesitated.

            “After three months, if you still want to serve in the temple, then I will allow you to go,” Victoria added.

            Knowing that she had no choice but to accept, Yoona nodded. She could tell from the queen’s eyes that she had already made up her mind, and Yoona was not going to be the first one to challenge the queen.

            Yoona had been set on going to the temple, but maybe serving the queen might not be that bad…

            “Good,” Victoria smiled. She turned around and motioned Hyuna to come over. “Yoona, let me introduce you to Hyuna, my assistant. She’ll be your guide for the next few days while you get familiar with the Palace. Feel free to ask her any questions.”

            Yoona smiles at Hyuna. “Nice to meet you.”

            Hyuna gives her a bright smile. “We’ll have a lot of fun together, I’m sure of it!”

            “Let’s go over to the tea room and talk a little more, Yoona,” Victoria suggested. “Hyuna, you’ll come too, of course.”

            Nodding, Yoona followed the five people out of the grand hall. Taking this time to survey the crowd, she carefully observed each one of them. The queen and her assistant seemed very nice, especially the assistant. Yoona could sense that the queen was very loving. She’ll be a good queen. She’s strong and caring.

            The king looked pretty placid and cold, but seeing the interactions between the king and queen, Yoona knew that there was more than meets the eye. The two royals had a deep and tacit understanding of each other. They would exchange glances, nod, and go their separate ways. It was as if they could communicate telepathically.

            The king’s assistant was also pretty quiet, though he’s not as foreboding as the king in his silence. It’s more like the assistant was an innocent puppy wagging his tail. He’s awfully happy today. I wonder if he’s like that all the time.

            Yoona looks at Taecyeon. She’s heard a lot about him, since he heroically claimed to be the king in front of the ambushers in order to save the actual king’s life. But looking at him now, staring at her with an awed expression, Yoona rolled her eyes. It just shows that no matter how honorable a man can be he will act like a fool in front of a beautiful woman.

            And yes, Yoona knows she is pretty. No, it’s not that she thinks she is pretty; it’s that she knows other people view her as pretty. When men practically drool in front of her and women automatically hate her guts, she kind of figured out that she was different. Even her mother hated her. All this hate and unwanted attention just because of her looks, oh, how she wished she wasn’t considered pretty.

            “What the are you looking at?” she glared at Taecyeon. Only the two of them were in the grand hall, so she took liberty with her words. Then, she hurried off to catch up to Hyuna and Victoria.

                                    ::::

            After Yoona left the room, Taecyeon sighed. When he first saw her, it seemed like she came out of a painting. Smooth skin, slender limbs, intelligent bright eyes with a long neck, the epitome of grace.

            He grinned. She’s a bit foul-mouthed, but that’s okay.

            But, his grin faltered. Can I really make her mine?

            He didn’t need all of his knowledge from his past lives to know that a guy like him didn’t get a girl like her. Taecyeon knew that Victoria forced Yoona to become her maid because of him. He didn’t want Yoona to do anything against her will, but if that beautiful girl goes to the temple, it would be such a pity.

            Anyway, he shook his head. Now that I’ve actually met her, I should be having another vision of our future. He waited expectantly, but nothing happened.

            He frowned. That’s odd.