What Happened to Enos'

Little Girl?

by KayCee1951

Part One

Mount Jiri, South Korea

Theme Song:

You Are the Reason

by Calum Scott, Singer/Songwriter

Chapter Five

The Pagoda Needs the Pond

August 4, 2022

Esme awoke with a crick in her neck and an empty stomach. She slid her door open and crept quietly to the bathroom to avoid confrontation before having her morning coffee. The Lieutenant…Min-jun was awake. She'd heard his footfall on the clay and paper floor. Dressed in the same jeans, white top, and red Boar's Nest Bears zip-up hoodie she'd worn the day before, Esme went to the kitchen. The floor, utilizing an elaborate and genius heating system created in the Joseon period, was warm through her thin socks. The earful she'd intended to give Min-jun about the sleepwear would be slightly delayed. She found a note on the table saying he was out by the old garden pagoda, reclaiming the past.

So, Esme poured a cup of coffee, which Min-jun had brewed, pulled on her knee-high boots, and headed toward the derelict structure in the overgrown clearing just beyond the tomato garden. The air was crisp and smelled lightly fragrant with the petals of the mugunghwa (Rose of Sharon). The Mountain Laurel covering much of the rocky slopes surrounding the Hanok house was dormant now but would have been magical in the late spring. The Mount Jiri flora was not all that different than Georgia's. Oddly enough, Esme compared nearly every place she went with Georgia and hardly gave California a thought anymore, except it was a place she lived for a while. Thoughts of Georgia always brought thoughts of her family, Omma and Appa whose lives had not been as easy as their children's, and her sisters who would eventually be scattered around the U.S.

Rue, according to Paw-paw Rosco, had wanderer's feet and would go traveling someday. Gigi wanted to be a fashion designer which required the big city, even if that was only as far as Hotlanta. And Yaya...she had her sights set on Quantico, much to their father's dismay. Gem and Caleb had settled into the Hazzard County lifestyle as if they were born to it. But Caleb was being 'encouraged' by his Shishone family in Montana to come home. It was only a matter of time for them as well. Esme had been the one who had declared she would never leave Hazzard...and she still clung to that fragile strand and at the same time felt it fray.

A cool breeze caught up to her, swirling red curls around her face. That's when she became aware of Min-jun intently watching her. She pointed to the elaborate but seen-better-days pagoda behind him.

"It's in pretty bad shape. Is it salvageable?"

"I think so. The foundation is solid, and the wood supports are still in good shape."

"Do you think you can finish it in three weeks?"

"I could, with some help. But that's not the project I'm working on this time. There used to be a pond under all this dirt and roots," he said and kicked at some leaves, revealing old, chiseled stone that had been the coping for the pond enclosure. "This is my first exterior project while I'm here…to unearth it, fill it with water, pond plants, and coy and bring it back to life."

Esme examined the state of the Hanock home's exterior and asked, "Wouldn't it be more practical to make the repairs on the exterior of the house first before using up your energy on this?"

"It would, but not as gratifying. I spend my other life being practical. Where's your imagination and sense of adventure, Esmeralda? There's romance in this old pagoda. I can feel it…But it needs the pond."

That wave washed over her again, the one she couldn't surf. It became a tide she failed to stem…a flood that could overcome her resolve if she allowed it.

Esme Kept hearing the Cowardly Lion reading the sign on the way to the witch's castle, "I'd turn back if I were you." The Lieutenant didn't know the power he had. That he had brought her to this point was hard to fathom. Still unable to call him by his given name, except in her mind, Esme was wary of delving into the issue of how proximity to him affected her; she was more concerned that she might hand herself to him on a silver platter. The subject of the sexy nightwear would only open a can of worms best left closed so, she decided against bringing it up.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" he asked, pulling up a sizable chunk of soil and broken rock.

"An hour, maybe."

"Would…?" He paused to clear his throat. "Would you be more comfortable if I stayed at the temple instead of sleeping here?"

"I couldn't ask you to do that. This is your house and your leave. Besides, you're assuming a lot. I only agreed to one night. And that has passed."

"I hoped you'd changed your mind."

Esme had changed her mind but Min-jun didn't need to know that...yet. He would know soon enough. Now that he was so close, and even though her reasons for coming to South Korea did not include…this…she needed to find out why he brought her here, why she followed him willingly, and if any of it was real. If it was all just a romantic interlude for him, a fantasy that would go Poof! when his leave was up…her heart was toast. And if it was real, would she trade dominion over her own life, and her family back in Georgia, to be a part of his? For her to give up even a smidgen of control…

…the reward better be freaking damn spectacular.