The King Loves: Ever After

Part 9

That morning San woke up with a smile on her face. The thought of the events of the previous night made her cheeks burn. When she made her way to the main house for breakfast there was a skip in her walk. At the sight of Rin her heart began beating fast. It scared her. The excitement, the happiness she felt. It meant she had something to lose. Rin looked up at her as she took her seat next to Grandma Bo, across the table from Rin. His smile made it impossible for her to keep a straight face. "Would you look at that Grandma Bo? They are so excited to be getting married tomorrow. Look at their faces!" the kitchen lady teased. San blushed. Rin focused on his food. Grandma Bo laughed. "Of course! After tomorrow they get to be together forever"

San and Rin set out to work together. If she had a sense of Rin before, now she was fully aware of him. They walked in complete silence but neither felt the need to fill it. Once they reached the blacksmith's workshop, Rin stopped. "Have a good day at work. I'll see you in the evening" he turned to leave. " you are not going to walk me to the school today?" San asked her heart sinking. "I'm sorry it's just i promised i'd get there early today. We have a lot of things to test today before getting everything to the market." he said apologetically. San felt a rush of guilt. "Ah...that's okay. I can go by myself. Silly me. Ha! of course you are busy" she began blabbering. "I'll just go now. I'll see you tonight.....i mean in the evening....not at night....right" Rin chuckled and held her by the shoulders. " you'll be late for work. The kids must be waiting for you" he said softly to calm her. He stood so close to her that it made her anything but calm. She looked up at his face, his soft smile and warm eyes and felt herself relax. Among all the things he made her feel, he always made her feel better. She nodded and smiled. Rin hesitated for a second to glance around and leaned in to gently kiss her forehead. Before her mind even registered what happened he was off, leaving San feeling breathless once again.

San was in a good mood. She couldn't stop smiling that even the children began noticing. How does he do that? Make me feel so flustered but so happy at the same time? She wondered. She was teaching some of the youngest students when she heard the faint sound of people screaming from the distance. She walked to the door to see a cloud of smoke rise up from the village. A few seconds later, one of the villagers came shouting, "Master Dong!!!!". "What is going on?" he inquired. "There's been a huge fire at the blacksmith's workshop" the man said worriedly. San froze. She felt the blood drain from her face, her heart stopped. Rin, every cell in her body screamed. "People are badly hurt, Master." the man continued. San couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Her mind kept screaming Rin's name. She dropped the book in her hands and ran. She ran towards the cloud of smoke that was getting bigger and angrier. She finally reached the origin of the fire. It seemed that it had originated from the inn next door and spread to the workshop. People had managed to put out the fire. San coughed as her eyes searched for Rin. She was tearing up, because of the smoke and her fears. She wiped her eyes and stepped towards the workshop but stopped herself. Her eyes focused on him through her streaming tears. He was sitting with one knee on the ground. His hand was on the shoulder of the blacksmith's daughter's looking concerned. She nodded at him and he shifted his attention to the blacksmith next to her. He looked unharmed. His face was darkened due to the soot. He coughed and looked around. That's when he saw San staring at him a few steps. As soon as their eyes met it was like air found its way back into San's lungs. She took in a shaky breath, thankful for finally being able to breathe.

Rin watched San as she cleaned the burn on his hand. It was not severe, it just sting. She was uncharacteristically quiet. She hadn't said a word since she found him at the workshop. Rin cleared his throat to fill the awkward silence. She didn't even look up but kept at cleaning the wound with the damp cloth in her hands. " the blacksmith's daughter was trapped in their house. I had to help her" he said. "i know" she said quietly as she carefully picked up the bowl of ground herbs and started applying the paste on his wound. "you're upset" he said sounding defeated. "yes" she replied. Rin placed his unhurt hand on her thigh. "San-ah" he said, pleading. "tell me what i can do to make you feel better" She looked up at him sternly. She sighed angrily. "you are hurt. Have you not noticed?" she held his bandaged hand up. "because here you are asking me how to make me feel better. You always do this. Think about others before you. Put their safety, their feeling before your own. You don't even care if you get hurt in the process" she said tiredly. He gave her thigh a gentle squeeze. "I promise I won't do it again. I'll take care of myself better" Rin said in an desperate attempt to make her feel better. San let out a soft laugh. She looked at Rin, her eyes much softer than before. "i don't want you to do that. Because, for starters you'll break that promise very quickly. Besides it's a part of who you are. Caring about others before yourself. It's something that makes you, you" she said softly. Rin gave a little chuckle. "but what can i do to make you feel better?" he asked again. She cupped his face with one hand and squeezed his unhurt hand with the other. Gently she placed her forehead against his and caressed his cheek with her thumb. "promise me that you'll always come back to me" she said softly. "just come back to me", her eyes glistening with tears. Rin softly kissed her on the lips. "I promise. I'll always find my way back to you"