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

Chapter 25: Precious

"Are you going to spend the entire night in this room? Watching over your girls?" he whispered into her hair.

She nodded her head.

"But, love, you're going to exhaust yourself."

"I do not care," she breathed despairingly.

"Then I'm staying with you."

She gasped, "You cannot."

"Why not?" He frowned down at her.

"For obvious reasons. You and I are not married. We cannot possibly stay alone in a bedchamber overnight."

"Then we shall just have to marry." He glanced around as though searching for a priest hiding under the bed.

"Don't be ridiculous!"

Why was the man teasing her at a time like this?

"You think marrying me is a ridiculous idea?" he breathed softly, obviously hurt.

"No," she hastened to reassure him. "I didn't mean that at all. I just meant that there's no call for you to marry me. I am fully capable of watching over my girls alone at night."

Although the last month seemed to belie those words.

"What if I want to marry you anyway?"

Her eyes widened as she stared up at him in astonishment. Her heart beginning to race.

Was he serious?

"I mean who is going to watch over you at night if I don't?" he whispered.

She blinked. Speechless.

And he allowed the tiniest of smiles to rest upon his lips. "I simply adore you, Sam Sook. I always have."

As she began to protest, he set the tip of his index finger against her lips to silence her. "And don't you begin to argue that I don't really know you. I know you are the best friend I ever had. It's still true. Who stood by me at my grandmother's funeral? And lent me her tiny daughter for comfort?"

She blinked up at him as she recalled how he'd hugged Se Yeon close to his chest for half that afternoon.

"And I know you are a fierce mama bear who would do anything to protect her babies." He glanced down at them before catching her gaze again. "So marry me so that I can protect you all."

"Yeo Wool." Her heart bent sharply in his direction as it prepared to pound once more. But her voice held a warning.

"She's going to be okay, you know," he murmured as his eyes strayed towards Se Ri again.

But Sam Sook gazed up at him. Heartbrokenly. "No, she'll never be okay."

"Hush. She can hear you. Do you want her to believe those words?"

She stilled. "But I'm not okay."

"I know. But you will be."

"What?"

"You will be okay."

"How?" She furrowed her brow at him.

"Once you accept my love for you."

He felt her tense. And he sighed inwardly.

"Am I that repulsive?" he queried quietly.

"What?" she gasped, suddenly staring up at him once more. "No! Of course not."

"You're lying. It must be me." His arms slowly slid away from her. As his heart slipped to the floor. "You simply have no feelings for me. I get it. You cannot make yourself love where you do not feel anything."