The Target: A Sequel to Hwarang: The Saga of the Sooks Book #6

Chapter 17: Joyous News?

"Mi Sook?" Jung Sook queried as she stared at her friend over the tea table.

But the young woman continued to stare blankly out the window. Not one word passing her lips.

"Mi Sook? Are you all right?"

The girl turned her eyes towards her. "Hmm?"

"You look dazed. Is something troubling you?"

Mi Sook cleared her throat. Then she glanced around the room. No servants appeared to be loitering. But she stood up and crossed to the door, peeking first into the hallway before shutting the door firmly. She turned back towards her friend.

She crossed the room and bent to whisper into Jung Sook's ear, "I'm pregnant."

Then she collapsed into her chair once more.

Jung Sook furrowed her brow. "Is it such a secret then?"

Mi Sook nodded her head. "Oh, Jung Sook!" she burst out a moment later, moaning. "What am I going to do?"

Now her friend frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Dan Se doesn't want any children!"

Jung Sook giggled. "Then he should have refrained from engaging in the activity that produces them."

Mi Sook simply stared at her in consternation. "It's not funny. He said that he constantly puts his life on the line to protect the king. And he doesn't want to leave a child without an appa."

Jung Sook instantly sobered. "Oh."

She felt unease sliding along her own nerves now. She and Soo Ho avoided discussions of the risks he took as a hwarang.

She sighed deeply. "Still. He should have known when he took you to his bed that you would, most likely, eventually get pregnant."

"Eventually? It's been a month!"

"Has it?" Jung Sook's eyebrows hit the ceiling. "Only a month?"

Mi Sook bobbed her head. She flushed a pretty pink as she admitted quietly, "He didn't want to hurt me after my father beat me so badly. He waited for my bruises to heal before..."

"What a considerate man," Jung Sook murmured approvingly. Then she smiled sweetly at her friend. "I think that any man who is such a gentle husband...would make an excellent father. And would happily welcome your child into the world."

Mi Sook glanced up at her. "Do you really think so?"

Jung Sook tilted her head to the side. "Do you remember how you believed that Dan Se didn't care for you when you first married him?"

The other girl bobbed her head.

"Were you right?"

Mi Sook paused. Then she shrugged. "No. I guess not."

"You guess not?!" Jung Sook chortled. "I will refresh your memory. You had no idea how much that man already adored you."

"Well, he led me to believe that he had married me only to rescue me from my father...and to honor his brother."

"Exactly."

"What?" Mi Sook gaped at her. At a loss.

"He led you to believe something that wasn't true. And his feelings radically altered after he learned that you were as interested in him as he was in you. Don't you think that perhaps his views on children might also have shifted?"

Mi Sook looked suddenly thoughtful. "Um...maybe?"

"Well, let me put it this way.... The man didn't do anything to prevent a child from being created, did he?"