| Long Time Strangers

Coming around from his delirious pleasure ride, Sung-Ho glimpsed at Soo-Ah. Her face was gleeful. Her cries of pleasure were not an illusion. She had shared the orgasmic journey with him. He came and embraced her again, squeezing her form in the firm grasp of his arms, placing a prolonged kiss on her neck.

"It's way past dinner time. I will ask for a bath and something to eat. You stay put, though I doubt you will run for the hills now." He jumped from the bed and threw something over himself, enough to appear decent in front of his aid.

Quickly enough, some of Sung-Ho's men brought dinner for two, then rolled in the wooden bathtub. While supervising them, Sung-Ho amused himself watching how Soo-Ah, still naked in his bed, peaked her head from under the covers and then quickly hid as soon as someone entered the tent. She only came out after the soldiers were done bringing hot water buckets to fill the tub.

The steam heated the tent to a comfortable level, keeping them dressed sparsely as they sat at the table. Sung-Ho with just his pants on and Soo-Ah wrapped in one of the covers. After a quick and silent meal while only sharing glances and self-conscious half smiles, they joined each other in the bathtub. The boundaries of their formal rapport had been diluted, leaving awkwardness in its place.

Sung-Ho sipped from a cup of his favourite soju to unwind in the increasingly tense atmosphere. "Are you sorry you accepted my challenge?" he broke through the icy silence.

"No..." Soo-Ah played idly with her finger in the water and reminisced about the feelings she experienced not long ago.

"Do you still think all men are evil demons unworthy of your trust?" His eyes followed her toying fingers, dancing on the water's surface.

"I still think some men are."

Sung-Ho nodded as he could not agree more. "That is a healthy assumption. What about the one you called Big Brother? Do you feel differently about him now? Do you want to look for him, maybe?" He studied her expression.

"I feel cheated by him, and I feel like I betrayed him. How could I look him in the eyes? I would rather run to the other side of the world instead of having to meet him. He feels like a stranger to me. It's been so long that I cannot even remember him clearly." The final thought was the cause for a short pause and a sad smile on her face. Then she focused back on Sung-Ho, "Should I also look at you as a stranger?"

This last question jolted Sung-Ho from a strange reverie. "You should not. Your grandfather and I were long-time friends. He trusted me. I don't think he would have cautioned you to be wary of me. And… after we got to know each other in this manner I could vouch we could not be called strangers."

"Then, how should I address you from now on? How old are you, anyway?" Looking at him from a fair distance, she found it difficult to pinpoint his age.

"How old would you say I am?" He relaxed in the bathtub, eagerly anticipating her answer.

Inspecting his body, Soo-Ah counted the scar on his eyebrow, one on his right hand and another one across his chest. She also remembered a couple of scars she'd traced on his back with her fingers. "You have some scars on you, so definitely long experience in the army, but you do not look old. Twenty and eight–"

"Summers… I first saw the light of day under the summer sun."

"Then my guess would be twenty-and-eight summers. So, you should let me know the proper way to address you, besides General." Ten years older than she was, seemed appropriate.

"Twenty and eight summers you say. That was a good age. Since I am older than you, either way, I think you should address me as 'My General'. It has a nice ring to it." Sung-Ho grinned, flashing a naughty smile before committing to a more serious tone. "You can call me by my given name when we are alone but General Sung-Ho or Seonbaenim when others are present. Soo-Ah, are you ready for your journey tomorrow? I am sorry I do not have a sedan for you to travel in comfort."

"Send me away? How would we do this again if you are sending me away?" As soon as she thought of the question Soo-Ah realised she'd said it out loud.

"Do it again? As much as I am flattered, I do not think it is a good idea to continue with these tempting activities. Anything more might be deemed unfit even for my lowly standards. Plucking the first petal of your intimate flower, just like your first kiss, is for the one who will marry you. What we did was the only way I knew how to show you that your view on intimacy was wrong. I am not very good at teaching with words, nor were you an excellent listener. So, I see this type of interaction as a ′once it is done it is over′ affair. But if you still have questions, I will try to answer them. With words from now on."

