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

Chapter 39: Won Hee Won a Heart

Soo Yeon gazed up at her handsome husband. "What shall we name him, Ban Ryu?"

"Hmm?" He was still gazing down at the beautiful, little boy in his arms. "Oh. Let your father decide."

Soo Yeon blinked. "You don't even want to give any input? Not a single suggestion?"

Ban Ryu glanced up to catch his wife's eye. "The man adopted me. He allowed me to marry you. He took me in when I had nothing but the hwarang house left. Let him name our firstborn."

Her eyes grew large as she stared at him. "All right." She glanced at her mother. "Eomma? Can you find Appa? Tell him it's time for him to meet his grandson."

Lady Bit Na flew to do the girl's bidding. A few minutes later, after her husband had finally been found and corralled, she led him back to Soo Yeon's room.

His darling girl was beaming up at him as he breezed through the doorway. "I heard that I've finally got a grandson!" he exclaimed.

"Finally?" Soo Yeon giggled. "Appa, I couldn't have had a baby any sooner."

Lord Kim Seub's eyes slid towards Ban Ryu. "You're right. And lucky for your husband that you didn't. Or else he might have more than one scar from a sword."

Ban Ryu arched one dark eyebrow questioningly at his father-in-law. "He needs a name, my lord," he informed the man. While simultaneously ignoring his goading.

Lord Kim's eyes now widened alarmingly. "You want me to name him?"

"But, of course, my lord," Ban Ryu murmured smoothly before bowing to his adopted appa.

The older man's face was a study in awe. "Won Hee," Lord Kim Seub announced immediately.

"After your appa?" Soo Yeon queried.

The noble lord bobbed his head definitively. "Exactly."

"Won Hee he is then," announced the baby's father.

Right before he passed the child to his grandfather. Ban Ryu smiled down at the little tableau that grandpa and grandson instantly formed. Then he turned and walked out of the room. He felt oddly out of place now.

But Soo Yeon hadn't missed the odd expression on her husband's face as he'd turned away from their son and her father. She made a move to climb out of the bed. She was sore. And tired. But it was obvious to her that Ban Ryu had need of her.

"Soo Yeon? Where are you going?" her mother quizzed her as she glanced up when her daughter passed her on her way to the door.

"I'm going to go find Ban Ryu."

"I'll get him for you," Lady Bit Na offered. "You rest."

"No, Eomma. That's all right. I want to stretch my legs."

That last was a lie. She had absolutely no desire whatsoever to move her body. She did, in fact, wish to lie down in her bed and sleep for a year. But Ban Ryu was hurting, and she wanted to know why. So she stepped into the hallway and headed for his bedchamber. But she didn't find him there.

So she interrogated several servants until one pointed her towards the garden in the back. She requested an extra robe. Once she'd donned it, she stepped out into the frigid weather. And wished her baby had been born in May instead of at the end of the year.

Ban Ryu heard the door open and turned around. Then he gasped as he saw his dear wife braving the arctic temperatures to visit him outside. He stepped towards her.

"Soo Yeon! Get back inside! You just had a baby. You should be resting."

"But you left me," she explained. "So I had to come find you. Ban Ryu?" she quizzed him as his arms suddenly embraced her and he pulled her close. After opening his robe to wrap as much of its front around her as he could. "What's wrong?" she whispered.