PROMISE

Choi Young was about to leave her quarters when he felt her arms around his waist. He was about to turn, but she whispered, "Don't turn around. Just listen!"

He closed his eyes for a moment then tipped his head forward as consent.

"Let me ask you one thing … I ... should I not go?" Her voice was barely a whisper and he could feel her breath against the tunic on his back. "Can I stay?"

His first impulse was to turn around and face her, telling her that she could not possible do that, but her arms hugged him tight and he remained still.

"I can't?"

"You got attacked by poison, how can you still say such things?" His voice almost broke on these words, as much as he loved her, he knew she didn't belong in his world, that her life would ever be in danger if she stayed … for him. He could not allow her to make this ultimate sacrifice.

Eun-Soo must have guessed his thoughts, because she continued, "Then let me ask this way... In these few days left … day by day … I will be at your side … love you as I want. But afterwards … can you forget everything?" Her voice was almost unbearably broken by now.

"Do not put yourself in any unnecessary danger or sleep your days away, please don't do that."

She drew in a shaky breath, her small hands flat against his chest from behind, feeling the heart beating beneath the tunic he was wearing. "Can you forget everything?"

She could feel his heart beat becoming erratic, angry, and almost violent.

"Forget..?" Choi Young asked, closing his eyes.

"Promise me ..." she urged him, but he knew he could not forget her. Even if he would live up to a ripe age, becoming old and frail with time, he knew he could never forget her, his Imja, his beloved. He captured her hands and pressed them against his chest before he turned around to face her.

"Imja, can you forget?" he asked earnestly. "Can you do that?"

Eun-Soo stared up at him, tears trailing down her cheeks.

"Promi ..." she couldn't finish her plea as his lips met hers. With a sob, she returned his kiss and Eun-Soo felt something give inside her heart. This person, it seemed to whisper. This person!

With a sigh escaping her lips, she grabbed his head to pull him down to her, her lips devouring him, feasting on him, as they stumbled back over the threshold into her room. She could barely register that he unfastened the tassel that held the curtain back over the door or that his sword clattered to the ground. All she could feel was his arms around her, those calloused hands tousling in her hair, as they stumbled through the room.

Choi Young stared down at her, at the tears that were still wetting her cheeks, the trembling lips that he tasted just moments before. He let go of her only to stoop and sweep her up into his arms, nestling her to his chest as he crossed the room with determined strides and put her gently down on the bed.

When he wanted to straighten himself, Eun-Soo held him back. The Woodalchi General could have easily avoided her grasp, but he didn't want to go, didn't want to make that promise, could not make this promise.

"Are you … Imja, are you sure?" he inquired, his voice hoarse from suppressed emotion.

Eun-Soo looked up at him, her hair tousled and shining like a red halo around her head as it lay spread out on the cushions beneath her. Her hand took a firm hold on the vee of his tunic, drawing him down to her.

"I have never been so sure as to anything else in my life," she whispered as their lips met. She welcomed the weight of him on top of her, cherished the touch of his hands on her skin and hair. Knowing that he was alive and well, knowing that he had lived a good life with the memories of her, that must be enough. Just like she would cherish her memories of him in the future, until the day she died.

Much later, as the day's light outside already faded, they lay side by side on the bed, facing each other. At first, Choi Young had been concerned that she so openly had shown her love for him, that she had given him something so precious, so unique and he felt humbled at that. Not even Mee-Hae had allowed such closeness, that deep connection of bodies and souls.

He watched Eun-Soo as she slept beside him, taking in the porcelain quality of her skin and the red of her hair. He remembered that he had always been fascinated by it, that unusual colour and its silky texture. From the moment he saw her for the very first time, he had been drawn to that glorious mane of red.

With a smile on his lips, he brushed an errant curl away from her face and Eun-Soo opened her eyes. The brilliant smile that curved her lips surprised him.

"You smile …" he said, somewhat confused.

"And why should I not smile when I wake up and see my Imja before my very eyes …" Eun-Soo whispered and crept forward to plant a small kiss on his lips. He went very still at her words. Up till now, she had never told him what she felt for him. He had been Psycho, General or just plain Choi Young-ie. Now to hear that honorific endearment from her lips put his heart to rest.

He returned her kiss, drew her on top of him as he deepened it. His hands found her hair again, tousling it. Breathless, they stopped and just looked at each other silently. Taking in every curve and plane in each other's faces. When Eun-Soo sat up, her hair trailed down, touching his face.

"Promise me that you will live a good life, Imja," she said quietly. When he started to speak, she placed a finger gently against his lips. "Promise me in your heart, Young-shi. That is all I ask."

How could he refuse when this woman was all in his heart. Neither king nor country, only Yoo Eun-Soo.

end