fearless leader ; hwarang

Three

Ban Ryu blinked a couple of times. "Uh.. Yeah I am..?"

Suji snorted but shook her head anyway. "Sure, let's go before the others find out and stop me."

-

The walk to the location of where Minghao was at was quite far. Da Xia had predicted that her older brother would be at a bar—where the entertainment was two people fighting—which was on the other side of town. In the short time Da Xia and Suji talked about Minghao, Suji learned that Minghao studied in Wushu and was very skilled in using nunchucks.

The two decided to take the quiet road in the forest and their footsteps were the only noise heard.

It was a comfortable silence yet Suji could feel a slight tension from Ban Ryu. "So, how are you and Soo Yeon?" She asked, trying to start a conversation.

Ban Ryu glanced over and shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yeah.. I've noticed for the past few months that she doesn't exactly have the hugest interest in me.."

"What do you mean?"

Ban Ryu sighed. He looked over at Suji, making eye contact with the female. "I can tell that Soo Yeon likes Inseong too."

Suji's lips formed into an 'o'. She kept quiet, not sure of what to say. Suji could also tell that Soo Yeon liked both Ban Ryu and her brother.

"Ban Ryu.." she started, noticing the gloom look on his face. "Soo Yeon is just confused of her feelings right now, she'll come around."

"I guess so.."

Another silence came upon them, making Suji mentally cringe at the awkward tension. They may have gotten on good terms but the two haven't personally hung alone before. Usually they'd speak at night, when they both couldn't sleep. The silence was comfortable, unlike the current situation.

"I didn't know Jun proposed.." Ban Ryu started, trailing off. He glanced over at the female before looking at the family of trees.

Suji cleared her throat, "Yeah.. On the day of our anniversary."

"Who knew?"

"Nobody. Soo Ho did find out a month ago though.."

"You should have told us."

"What good would that do anyway? It's not like we could have celebrated.."

"I'm sorry.."

"No, it's okay," Suji paused, "Jun knew we were both quite young to get married but he wanted to propose before it was too late. It seems as if he already knew he was going to die.."

Ban Ryu turned over to Suji to see her frowning at the ground. He grabbed her wrist and made her stop walking. She looked up him and then froze when he slowly wrapped his arms around her. "That night was unexpected for us. It was all Huang Fu's fault for the unfortunate things that had happened. Jun may be gone physically but he'll always be in our hearts, most importantly, yours."

＊＊＊

Soo sat alone on the bench, staring at nothing in particular. She knew everyone was surprised by her wicked actions, she was surprised herself.

When the execution was over, everyone came to apologize in pity. She could see in their eyes that they viewed her differently and she wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing.

"Miss Soo?"

Soo slightly jumped and looked over to see a face that looked familiar. She stared down the male in the orange robe and her eyes widen slightly in realization. "Dan Se? Han Sung's older brother?"