Chapter 59: Seon-Ho

I woke up again to Hwi hovering over me with that same look he had when he saved me in Liadong; we hadn't seen each other for a while so we sort of held the other in our melancholic gazes; all bad feelings and grudges long gone the minute my father was arrested.

Even though I came for his sister I couldn't deny that I missed him, a lot. I remembered in our youth I was always the angry hot head whereas he was the peacemaker and had to step in for me a lot, cover for me and try to talk me out of situations which , in hindsight would have gone a lot worse if he didn't. And I made a vow to man up and try to repair this friendship, only of my reasons to continue living.

I don't know how I managed to do it but I confessed and practically unburdened my soul to him about the whole situation...leading up to Yeon. And I saw how surprised and unprepared he was for this conversation. His stunned silence made me panic a little, but I had a plan for this. I knew him better than anyone, and I know he wanted someone who treasured her just as much as he did. I wasn't really an emotional person, and the woman in question was his baby sister, the only living family member he had, trusted to him by this father; a man I held in his esteem myself. To secure Yeon...I had no choice but to sell her out to her brother. I told him about the box she had left behind with all her secrets that entrusted with me only.

To say Hwi was shocked was an understatement. It broke his heart to see the lengths she went for the both of us, which lead him to the same realisation I had; she was only going to keep getting out of control unless she had a husband to set her straight. We were not going to let her use her insecurities such as her epilepsy or her intelligence which was completely rare for a girl and looked down upon as an excuse to hide from society alone which was what she was doing already. Well...maybe Hwi would, he had never really disciplined her or denied her anything but I had to stand strong. And despite this blundering phase in our friendship, we both knew deep down that there was nobody else he could or would trust her with apart from me. I left to go home, but not before confiding him in my plan to marry her. He wasn't happy about it but we both knew it was the only way for now. He informed me of their agreement; I knew it was his way of agreeing to my proposal but I still needed his verbal agreement.

But the look on my face also told him that I was angry at him for hiding things from me about his sister, more than he expected. He had a guilty look on his face and tried to turn around to leave but not before I grabbed him by the neck and wrestled him onto the floor like we were children again before we actually started sparring with weapons...and for the first time I was on top him, I couldn't help but smirk, ignoring that fact that it was only because I caught him off guard that I won this time. He tried to wrestle me off of him but I had him exactly where I wanted him and went for his weak spots until he couldn't take it anymore and he surrendered. I rolled my eyes before I got off him and started throwing random objects at him until he started talking "wh..what? What? What? Why...why are you throwing things at me?" He stuttered, turning red as he spoke and tried to turn away again until I started throwing bigger things at him "What? Are you trying to tear my home apart? Are you going to pay for everything you broke?" He was still avoiding the situation until I made my way to him again and he finally began to confess "Look...I'm sorry ok? That I hid it from you, but I didn't mean to! Even my sister slowly began to forget all about it when she started having seizures... and you saw it with your own eyes how she was! When she got emotional it set her off every time so I didn't bring it up again so she could survive...who knew that she would really loose her memory and it would all come back to her? To this day I still have no idea what that brat has been up to since she got her memory back and when she did! I'm just as angry as you are!" I just sighed and conceded, but I could tell he was curious as to why I was so angry. But before I gave him the chance to ask me about it I interrupted him, asking what was the plan was to bring her back.

He just gave me a sad smile "I can interrogate her all I want, but after all that brat has been through since my father passed away...and with who knows what else she's been through in your home behind your back...and her intelligence and how my father raised her: I cannot expect her to live a normal life in society with all its rules and judgements. I will never let her live far away from me...but I have to give her her own space, her own freedom and her own life. She's too old to be tied to my side now...god knows if I can even find a match for her...my poor sister might be alone until she's buried next to me." I could hear him choke on his words a little; I couldn't blame him as his big brother but as for myself, I was just getting angrier with each word he said.

'Before I gave her back to you...I was going to run away with her, to take her somewhere safe before finding you, I was going to leave everything behind...for her. But now in a matter of a few hours only your sister has eradicated all of my hardships, my loneliness and has accomplished all of my goals for me." I turned around and looked at him; I had never been so nervous to talk to best friend since the moment we met but I carried on in my speech with an unknown courage "Give her to me...Yeonnie. I now had a stable position in the palace as an army general and I will use it to get my revenge on all these who have wronged both of our families. But...but I refuse to go on without her. I know how much you treasure her and I promise to never take her far away from you; wherever you go we will follow, but allow me...no...help me get our revenge on that wretched palace before we can all live an eternal life side by side at long last like we planned since we met. But even in my plans...her safety and security will always be my priority...even if I have to give up my lifelong dream of controlling the army I will...only for her" I didn't take my eyes off of him for a second so he couldn't count my sincerity in the slightest. He looked up at me in complete shock but he didn't say a word during my speech. He only looked at me thoughtful for a while before telling me that Yeon would do everything in her power to distance herself from us in order to protect us; that she would put up a long and hard fight, even going as far as to deny her feeling for me that everyone around us knew she had not long after we had met. I felt my heart sink, knowing deep down that he was right...but there was no way I was going to give up on the one person in this forlorn world that truly loved me and only me...and who did so much for me....I still had no idea how she knew about my all of my struggles when I had even hidden it from her brother...I had a lot of debts of repay her. I had started to feel for Yeon something I had ever felt before...something so strong that it began to grab a hold of me; to my mood down to my reasoning and actions...something I never thought I could feel in this lifetime, 1000 times more stronger than I had felt for Hui-Jee even. So, if it was a fight she wanted, it was a fight she was going to get. I just smirked and told him not to worry about it, but I wanted him that he had better not even think about handing her over to someone else or I would kill them with my bare hands. He knew me for a lifetime so he knew when to just shut up take me seriously. I could tell he was still shocked but I didn't leave his side until he gave me his blessings and permission which lasted an entire day but I couldn't fault him; his sister was the most precious thing in his existence so I knew he had no choice but to test me, especially as it came out of nowhere from him...but for me it was clear the moment I kissed her in my dream or my hallucination or whatever the hell it was...she didn't come back even once that time.