[Fanfic: The King Loves] Recovery

[ FOUR ]

Where had she slept? 

For the first time since he'd woken, Rin took careful stock of the room and realized precisely how sparse and bereft of furniture the cabin was. In fact, naming it a cabin was a fairly generous assessment, given its small size and general state of disrepair. Were it not for the fresh fruits that hung from a hooked basket on the side of one wall or the neat pile of clothing that had been set on a small wooden stand, he would have assumed the place abandoned. 

He eyed the chair beside the stand and took mental inventory of the items on it. A familiar medicinal satchel, an overfilled knapsack, as well as what appeared to be a folded bedroll had been neatly piled on top. Was that her makeshift bed? He grimaced at the thought. It wasn't unlike what they had both slept on during their earlier travels, but the fact that he had taken the sole bed in the room while she most likely slept on ground proved to be disquieting to his sense of propriety. How long had she stayed with him in such a manner?  

She would sleep on the bed tonight. He was determined.

Exactly how he would get her to do so was something he hadn't quite figured out, however. Knowing her as he did, Lady San would most likely argue that she preferred the cold ground, if only to put others' comfort before her own. The thought crossed his mind to appeal to her sense of reason.

"I'd prefer to sleep on the ground," he rehearsed to himself. 

His brows furrowed. She wouldn't accept that. 

"The bed is uncomfortable," he tried again, raising his uninjured arm to rub at a shoulder for effect. But if so...would it not be rude to suggest that she take his place in it? He shook his head. 

"The ground would be better for my back," he ventured, this time with a self-assured nod. That one actually made some sense. "Yes, the ground would be better for my back. You should take the bed tonight." He paused. Was that too forward? Perhaps the suggestion needed to be phrased as a question. He gestured towards the bed with the sweep of a hand. "Would you sleep on the bed tonight?"  

A throat being audibly cleared sounded from the door. 

Rin's eyes snapped to the entryway, only to find that the door had creaked open partway and Lady San stood peering in, eyes gleaming with mirth. "Am I...interrupting?" 

He turned away and coughed into his hand, embarrassed. Was she even staying another night? Given how she had most likely witnessed him muttering to himself and inviting a phantom version of her to stay overnight in the bed that he currently sat in, ...it wouldn't have surprised him if she left that very moment. 

"Ah," he mumbled, somewhat self-consciously. "I was thinking aloud... Have they left?"

A head appeared above hers by the doorway. "Still here!" Yeom-Bok called out before a flash of an elbow appeared at his side and he disappeared once more with a yelp. Lady San's wide smile was almost disconcerting. She had worn a similarly fierce expression when she had forcibly removed the two men earlier, and it was an expression that he fondly recalled from their time on Mount Duta when she had challenged the crown prince. However, he found himself torn between the rising attraction he felt towards that fierceness and the increasing mortification he felt to have been caught rehearsing a line.

"They're leaving soon," she clarified, as ruckus sounded behind her. To his ears, it almost seemed as though the two men were arguing over what was being cooked. "They're making up for the porridge." 

He nodded. "Would you like me to--"

Lady San shook her head decisively before turning to shut the door. "I'm handling it," she called out with a wave. He smiled to himself. He had no doubt that she would.