Body & Soul 🇰🇷 Part 1

Chapter 66: Seo Hwi

I was a complete loss for words when Seon-Ho of all people declared his intentions to marry my sister! I found his behaviour after the arrest of his father strange indeed; but it turns out that he didn't even give him a fleeting thought! All of his attention had been turned onto Yeonnie as I could never imagine. I was about to reunite with her after so many years...and already I had to share her with another man? In all the years I had known him, Seon-Ho was a closed book although he seemed a lot more sociable than me on the outer-surface. Growing up together we were a lot more focused on our training than women, although that changed for me when I drank with Han Hui-Jee the moment I met her. Seon-Ho and I drank in a lot of places with a lot of women but he never had eyes for anyone. A lot more women would obviously approach him but he didn't take notice of it...in fact, thinking about it more the only girl he wasn't icy to was my sister. We all knew her youthful crush on him for a long time and he was sweet about...but I would have never guessed that something in him...shifted when he kept her hostage in his father's grotesque mansion.

I found it odd at first; I thought he wouldn't be exactly thrilled to keep my sister close to him, but when I overheard the servants talking about the day he barged into his own home...and for the very first time he decided to stand up against his father it was for her...well I didn't know what to think. I just put it down to as their relationship through myself over the years. I thought I could at least trust his personal feelings towards her to keep her safe despite his father's threats. And I thought he made me cut off my relationship with the amnesiac version of her to keep her safe...but something had definitely changed within him every time I saw them together. His smiles and attitudes towards her were no longer forced and playing along...I would have thought he was suffocating under his father's rule at home as usual but he was more...relaxed? At peace? The doom and gloom that he carried around about his half-breed birthright had been pushed deep down inside him as he had transformed from a stark man to...well an actual living and breathing human being. I kept my eye on him as well soon after I came home from the war he dropped me in. I overheard one conversation between himself and my sister and I could already sense the change in him. He sounded a lot more confident than i had ever heard him. It surprised me so much that I couldn't help but to take a peek; he had a smile on him that even I didn't recognise. But I had too many things on my mind to worry about it.

She was happy and safe over the years despite her memory loss. I didn't dare cross paths with here in 4 years in case that psychopath Nam-Jeon did anything to her if the girl breathed or smiled the wrong way. But barely 1 year into her stay and I couldn't exactly help but notice how he would trail after her everywhere in the mansion and even began accompanying her in the markets on her day off. But the day I found her back in our home waiting for me as soon as soon as she regained her memories...I sensed that she also had changed a little. I was just so completely over the moon to have her back in my life I didn't let go of her for hours. We broke down together, filled each other in on our half lives without each other, ate together; and she took care of me after such a long time that I collapsed onto her lap and had a good night's sleep after what seemed like a year. I wanted to take her and run somewhere far away so we could start over but she downright refused to leave the town where our parents legacies were. We both knew Nam-Jeon wouldn't let go of her easily, so we came up with a plan...but it required her staying there until the plan came into fruition...however long it took. I was so lost in my anger at the very thought of keeping the one precious soul I had in my life locked away from my sight I began to smash everything around us in anger. We had been through some really rough times together but I had never been this angry in my entire life; it was only when Yeonnie reached out for me and clung onto me so tightly like she used to do with our father that I could cool down. I looked into her eyes as I did...and I could tell instantly that the old Yeonnie had returned; the one my father trained in both intellect and weaponry, before she had her epileptic fit. For years we kept it hidden; it was bad enough she was epileptic without the proper government support that she should have received if we were not demoted in social status. But if her intelligence and strength was exposed in a time when women were barely allowed an education...she would be walking on egg shells for the rest of her life. But for now I had no choice but to trust her and rely on her help. I was pretty upset that she could sneak out as easily as she could but we had no choice but to use it in her favour. I had no choice but to rely on Seon-Ho's protectiveness of her, which she assured me was 100% real, she even confided in me about situations that Nam-Jeon himself created when he was upset and wanted someone to take it out on, and Seon-Ho was there the protect her every time, even going as far as to take on the meaningless punishments himself. I was really glad than their relationship and strengthened and they were taking care of each other...but I had never expected for him to follow my sister everywhere she went, to follow up on everything she did just like I had done...to even go as far as make personal connections with her employers who informed me the minute he did so. I didn't really know what to say or how to react....and whenever I asked Yeon about him she just kept quiet. But I knew my sister side and out; her every tone of voice, her every action, her every facial expression. She was hiding from him for a reason...so I just let them be. I knew, no matter what problems he had, he would never ever sacrifice my sister or cause her any pain...the obvious ambitions he had that almost cost os our lives and friendship I knew he would never commit again with her by his side.