Chapter 39 Red Winter Part 5

Sukh sat alone in his small mansion, while carefully controlling his breathing, he felt his bones start to ache. Sometimes, depending on the weather, his old chronic pain would reoccur.

The maid said, "I'm going to prepare lunch." She put the boiled medicine on the table. "My lord, do you have any special requests?"

Sukh said, "No." He picked up the boiled medicine and began to drink it when the maid came back suddenly. He looked up at the maid.

The maid said, "My lord, Chief Keme and lady Zuni are here."

Sukh said, "Prepare lunch for us."

Soaking in the big bathtub with the four concubines, Haneul felt that he was not happy at all. Seeing the concubines smiling at him while taking a bath, their voices suddenly made him feel extremely irritated. He got up quickly and got out of the bathtub. The servant dressed Haneul quickly.

"Is anyone waiting outside?" Haneul asked.

"No, Your Majesty," the servant replied.

Haneul turned to his servant and whispered, "I'm stepping out of the palace. If anyone seeks me, tell them I don't feel well and I'm resting."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Along the bustling street, Haneul walked to Sukh's home. He waited at the door for a while, it seemed that Sukh or his personal maid were not at home, so he decided to enter the house and wait for Sukh in the guest room, but when he was approaching the guest room, he saw Sukh, Chief Keme, and Zuni happily have lunch together. He tightened his grip on the handle of the basket he brought with him.

After lunch with Chief Keme and Zuni, Sukh sent the father and daughter out the front door.

Chief Keme said, "General, when we talked about this in the past, I thought you would not keep your promise."

Sukh said, "I didn't expect His Majesty to announce the marriage at the meeting." He looked at Chief Keme. "We'll wait to see what His Majesty has to say." He sighed. "To be honest, when I promised you, I thought Zuni would be better off marrying His Majesty than me. The security would be better."

Zuni said, "Father said the same thing, but I chose you because I felt the kindness from you."

Sukh smiled at Zuni and said, "Thank you."

Chief Keme said, "Thank you for lunch today. We will get going."

Sukh said goodbye to the father and daughter. He stood at the front door watching Chief Keme and Zuni disappear with the crowd on the street.

"My lord." The maid rushed over almost out of breath.

Sukh asked, "What's wrong?"

"My lord, your... your friend is in your room," she said tremblingly, looking at Sukh.

Sukh said, "You said he was not here."

The maid said, "I didn't see when he came in."

Sukh said, "I'm going to check on him. If anyone is looking for me, tell them I'm not home."

The maid replied timidly, "Yes, my lord."

Sukh went to his room and found Haneul sleeping on the bed with a basket of food on the table. He sighed and walked in. "When did you arrive," he asked.

Haneul said, "I just arrived." He turned to look at Sukh. "I brought you lunch." He pointed to the basket. "Are you hungry?"

Sukh said, "Yes…shall we eat together?"

Haneul sat up on the edge of the bed and smiled slightly. "I suddenly thought of a funny thing," he said, standing up and walking towards Sukh. "You never asked me out to dinner, every time I asked you out to dinner you always made an excuse that if someone saw us eating together in public, it would hurt my image." He raised Sukh's chin up with his fingers. "Did something happen that changed your mind?"

Sukh said, "Nothing happened." He opened the lid of the basket and took out all five dishes in the basket. "Come and eat with me."

Sitting across from Sukh, Haneul said, "If I were to eat with you at your invitation, it sounds like a test for the last meal. So, you go ahead and continue to eat alone if you are hungry."

Sukh said, "I do want to invite you, but you never allow me to have such an opportunity."

Haneul said indifferently, "Make sure you eat all the food on the table. I want all the plates lick clean."

Sukh doesn't like the way Haneul talks to him; he knows that Haneul must be on the verge of breaking down by now. He sighed and put down his chopsticks. "Right now, it's not a good time for us to talk or meet because your heart is not at ease. Let's talk when you can better control your emotions," he said.

Haneul stared at Sukh madly and knocked all the plates on the table to the ground with his left hand. "You don't want to eat the food I brought you, because you have already eaten with your beloved future father-in-law and wife to be." He gritted his teeth and panted wildly in front of Sukh. "The good things I do for you are not as good as those your father-in-law gave you, right?"

Sukh tried his best to suppress his anger, because he knew that two angry minds could not solve any problems. He also knew that no matter whether Haneul is right or wrong, he will never challenge Haneul.

Haneul continued, "You lied to me all my life. You lied that no matter where you go or where I am, you will love me, but you secretly proposed to Chief Keme's daughter behind my back." He slammed the table so hard that his right knuckles and the newly healed skin began to bleed again. "Just now you lied that you were hungry, but in fact you have already invited Chief Keme and his daughter to have lunch together." He laughed wildly. "You will refuse to eat with me, but with others, you will sit down and eat happily with them."

Sukh looked at Haneul and said, "Haneul, don't put your own words in my mouth."

Haneul said, "Put my words in your mouth? So, what I said was false?"

Sukh said, "No... the promise to marry Zuni was made by me, but I didn't propose to her like you said. I did have lunch with Chief Keme and Zuni, but I didn't invite them, they showed up uninvited to talk about your public announcement this morning of my marriage to Zuni." He looked at the dirty food on the floor. "I'm hungry because I didn't eat much with them."

Sukh got off the stool, picked up the spilled food on the floor, put it on the broken plate, and put it on the table. He started eating the dirty food and Haneul was still staring at him madly. Then Sukh suddenly felt a sharp pain in his palate. Sukh spat the bloody food in his mouth onto his hands.

Haneul quickly got off the stool, "Open your mouth." He looked at Sukh's mouth and found a sharp piece of ceramic stuck on the top of Sukh's mouth. He quickly pulled it out. "Stop eating. There are shards mixed in with the food." Haneul took out a handkerchief and wiped away the blood from the corner of Sukh's mouth. "If you're still hungry, ask the maid to make more food."

Sukh looked up at Haneul, his eyes were moistened by what Haneul had shown him. Sukh wrapped his hands around Haneul's waist, buried his face in Haneul's abdomen, and started sobbing. "Haneul...Haneul...I'm sorry," he sobbed softly. "You're not the only one who was hurt... I hurt too... Maybe I hurt more than you..."

Haneul stroked Sukh's hair, then lowered his head and kissed Sukh's forehead. "Then tell me what's on your mind and don't let me put my own words and thoughts in your mouth. If you don't tell me what you like and don't like, then I'll just assume that whatever I did you like them all," He said, continuing to stroke Sukh's hair.

Sukh said, "I have nothing to say."

Haneul said emotionally, "Reject your marriage with Chief Keme's daughter."

Sukh said, "If I reject him, you lose his support."

Haneul said softly, "I don't care who supports me, as long as you support me, that's what I want. Also, I just want you to remember that I don't just love you when I encounter difficulties but love you no matter what."

Sukh closed his eyes and repeated in his heart 'in my darkest time, you are the only one who has been kind to me'. "Haneul, then you have to remember, no matter how much you love me, you also have to love yourself. Now that we have walked this road together, I only hope that you can be a good king for the people of Tangzang."

Haneul smiled. "I love myself, but I love you more." He kissed Sukh's forehead. "Are we good now? Are you still mad at me?"

Sukh said, "I was never mad at you. You were the one who got mad at me."

Haneul picked up Sukh from the stool and held Sukh in his arms, Sukh's legs were wrapped around Haneul's waist. Haneul snorted and teased, "Oh my beloved, you need to do less training, you are getting heavier." He started kissing Sukh, and then walked them to Sukh's bed.