Chapter 31: Seon-Ho

I had my eyes locked on her the whole time as she defeated my father with each blow of her truth; the girl who I saw having her first bout of epilepsy as her father was unjustly framed and boiled in a cauldron in front of the whole town, the girl who had a very obvious crush on me since we met after that and the girl who was my only friend's little sister who had become my companion as I sent her brother away for his own good was defeating the mountain of the man who had wrecked havoc on my life from the day I was born.

But here this girl was; this once poor awkward girl who had soon flourished into a very beautiful, graceful woman, despite the fact that she was in her teens was defeating my father in my stead; protecting both myself and her brother with ever fibre of her being with a seamless sense of intelligence; more so than I had originally thought she had secretly possessed. I had never witnessed this from her in the decade I had known her for. Her soft baby-like tone still intact but she breathed fire like a dragon with every word she pronounced; uncovering all of his sins that even I was not aware of....

Until she mentioned my late mother. My head shot up at this and our eyes connected for a split second. I could feel a bond between the two of us that I had never felt before; a strong sense of possessiveness, care and protection towards me that I was never given me even by my own parents... and a deep sense of love that I felt went straight into my ice-cold soul and had warmed it up so much to the point that I could no longer control my emotions and psychical body. I...I wanted...no, I longed...to envelop myself in her arms; her warmth and cover every inch of myself in it until I was no longer visible to anyone but her and her alone. But Hwi was standing besides her trying to hold her back and I could not do anything ins his presence, I wouldn't dare. But that short simple gaze gave me life; had eradicated my life long loneliness...and confirmed that somewhere in my father's hellhole that our souls had latched onto one another with such force that we had almost become one.

She called him out on absolutely everything like she witnessed it all; the rigged military exam, how I had to 'hide' her brother away from my father, to using her as a hostage to control him and have him carry out his dirty work:all of it. I had absolute no idea how she knew, even down to the last detail but that wasn't important right now. I wanted to go up to her and protect her myself from my father as I have all these years but her brother was standing firm and she gave me a look that told me to stay in my place. I felt helpless, but I still wasn't aware of how capable she was and I didn't want to mess anything up. It really was the most inappropriate time for this but I couldn't help but notice how they were holding each other; they had interlocked their fingers in both hands. I had seen them do this many times since I had met them, there was nothing strange about it since they were siblings...but for the first time I felt left out and vulnerable. My cruel father had began to back down and I suddenly had flashbacks to all the times my father would take out his anger on me. I couldn't help but step back in fear, despite the company we had. All his men had already been disposed off by Hwi and his army friends, and the angrier my father got I could see him make his may towards me in absolute fury. He pushed his way through them both and actually raised his sword to me. I was frozen on the spot, unsure of what I could do but Hwi stopped in and disarmed him...and Yeonie had thrown herself onto me, covering me with every inch of herself. She didn't even close her eyes in fear, rather she was just looking straight into my eyes in a way she had never done before. She trapped me in her embrace for what seemed like ages, and even took my big rough hands into her own ones that felt like silk and squeezed them hard, reassuring me of my own safety that she was wiling to provide even at the cost of her own life. I felt that wrapped up in such tenderness that it stunned me into silence. I hadn't felt anything like it...since my mother hanged herself in front of my father's mansion soon after he snatched me from her.