Lady Jung seemed to be preoccupied ranting at Ji-min as she signaled with her pointer finger things Shin Hye could not clearly hear. The air grew thick, but she refused to let her negative thoughts cloud her concentration as she descended the stairs ever so slowly. Her stern look abruptly looked up to stare at Shin Hye but she held her chin up as she reached the bottom step. Silently and smoothly, she let out her breath ready to address her.

“How is my son?" she asked, the bitter snare never leaving her.

"Sleeping." she replied, with such assurance.

"Sleeping? Yong Hwa has never slept during the day," she snipped, walking past Shin Hye.

"I assure you that he is sleeping, your son needs to rest. He has been in great pain lately and has failed to get any slumber. It is quite a miracle that he has actually achieved to fall asleep." Shin Hye called out after her.

The bitter old woman paused half way up the flight of stairs and turned over her shoulder to search Shin Hye’s eyes for any hint of a lie. Therefore, picking up her skirts she turned her attention fully unto her neglected daughter in law and said,

“Well then, I will be in around dinner time to attend to him.”

With an arched eyebrow, Lady Jung descended the stairs her eyes never leaving that of Shin Hye’s.

“See to it that he is fed, I assume under your watch he will be more than neglected.” She scoffed.

Her rude remark held little effect on Shin Hye as she watched her mother in law walk out the front door brushing past the lawyer without notice. The old man could not contain himself as he watched Lady Jung walk out the door with a glare to overshadow his expression.

"Good Evening, Sir....I actually failed to catch your name yesterday." Shin Hye greeted.

“Kim.” He replied, greeting her warmly.

"How is your husband doing?"

“He is doing some progress”, she sighed clearly showing her frustration.

"I forgot to mention that I will be leaving town for a few weeks, and so I will not be able to come in and have the both of you sign the documents this weekend. Would this be a terrible moment to ask your husband and you to sign them?” he pondered.

"Why don't you leave the papers here and I'll make sure to place them in his study."

"Well, alright." he replied, not certain but none the less pulling them out of his brief case.

"When they are signed, make sure to contact me so that I am able to retrieve them.”

“Thank you very much, Sir Kim." Shin Hye said.

Once the old man left, she hurried up the stairs and left the documents on the cherry oak desk. Curiosity ate at her as she flipped through the fragile thin pages and finally reached the last sheet containing the two dotted lines where they were to sign. With a heavy sigh, she slipped out of the study and knocked lightly on Yong Hwa’s door, to tend to him.

Lying on his side, she found him sound asleep and was even surprised that he had eaten so quickly. Her eyes took in his chiseled good looks for a moment and she could nearly feel the deep wound her heart was cracking in. Shin Hye refused to think of such depressed thoughts and simply ripped her gaze from his face and went about shutting the blinds and lighting a small oil lamp next to his bed. Yong Hwa looked almost perfect as he slept, without his rude comments, dark glares, or harsh words. She dared to run a hand through his dark locks and silently kneeled down next to him to give a prayer to the heavens asking that he recover quickly.

Her light whispers were enough to wake him and listen to her utter a prayer of hope and healing. Yong Hwa had never prayed in his entire life, it was something that he saw overrated, but as he heard her ask, The Lord to help him regain his strength, it abruptly gave him a comforting warm feeling from head to toe.

"Amen," she whispered, and then rose.

Yong Hwa closed his eyes the moment the air next to his back went cold. She pulled the covers up to his chin tucking him in, having absolutely no idea that he lay awake. Once the door shut close to his chambers, he slowly turned unto his back and let out a small sigh. Maybe his wife was not as bad as he had taken her for. Clearly, these past two days all she had been trying to do was help him recover. She had not failed to attend to his every need, of course was something else but it intrigued him somewhat to find she was a little pistol. A chuckle escaped him as he watched the dancing shadows on his walls and for the first time since he laid eyes on her he felt a hint of attraction grow within him.

The clattering of her small petite heels echoed through the mansion, as she hurried into her chambers and grabbed her sketched book. Her labyrinth awaited and Shin Hye felt so much eagerness to get there to see her one and only companion. Upon arriving, she lay unto her stomach and pulled out a blank piece of paper to sketch. A wonderful Mocking bird began to take shape in the faint yellow page of her sketchbook, with wide spread life like wings. A smiled formed at her lips as she hoped that she would feel like this bird the day she would have to walk out of this life forever. For a moment, she immobilized and raised her eyes to gape at her exquisite grand garden. Soon tears blinded her as she rose off the floor and held herself.

"I will miss you." she spoke out to it.

She grinned then brushed her tears away and made her way to the water feature pulling out of her shoes. Relived to feel her feet rest from the tight grip her shoes consumed her with day by day she wiggled her toes and gently dipped them into the water. It was a child like thing to do, but nonetheless who was here to judge what she did in here? Shin Hye danced around inside the large fountain, splashing water about as she giggled and twirled many times loving every bit of it. This fortress was her only escape from the real world. Inside these large walls of brick covered in forest green vines she could believe, hope, cry, laugh, and even dance. It felt almost that forever had gone b