His reply stung. He was sending her away and kept talking about her marrying someone else, dismissing the connection between them, all in one go. Since they stepped out of bed, she caught herself momentarily gawking at him, admiring his features while something stirred inside her. She did not expect a couple of days together and a little ecstasy would sway her initial view of this strange, new figure. Her pride was there to prevent her from speaking her mind and helped her keep an unaffected front.

"Your words are not in line with your reactions from earlier…Sung-Ho," said she, eyeing him inquisitively.

What almost sounded like a reproach left Sung-Ho chuckling. "That's how men express their excitement, especially when they are–" but he stopped and cleared his voice. "Anyway, we had too many lessons for one day." He leaned his head on the tub to give his eyes a rest by staring at the tent's ceiling. "I am exhausted. You should go and get some rest also. You have a long journey ahead of you tomorrow."

This was it, Soo-Ah realised with a heavy heart. He was sending her away to her tent. She stood up abruptly splashing water, got out of the tub, awkwardly trying to cover herself with her hands, and began to dress in haste.

Sung-Ho noticed the shift in her attitude but made no comment. Instead, he resumed sipping his drink, waiting in silence.

After all of her clothes were back covering her body, more or less neatly arranged, with a bow she offered a cold "Good night, Seonbaenim!'' Then she left his tent while the sound of a trailing "Good night, Soo-Ah," barely reached her ears.

Tears of frustration from feeling rejected were mounting behind her eyes but she already decided they would not be shed. She would not cry because a man, in whom she should have little faith, was able to hurt her in only a couple of days since seeing him for the first time. She felt disappointed in him and in herself. The same kind of disappointment she remembered feeling a long time ago.

*

Sung-Ho kept staring at the beam holding the curvature of his tent for some long minutes. He hoped he had not made a mistake interfering and getting close to Soo-Ah in this way. The girl was turning out to be too inexperienced and too impressionable, despite her claims of being mature. He must have underestimated his influence on her. Playing with her feelings was not something he would allow himself to do, but he feared it was already too late. It was time to act quickly. If she allowed herself to become emotionally involved in their foreplay, despite his warning, then with the appropriate distance and enough time, she should overcome her feelings.

He had no plans for her future yet. Even less time he could spare to think about it, with so much he had to do on this new war front. But he had long decided he wanted no more romantic involvement for himself. He had had enough of that. And only a physical relationship was out of the question. He felt obliged to allow her to have a peaceful and uncomplicated life.

All those thoughts and commitments remained valid for his conscious self. His subconscious however followed its own creed. During the night it spun out dreams where Soo-Ah would come back into his tent and he would be free to take her as he fantasized.

She would ask him, "Are we strangers?"

"No, we were never strangers," he would reply in his dream.

The visions were vivid with images of her in a brightly colored bridal dress, with a huadian-painted flower on her forehead, looking out of a window. Children's laughter danced around in the air. The huadian remained on his retina, the spinning image of a flower he had never seen before.

The dreams were too intense to allow him to sleep. He woke up with an erection that would not go down. Though it was a waste, he had to pleasure himself and then went back to sleep. And he dreamed again. This happened three times during the night. By the time dawn arrived he was more tired than when he went to bed.

Early in the morning, Sung-Ho paced nervously around his tent like a rabid dog. His decisions switch between impulses to go look for her and take her then and there and struggling to calm down and to find some reason. He could not explain this sudden infatuation. Another person, mad with desire, came alive inside him, longing to touch her, to be close to her.

He was trapped between sending her away and keeping her here so he could enjoy her body and her presence every night. But no. No good decisions were taken in a rush.

But the urges remained. To get past them, he needed a moment of calm and that meant proceeding with his original plan. Keeping her close to him would have been too much of a distraction. His focus should be on his duty to find a way to end this long war. So, he called for the woman and his commander to send them both on their way immediately, without wasting any more time.